According to the LV Sun, our local lawyer factory is starting to smell the sweet odor of success with their recent USNWR ranking, and decided that the students who got them to that ranking just aren't quite good enough. Boyd received 1,755 applications for the 2009 term, admitting 407 and enrolling 157 students. That works out to be about a 23% acceptance rate, and an 8% enrollment rate. We're not sure how to interpret those numbers, but the Sun reports that Boyd has become so competitive that even local applicants with "juice" are being turned away:
The growing competition to enroll in Boyd has left some seemingly well-placed applicants — including family members of local politicians, high-profile lawyers and judges — out in the cold, insiders say.Yikes! If anyone can give specifics as to which politicos or judge's spawn got the cold shoulder from Boyd, we'd love to hear about it! Dean John V. White (you can't tell from the angle of that photo, but he is actually sitting on a pile of money) better watch out. Those politicians and attorneys may hold the future of his law school in their hands, you know, with the current "budget crunch" and all.
Joking aside, it is great to see Boyd making moves to better their reputation. However, we can't help but wonder what the consequence of making Nevada's only law school too exclusive may be. What do you think, readers? Do we actually want Boyd to crack the top 50?
(LV Sun)
I ate lunch with Mayor Oscar Goodman and Juvenile Hearing Master Frank Sullivan (who is also the current CCBA President) at the Clark County Bar Association Law Day luncheon in May. We discussed Boyd Law School, in particular how well it's ranking has grown in such a short time. The Mayor feels strongly that it would be wrong to allow that reputation to decline. We all discussed a number of concerns we have about the school, but one concern I expressed is relevant to this thread. I strongly feel that Boyd should lower the size of incoming classes for at least the next two years. This will help alleviate concerns that the quality of instruction will suffer in the current budget crisis as well as reduce the pressure on legal employment by not artificially flooding the market (at taxpayer expense) with more new attorneys than it can absorb.
ReplyDeleteBig problem at Boyd is the mandate that, as I understand it, a large part of the incoming class (75%?) must be in-state.
ReplyDeleteFor out-of-staters, that means only 30 - 40 spots. That leaves a big problem for the school because to boost rankings you have to boost numbers and the vast majority of your class is in-state, in a state with a terrible education system which I guess would mean not a lot of opportunity for patronage.
If you're talking about 115 spots or so for in-state, admitting some Judge's kid with a 150 LSAT could be unrecoverable rankings-wise.
Are Boyd grads now getting more respect in places like D.C., New York, L.A., Chicago, Boston, and/or San Francisco?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Boyd is a great choice for folks who don't intend to ever leave Nevada. It is very reasonably priced for Nevada residents.
What about folks who want to practice in cities where personal injury isn't the dominant area of legal practice? Or folks who want to practice in larger coastal cities? Should those folks look at different law schools?
Finally, how much credence is given to the USN&WR rankings at prestigious firms? I have heard that there are the top 20 or so law schools and all schools after those are pretty much viewed as being essentially the same. What's better, Law Review at Boyd or middle-of-the-pack at Georgetown?
My dilemna is that I've been accepted at Boyd as well as at second-tier schools in New York (Fordham), D.C. (Columbus), and San Francisco (USF). I am a Nevada resident, so Boyd is attractive due to its low cost. But there is no way in hell that I'd want to stay in the desert southwest for the rest of my life. Outside of just a few firms, there doesn't seem to be much interesting legal work going on in Nevada. And certainly, Nevada is pretty low on the quality-of-life scale. What to do?
If you can't go to a national school, go to a school located in an area where you want to practice and try to get as high a class rank as you can.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to open up this can of worms again... but it is going to be VERY difficult to go to big city big law from Boyd. People have done it before but generally have been top of the class with federal appellate clerkships. The VAST majority of BSL grads stay in Vegas.
To 10:15:
ReplyDeleteYour best option is NOT to go to law school anywhere. Seriously, unless you have a burning desire to be an attorney and will be happy with any kind of legal work (which you suggest you won't be), I would defer law school forever or until you can get into better schools. Fordham places a lot of kids in big city/BigLaw, but not in this economy. Plus, with everyone streaming into law school right now, when things turn around you'll find the competition extremely fierce, and you'll likely have tons of debt once you graduate.
Do your homework. Ignore the bogus employment statistics proffered by your school.
Agree - even if you're top of your class at Boyd, the chances of getting a look by a good firm in a in another state are very very small. Remember, almost every major city already has at least one and usually two or more law schools that are not at the top of the rankings. Want to practice in a prestigious big city firm? Go to school in a big city.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the statement that there isn't interesting legal work taking place in Nevada. How would you know? You haven't even gone to law school yet. I practice in Las Vegas and my work is very interesting. I might add that I make a lot more than some associates in so-called major cities. And yes, my work is related to personal injury.
ReplyDeleteHow much does anyone want to bet that @10:41 AM is a senior associate or non-equity partner at a 10 - 20 lawyer insurance defense firm? Good for you, @10:41 AM.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that most 2d Tier law schools will see their LSAT averages jump significantly this year and acceptance rates will be way down. Whenever there is a recession or economic meltdown, applications go up across the board. The people who where getting into top 50 schools, are forced to 2d tier schools. Once the economy settles down, Boyd's LSAT averages will fall back to where they were a couple of years ago. Just wait and see.
ReplyDeleteBoyd will not crack the top 50 anytime soon. Stop kidding yourself!
ReplyDeleteWhat upsets me is how the academic marxists have taken over the place. You think Boyd would show some true dedication to "diversity" and maybe staff a few conservative and libertarians in there.
ReplyDeleteThe way it is now, it's just another law school dedicated to "justice" and "minority rights" and slapping down biznezmen, etc. The profile of an ideal applicant to teach or counsel there is crippled latina lesbian who was once married to a former Taliban Sudanese man who was once a child slave in the notorious Sudanese slave trade.
More important than its USN&WR ranking is a law school's ability to consistently open doors for graduates to high quality legal jobs. Boyd's performance there has been dismal. What good would a top 50 ranking be if the majority of grads continue to be forced into shitlaw jobs?
ReplyDeleteMore important than its USN&WR ranking is a law school's ability to consistently open doors for graduates to high quality legal jobs. Boyd's performance there has been dismal. What good would a top 50 ranking be if the majority of grads continue to be forced into shitlaw jobs?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any idea what is more important to law schools than USN&WR rankings?
ReplyDelete@ 2:27 p.m. Cash. Yours. Lots of It.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why Boyd keeps jacking up your tuition.
ReplyDeleteAnon@ 10:09,
ReplyDeleteDon't go to law school. Seriously, don't go. Boyd should be your safety school, not the best school on your acceptance list. Your list of schools indicates to me that should you go to law school (at 20k per year at Boyd!) you would be on the fast track to processing PI claims, or worse, unemployed with a degree from a cruddy law school and 140k in debt. No offense, but people like you are why crappy universities start up law schools --- Tuition Money from starry-eyed students.
Could I be wrong? Of course I can. I don't know you and I don't know what your work ethic or study habits are. My advice would be to study for the LSAT some more, and try to get into better schools, because my guess is that if you went to Boyd, you would end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. And that's an unhappy place to be when you hold PI work in disdain.
Judge Roger Hunt's son hoped to attend Boyd, but was denied admission. He's moving out of the state to attend law school.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it good that Boyd is accepting students based on merit, not who their parents are?
ReplyDelete2:00 pm
ReplyDeleteNot if you want important, influential people to actually give a crap about Boyd.
I sort of disagree with the post talking about graduating from Boyd and not getting into larger firms elsewhere in the nation....especially California firms. I think te one thing that everyone is missing is the fact that NV has a TON of satellite firms that are quite large in other jurisdictions. I have many friends who are now practicing in other locals b/c they got into a satellite firm here in vegas. Personally, I think Boyd is at an advantage to get into those larger firms IF they have a satellite firm out here
ReplyDelete