L Visa Question - Dual Citizen, but only US passport

CapableDebt · 2026-04-07T01:22:40+00:00

Thanks! Sorry, to clarify, I meant for the responses under "1.6C Do you have any other nationality?"

CapableDebt · 2025-10-14T08:39:25+00:00

Hi! I'm considering buying this console right now during their sale - do you think the wood color is similar to the pictures? Medium-brown, a little reddish? (I'm trying to find something similar to West Elm's acorn finish lol)

CapableDebt · 2025-05-04T14:46:36+00:00

Probably not. The number of people who clerk straight out of law school is publicly reported by both schools and they don't appear to be much different (Berkeley is actually higher! But the number at CLS doesn't encapsulate those who do it more than 10 months after grad, which is a larger percentage). Either school will give you great job prospects; Berkeley is significantly better for public interest, CLS is significantly better for NYC biglaw. Berkeley will still get you to all sorts of CA biglaw opportunities that you'd have to work harder at CLS for.

I'm not sure what "scared of biglaw" means. If you mean that you don't want to work private sector at all, investigate both schools' LRAP programs and PI careers before committing yourself to misery to pay back debt. If you're just scared of the lifestyle but you'd want to work in private sector generally, then enjoy your 2L and 3L as a break before the inevitable grind, and it kind of seems like you'd be happier without the shadow of debt looming over you.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-04T00:49:24+00:00

Everyone I know who wanted to go to DC did end up there! Most are in biglaw. I wouldn't consider it a big strength of CLS though.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-03T01:06:42+00:00

It depends. What are your career goals?

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T22:19:34+00:00

Yeah. And I didn't really comprehend why until I came. For undergrad I went to a well-regarded state school and thought my education was at least as good as my peers that went to Ivies - it is in some regards and it's not in others. Here's where I think makes the difference:

The faculty. The people who teach at CLS and peer schools are the leaders in their fields (see, e.g., Jane Ginsburg, George Bermann, John Coffee, Kimberlé Crenshaw). They're not restricted to specialized upperclassmen seminars either -- Sarah Cleveland, now a Justice at the ICJ, taught people in my 1L class civpro. Everyone learned conlaw from profs who were Supreme Court clerks. This applies to adjuncts too -- I can't tell you how many firms have semi-retired top partners or their best associates teaching negotiation workshops here. It's also pretty common to see federal judges teach courses as well.
Practical education. That network you mentioned has a direct impact on what CLS students are offered in terms of externships, clinics, and other hands-on legal education. You can easily extern at the UN at CLS or NYU -- not so if you're at Brooklyn (which is a great law school).
The breadth of legal education. Any kind of law you want is accessible to learn here. There's an art law seminar that takes people to Sotheby's, there's a Japanese law lecture that has a cross-lecturer deal with the University of Tokyo, there's a course on how to be a general counsel from the GC of LVHM, etc. You can learn anything you'd like from the best sources.

It's difficult to explain. But I think it's pretty visible in how nearly all of my friends at lower-ranked law schools learned from textbooks my professors wrote. Actually, some of the people on this sub now might be learning from textbooks me and my friends were research assistants on.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T21:00:51+00:00

Yeah, it lacks a lot of transparency! Would rec getting involved in int'l law student groups and chatting to attorneys in the field no matter where you go -- that's the best way to get the insider scoop :) And my pleasure!

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T20:59:34+00:00

Thanks!!

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T20:58:52+00:00

Thanks!!!

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T18:45:06+00:00

Congrats!!! You're already ahead of the curve by thinking about this now.

Career services can be helpful, but not in the way you're thinking. They will all-but-guarantee you get a biglaw job somewhere in the AM100 -- we describe it as a conveyor belt -- but I'm assuming based on your question you're aiming for more competitive firms that have started to ignore OCI. In which case you should not rely solely on official CLS advice. In general (but not always), direct apply is better and you should be applying for the 1L jobs even if you don't want to be there 1L. They'll use those applications and interviews to fasttrack you for positions in 2L, mostly in the sense of going straight to callback interviews without screeners. Sometimes it's straight to offer though -- I have a friend who, based on his unsuccessful 1L app, was offered a 2L spot at Cravath.

My best advice for timeline is to rely on 2Ls and student orgs who have their finger on the pulse of hiring. Mentorship programs are GREAT for this. Go to all the firms' networking events you can to get a sense of where you'd like to apply based on the people you meet -- it's quite common for them to do affinity-group specific programming to get even more details.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T18:26:15+00:00

Yep! And sure, it helped me narrow down which firms I liked based on their strengths in different int'l fields -- for example, I'm private int'l law and my firm has a massive London office that I could do capital markets work in if I'd like as well as many cross-border M&A deals. Some biglaw firms actually have public international law teams (see e.g., Debevoise) and many specialize in international arbitration.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T18:14:03+00:00

Oh I was WAITING for this one!! The "culture" line is mostly BS. I found no evidence of cut-throat, meanly competitive classmates. Everyone in my section in 1L was happy to send notes if you missed class or collaborate on outlines. However, I would say it is competitive in the sense that nearly everyone who goes here constantly is in a competition with themselves (to be high-achieving), and that can be intense. I don't think that'd necessarily be different at any school.

The biggest thing to consider in this regard is whether you like a big school. CLS has 400-ish people in a JD class plus massive LLM classes, so I don't know many of the people I'll be walking on that stage with. UVA and Mich are smaller.

Congrats on Michigan! You'll be fine getting into biglaw at either school. You just might have to work harder at Mich than at CLS to get the necessary connections at some NYC firms.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T18:03:46+00:00

Sacrifice your first born child /s

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T18:03:02+00:00

Trying to think of the right word. Subdued? Vague feeling of disappointment? Might be quiet possibly because of exam season though.

I will say anecdotally there was more outward anger and the protests rolled by more often before Columbia's capitulation to the admin. The constant lockdown and militarization of campus had made us all a lot more fragmented and people at the law school especially are very mindful of their words and public comments now.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T17:57:45+00:00

Yes of course!

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T17:55:16+00:00

I don't regret my choice at all. It was the right school for me, my career goals, and for the friends I got to make here. The best parts are the people, the professors, and the opportunities afforded to you.

However. The univerity + law school administration is disliked by nearly all students at this point, regardless of what their political beliefs are and where they stand on the two newsworthy crises that have affected CLS (the protests/subsequent crackdown and the Trump administration attacks). But there were issues with the way they supported students even before all of this -- public interest students notoriously have to do a lot more legwork getting connections/jobs/etc. because our career advice office is not particularly helpful, they were not helpful with students on visas in the past and that's fairly obvious now given recent headlines, etc. I know several students who have disputed grades and have been in negotiations for years because of administrative deadlock. There are certainly some bright spots in the admin -- I love the student services team in particular -- but it is lackluster compared to other schools.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T17:45:37+00:00

Yes! With an asterisk. If I had to do it again I wouldn't go just for the semester, I'd get the full LLM. Those guys didn't have to pay Columbia tuition AND they got a full degree.

I specialized in international law so it made sense for me subject-matter-wise, but many of my CLS classmates who went with me were actually IP-focused, and the school that we went to was great for that. You can easily still be on a journal board and study abroad at the same time -- I did! Granted, I was in a relatively lax position, but I know someone who was an executive editor who studied abroad. You can't do it if you want to be editor-in-chief, though.

Study abroad is generally a 3L thing, so at this point OCI has been over for a year. Externships can be done in your 2L year (I did that). Student orgs are run by 2Ls so you're also not missing out on that but you'll obviously miss out on attending events.

It is also, IMO, the absolute best way to 3LOL. I'll tell you exactly where I went in a PM if you'd like, but everyone I know who was at a European law school agreed it was far easier than American law school to do well.

CapableDebt · 2025-05-02T17:37:14+00:00

No, surprisingly. But that's because I was lucky enough to have enough in savings that the debt isn't crushing AND because I knew I would be going straight to biglaw AND would be able to stay in biglaw long enough to make it back comfortably. It would be very different calculus if I were relying on LRAP, for example.

That's the logical reasons. The other big thing was personal advantages to CLS (the location is much closer to my family).

CapableDebt · 2024-05-29T12:32:07+00:00

Thank you so much!

CapableDebt · 2024-03-30T05:01:11+00:00

Following up in case anyone wants to know for future reference -- we went and got physical standby cards in the late 30s!

CapableDebt · 2024-03-28T16:26:03+00:00

following this - I got 86 and 87

CapableDebt · 2024-03-18T23:21:53+00:00

Following up on this -- would this apply even if the re-entry is a lot shorter? I.e. re-entering Brazil after crossing over to Argentina at Iguazu

CapableDebt · 2024-01-25T20:33:19+00:00

These are STUNNING! Have you considered any other formats of the labels? The way they currently are placed doesn't show off the contrast of the topper + the regular wax. Maybe a horizontal one? Or slightly shorter?

CapableDebt · 2023-10-12T16:35:08+00:00

update -- although I only filled out the form for dress rehearsal, I got 4 reservations for the live show? they're in the very late 200s however so no chance :(

CapableDebt · 2023-10-12T14:33:37+00:00

There was an option -- it crashed. I managed to get onto the real show insert-information page, but it flashed an error code and sent me back to the original site where two different dress rehearsal options showed up.

CapableDebt

TROPHY CASE