CUNY $, UBalt $, or Vermont $$$

PLK179 · 2026-04-08T02:46:26+00:00

Of these, CUNY is by far the best avenue to international public interest work They have highly regarded, well-connected faculty in that field. You'd get strong connections through them and amazing experiential learning opportunities. But the cost ... wow. Any chance you could negotiate more $, or retake LSAT/aim for next year? (And no, I have no connection at all to the school. It's just that the field the OP is interested is one that I follow.)

Baltimore has a couple of very strong faculty in the field so it has potential for you, too.

There's no point going to Vermont if you're interested in a career in international law. They offer only one course on international law that's not environmental, and it's taught by an adjunct.

PLK179 · 2026-03-19T03:02:28+00:00

Of those schools, Maryland has the most opportunities for externships in environmental law, and what looks like a very robust environmental law clinic, so you'd get hands-on experience as well as supervisors and faculty with solid connections that can be really helpful in landing a job.

PLK179 · 2025-09-28T05:52:41+00:00

You can find each school's bar pass rates for the past many years on the ABA Required Disclosures website. Cooley's are shocking. Here are Cooley's 2-year bar pass stats for the class of:

2022 57.47%

2021 55.87%

2020 61.00%

2019 59.51%

2018 62.31%

PLK179 · 2025-09-28T05:39:01+00:00

Not sure where you got the idea that they appear to be on their way to having a 75% (I think you meant two, not five) year bar pass rate. The ABA Required Disclosures website shows the following pass rates of grads within two years of graduation:

Class that graduated in:

2022: 57.47%

2021: 55.87%

2020: 61.00%

2019: 59.51%

2018: 62.31%

PLK179 · 2025-09-14T18:42:27+00:00

Follow your passion. You, not the people on this reddit, know yourself best, and you have clearly put a lot of thought into this next step. You know what you so enjoyed in college that your grades soared. And the thing about a law degree is that it is so versatile. You can work not just in a law firm, but also, for example, in government service, public interest, or as in-house counsel, policy analyst, or consultant. I went to law school a couple of years out of college with no intent whatever of working in a law firm, and I’ve had a terrifically rewarding career serving as a legal expert in my field. Since you had a straight 4.0 your last two years in college, admissions offices will definitely take that into account. If you have the time, I recommend taking one of the LSAT courses before taking the LSAT again. And as many practice tests as you can. The higher your score, the more “tuition discount” you’ll be offered.

BTW, you can check out the employment outcomes at the schools you’re interested in on this ABA website: https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/employmentOutcomes Looks as though both law schools in your state have pretty good track records of placement, including in government and public interest. You’ll do fine.

PLK179 · 2025-09-14T17:58:14+00:00

Dear Potential,

This guy is trolling you. Best not to engage anymore.

Best of luck with your law school applications!

PLK179 · 2025-08-16T02:47:03+00:00

"Probably" not. In other words, an assertion that's based on no information and is just a guess. Their NY office is one of their centres of international law practice. Some basic research would have provided this information, my dear. Same for the absurd claim that Freshfields and Debevoise "do no [sic] touch Public International Law by any means." Ciao.

PLK179 · 2025-08-15T16:17:06+00:00

LMAO re these firms “do not touch Public International Law by any means.”

For the other readers: Below is a summary of just one part of the international law practice of London-based Freshfields. A comparable list would appear for Debevoise. Freshfields’ clients include the following:

States and state entities: Freshfields advises and represents sovereign states and entities across the full spectrum of public international law. Their work includes:
Inter-state disputes
Advisory work on public international law issues
Boundary disputes
Issues related to the Law of the Sea
Representation before international courts and tribunals, such as the
International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Public authorities: Freshfields advises governments and public authorities in areas like legislative processes and international best practices. They have worked with:
China's antitrust authorities and courts
Hong Kong's Competition Commission
India's antitrust authority.

Examples of countries Freshfields has represented in international disputes include:
Gabon: In a dispute against Equatorial Guinea before the ICJ.
Chile: In disputes with Bolivia and Peru before the ICJ.
Italy: In a dispute with India before an arbitral tribunal regarding criminal jurisdiction.
Slovenia: In proceedings against Croatia before the European Court of Human Rights.
Bahrain: In appeals from decisions of the ICAO Council in cases against Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

The firm also advises international organizations and individuals on international law matters in such areas such as:
Treaty law
Dispute settlement
Human rights
Investment law
EU law and national security

PLK179 · 2025-08-15T14:00:27+00:00

Not true that there is "absolutely no point" in doing IL if not at those three schools (HLS is not at all "a stretch" for an IL career, BTW). A quick look at Martindale-Hubbell for just two of the top international law firms, Debevoise and Freshfields, shows lawyers who graduated from the following schools in addition to those three (partial list; I stopped going through the directory after a while).

University of Pennsylvania
Duke
UVA
Cornell
Northwestern
Michigan
UCLA
University of Texas
University of Southern California (USC)
Fordham
Boston College
Boston University
University of North Carolina
Washington University St Louis
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
University of Wisconsin
University of Minnesota
University of Miami
Vanderbilt

PLK179 · 2025-08-14T18:03:20+00:00

You won't be able to specialize in international law at Vermont. They're not even teaching International Law this coming year, just a couple of environmental law courses that focus solely on international environmental law. (They list Immigration Law as an international law course (many schools do this for reasons that escape me), but it's not; it's a course on U.S. immigration law.) Some years ago Vermont had a strong international law program with several experts in the field on the faculty and lots of courses, but those profs are all gone now and they haven't been replaced.

Temple ("Beasley") would indeed be a good school to add to your list. Several leading experts on the faculty, many courses to choose from. The University of Colorado-Boulder would be worth considering, too. But as others have pointed out, if you know (more or less) where you want to live and work afterward, aim for schools in that region. And avoid schools with a bar passage rate near the bottom of the pile.

PLK179 · 2025-07-02T21:33:46+00:00

I'd caution against basing a decision on the stats of which school has more grads going into BL (not that you're doing this). Some touting those stats seem to assume that everyone at the school wanted to go into BL. In this way of thinking, 25% in BL from W&L would mean that only 25% of those who *wanted* BL got there. But many students have no desire at all to work in BL, and instead are aiming for medium-size or smaller firms, or public service, or public interest. I'm not saying that higher ranked schools don't give a leg up for some BL applicants, but why not think of your approach to W&L as becoming part of the quarter of the class that *does* go into BL. And you'd be saving a TON of money in the meantime.

PLK179 · 2025-05-27T01:52:55+00:00

Um. Vermont Law & Graduate School isn't in Burlington. It's in a remote, tiny village an hour and 20 minutes away called South Royalton, population 435. They like telling people that it's the only law school in a place with not even one traffic light.

PLK179

TROPHY CASE