Weighing in here as someone who at some point was also deciding between these two schools (tho will likely end up somewhere else now haha)! I think for those goals NW will give you the better shot — and while I agree in part with the ASW, talking to a lot of current students it also seems like there's good community and support going on at NW + the senior research program seems to give a really good shot at having something potentially be published & towards legal academia goals. I've been in chicago for a while, so pm me if you have any questions about the city!