I am adding a new category called "law schools" because there is a lot of interest by law students and others in the artificial ranking systems (Mainly U.S. News) and in future law students that want to know what actual students and faculty think of their law schools. I also think I am going to create a set of links to these schools profiled.
Nathan Dosch, whom I appreciate as a regular reader of my blog, very much appreciates the law school from which he graduated and, as well, has no use for U.S. News' law school rankings. He states:
I am a graduate of Marquette University Law School, which seems to teeter on Tier 2 or Tier 3 status with the U.S. News folks ... It will continue to be pushed down the list for reasons that are beyond me, but the truth is I could not be happier with my selection of law schools. The truth is we are not all motivated to be Harvard or Stanford type students. Just as we are not all motivated to be Big Law attorneys. The choice of law schools is the most important decision that a future lawyer can make. You are right it is not easy, but I would strongly encourage anyone entertaining the law school option to completely ignore the law school rankings. They mean less than nothing at the end of the day and it will save you the cost of buying the magazine.
Marquette Law is part of the larger Marquette University located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a Catholic University run by the Jesuits. I have some appreciation for this in that I graduated undergrad from St. Mary's University in San Antonio.
Tuition for Marquette is currently $29,410 or slightly under what private law schools tend to run. Living expenses in Milwaukee are not what they are in many major metropolitan areas and this does help to a good extent. And, of course, to the lovers of the TV show Happy Days , Milwaukee is working on raising money for the Bronze Fonz. After all, they are competing with Minneapolis which has the Mary Tyler Moore bronze statue.
I poke fun. Certainly the law school has nothing to do with the sitcom honors. It is an old and very prestigious law school in its own right. The law school was founded in 1892 and it received ABA approval in 1925. It is know for a number of specialized academic programs including its sports law program and ADR program.
The best part of the program, and I think what might be worth the money, is that graduates of Marquette are eligible for what is known as the "diploma privilege", which allows those graduating from accredited law schools within the state to join the bar without taking the state's bar exam if they complete certain requirements and achieve a certain level of performance.
Currently, plans are in the works for the construction of a band new law school building. The university has received three notable donations to fund the construction: $51 million from alumni couple Raymond and Kathryn Eckstein, $30 million from alum Joseph Zilber, and $1 million from the Bradley Foundation. Additionally, $25 million of Zilber's donation will be used to fund scholarships.
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