If I want to practice law in a certain state is it better to study at a T14 law school (regardless of the state) and then study for said state’s bar or study at a good law school of said state even if it’s not T14? Foreign associate here.

Depends on the state. If you want to practice in Mississippi you’re better off going to Ole Miss than you are Northwestern. If you want to practice in New York, being a Stanford grad certainly won’t hurt you.

T14. Otherwise you are gambling you can rank very highly in your class and, even if you do, won’t have the same options or be perceived as well. Going to the lower ranked local school can work out but is risky and with a narrower band of positive results.

I would say the latter unless you're trying to work in NYC, Chicago, LA, or SF/SV. Each of those markets have good local schools that feed in, but you'll be competing against a cross section of T14 grads. If you want to work outside a major market, a solid non-14 school from that state will do the trick, likely.

I’m in a Cravath paying Texas market, and I’d say that regional schools (I’m not counting UT here) tend to do pretty well in the biglaw market here, but you really need to be top of the class. I wasn’t confident I’d be able to do that at the time, though I think now that I’d probably have been fine, so I opted to go to a T14. My grades were fine but I struggled at OCI as my 1L grades were what hurt me. I still got a job at a great firm, and was able to lateral to an even better one. I don’t think I’d have had that chance if I’d come from an SMU/UH level school.

What state are you targeting? I think it could vary by state (agree with A1) but some additional decision points for me would be: quality/ quantity of other law schools in the state, amount of debt you take on (private versus public schools), realistically whether you think you could be competitive in the class rankings at that school, whether the school offers good opportunity for law journal experience, whether that state has reciprocity with other states in case you need to move long term, employment statistics from that law school. It’s ultimately a personal choice. For me, if I had question about whether I could rank in the top of a T14 class BUT if I thought I could place top of class at a reputable regional school - I would probably choose the regional school. If you think you could be top of your class at a T4 school then pick the T4.

Definitely the T14. My husband and I’ve been able to relocate all over the country with our lower-ranked T14 degrees. We’ve gotten offers from big markets and small. In the small markets, firms have been over the moon that we’ve been interested, even without local ties.

If you know what state you want to be in l, then apply to local and T14 schools and compare cost. If you get a scholarship and cost of attending reputable local school is very low, go there over the much more expensive T14. No brainer.

I practice in NYC at a v20 but spend part of a summer back home in Little Rock during law school. Most lawyers in the firm there went to the local law schools but 2 partners went to HLS and one a piece to YLS and UChicago. Each of them did very well and I suspect in no small part because it’s very impressive to clients to be one of a few highly credentialed lawyers in what’s a very small legal market. Clients want to feel like they’re in good hands and part of what they’re hiring is a brand.