UB Law School....

[VABills]

I believe the main thing there are teaching there now is winning lawsuits against tobacco companies and bars that permit smoking.

[zonabb]

I have a masters from UB and am looking there for a PhD but the one thing that I don't like is the North Campus, a giant, cold, uncomfortable concrete jungle with disgusting architecture, including the Ellicott Complex, where I'd be spending my time. But the price is right and the department, unlike the law school !, was ranked in top 10!

 

From what I've been told, despite it's ranking (third tier I believe), that UB law is not exactly easy to get into without knowing someone. But if you get in, great price!

[BRH]

From what I've been told, despite it's ranking (third tier I believe), that UB law is not exactly easy to get into without knowing someone. But if you get in, great price!

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UB Law was ranked something like 80th in the most recent USNWR, which would put it in the "second" tier, although USNWR recently stopped doing tiers and started calling it the "Top 100."

 

I've always felt that the rankings unfairly shortchanged UB Law. Not that it should be top 10 or anything -- I spent my 3L year at Cornell and there was definitely a difference. But if you can't go to Cornell, Columbia, or NYU, UB is a much better value than any of the other New York State schools -- particularly, in my opinion, Syracuse, whose law school pales in comparison with some of its other highly-ranked professional schools like Newhouse and Maxwell. The USNWR rankings tend to boost law schools in major metropolitan areas (higher post-grad employment) and law schools attached to universities with high-profile sports teams (they get higher reputational scores from lawyers and judges who don't know sh-- about the school but they've seen its hoops team on TV).

[The Jokeman]

I have a masters from UB and am looking there for a PhD but the one thing that I don't like is the North Campus, a giant, cold, uncomfortable concrete jungle with disgusting architecture, including the Ellicott Complex, where I'd be spending my time. But the price is right and the department, unlike the law school !, was ranked in top 10!

 

From what I've been told, despite it's ranking (third tier I believe), that UB law is not exactly easy to get into without knowing someone. But if you get in, great price!

327563[/snapback]

Come on now anyone that went/goes to UB knows the correct name for the Ellicott Complex is Lego Land.

[brihs2005]

I am currently applying to Law schools and Public Policy schools myself. UB isn't bad and they aren't as difficult selecting their applicants by indexes (LSAT and GPA) as other schools are. It is one of the better third tier schools and it has a very good bar passage rate which is just as important. To see the types of applicants accepted their for next fall see this link.

[Wacka]

It was called the Emerald City when I went there because it resembled the city in the Wizard of Oz.

Trivia: The bus route through the middle of the Ellicot Complex was originally supposed for the rapid transit. It was supposed to go all the way up to the Amherst campus.

[SF Bills Fan]

I think Amherst has been ranked the safest US city with over 100,000 residents for something like the 5 past years straight.

[taterhill]

Ellicot Complicated=Jenga Land

[sweet baboo]

I have a masters from UB and am looking there for a PhD but the one thing that I don't like is the North Campus, a giant, cold, uncomfortable concrete jungle with disgusting architecture, including the Ellicott Complex, where I'd be spending my time.

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i hear alot of complaints about that, but personally, i loved the architecture on north campus...i'm now at the university of rochester, and I don't like their ivy covered buildings

[jarthur31]

I worry about sending my daughters anywhere. That is why I am here, asking you great people what the deal is! 

Thanks to all!!!

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More parents need to be more pro-active like you are. Sad, really.

[BRH]

Trivia: The bus route through the middle of the Ellicot Complex was originally supposed for the rapid transit. It was supposed to go all the way up to the Amherst campus.

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Yep. And it didn't only because the burghers of Amherst didn't want, you know, "those people" riding the Metrorail up to their nice town from the city.

 

As a result, UB North is completely isolated from downtown. There are shuttle buses to South Campus where you can catch the Metro, but that's a pain in the ass.

[BRH]

i hear alot of complaints about that, but personally, i loved the architecture on north campus...i'm now at the university of rochester, and I don't like their ivy covered buildings

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Actually some of it isn't bad if you like the postmodern look. There's a lot of Louis Kahn influence in the O'Brian building, for example, but the problem is it's only influence. As far as I'm aware, none of the North Campus buildings were designed by, like, actual famous architects (UR's Wilson Commons came off the drawing board of I.M. Pei, for example).

[SectionC3]

Yep.  And it didn't only because the burghers of Amherst didn't want, you know, "those people" riding the Metrorail up to their nice town from the city.

 

 

That might be part of it, but for all practical purposes, it was impossible to extend the metro to North Campus because (in layman's terms and as best I understand) the rock was too thick through the Millersport area and impossible to blast through without damaging the surrounding area.

[buckeyemike]

I don't know if this is still the case, but back in my law school days, we seemed to have a lot of people from Buffalo.

 

I remember asking one (a girl I liked) why she chose Cleveland-Marshall over UB or any other Buffalo law schools, if there are any.

 

She said there were limited opportunities in WNY. And this was in 1992.

 

Tim Russert is another example (he went to John Carroll University, London's alma mater, graduated from C-M and spoke at my commencement in 1994).

 

Mike

[kclor]

I don't know if this is still the case, but back in my law school days, we seemed to have a lot of people from Buffalo. 

 

I remember asking one (a girl I liked) why she chose Cleveland-Marshall over UB or any other Buffalo law schools, if there are any. 

 

She said there were limited opportunities in WNY.  And this was in 1992.

 

Tim Russert is another example (he went to John Carroll University, London's  alma mater, graduated from C-M and spoke at my commencement in 1994).

 

Mike

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When I went, 96-99, there was a good mix of Buffalo residents, NYC residents and out-of-staters. Like any other law school, if you do well (top 30%), you'll have little problem finding a job. My biggest complaint was the career services office ("CSO"). My wife went to Cornell law and took a semester at UB as a visiting student. She admitted that UB's courses, currciulum and adjunct staff were superior to Cornell. However, the CSO was/is a joke compared to top tier schools. At UB, you have to be very proactive to get a good job. Things like law review, moot court and resume services are a must if you want to get an interview with a top firm.

 

Still, some of the best times I had were in law school. But for the student poverty factor, I'd go back in a second!

[BRH]

That might be part of it, but for all practical purposes, it was impossible to extend the metro to North Campus because (in layman's terms and as best I understand) the rock was too thick through the Millersport area and impossible to blast through without damaging the surrounding area.

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Of course, they could have run that leg above-ground like they do downtown.

[BRH]

My wife went to Cornell law and took a semester at UB as a visiting student.  She admitted that UB's courses, currciulum and adjunct staff were superior to Cornell. 

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That's odd because I had the reverse experience (went to UB and took a year as a visiting student at Cornell) and I thought that the classroom curriculum at Cornell was superior -- although I do think that Buffalo offers better clinical opportunities (due in part to its metropolitan location, I think). As for adjunct staff, I had excellent adjuncts at both places. At Cornell my Sports Law professor was Buck Briggs, who is the NFL's assistant general counsel (and used to hold the same position with the NFLPA), and he was fantastic. But adjuncts are definitely harder to find in Ithaca -- Buck was an exception because although he lived in New York he had a weekend place on the lake.

 

As for the students, I felt that the top students at UB could hold their own at Cornell Law (if I may be allowed some immodesty, I was, and I did). The difference was that almost all the students at Cornell were the academic caliber of the top 10-15 percent at UB. To be blunt, about 25% of the students at UB Law really don't have any business being in law school, and they're the ones who kill the bar passage rate and the employed-after-graduation percentage, which are critical factors in ranking. You would think that being the state's only public law school with plenty of state-specific law courses, UB would have a New York pass rate substantially higher than the state's average, but that isn't the case.

 

I agree about the UB CSO. As bad as it is for students, it's even worse for alumni. You have to pay to subscribe to their job-listing service, I think, and getting in touch with them is a pain in the ass. Cornell's CSO website is much better. And it's true that unless you do well in your classes and make law review and/or do moot court, it's almost impossible at UB to get an interview with a large firm, particularly one in NYC.

 

And I would never go back to law school!

[JoeFerguson]

There was a fire in O'Brien hall causing lots of damage to the Law Library about one month ago. I think it's still closed. As a current graduate student at UB I would also have to agree in saying that the words ghetto and UB's North Campus do not belong in the same sentence.

[taterhill]

one of my college buddies went to Cornell Law...we always joked that he was not smart enough to get in there and that he was actually attending Kornell Law School....

[BRH]

There was a fire in O'Brien hall causing lots of damage to the Law Library about one month ago.  I think it's still closed.

327979[/snapback]

The fire occurred in the food court across from the law library on March 19. Basically, smoke and soot permeated the law library and forced its closing and the relocation of several nearby offices and classrooms, but the rest of the building remains open.