Cornell University Law School

Cornell provides a wonderful learning environment, with small class sizes, hands-on professors, and high quality legal education. The small overall class size is very conducive to forming long-lasting friendships and business relationships.

Alumni

Career Services is oriented towards Fall OCI for rising 2Ls. No one there helps much for anything else.

Alumni

Cornell teaches corporate law really well, and has extensive ties with the business school, so it’s well-suited for those looking to work in NYC BigLaw. It’s less well-suited for those (like myself) interested in other practice areas, especially intellectual property.

Alumni

Don’t be afraid of Ithaca. It’s a perfect place to go to law school.

Alumni

Dont go by the rankings. The school is MUCH better than it is ranked.

Alumni

It’s a small school (about 500 total when I was there) and the building is located right on the edge of campus. The law students are thus pretty isolated from the rest of the school. Despite being a small school, many classes are huge, so there’s not any benefit to the small size.

Alumni

You have to know what to ask for to get the help you need–there’s very little mentoring or advice, no “hey, I know you asked this question–it’s clear you don’t understand the full scope, have you considered x,y, and z alternatives?” That being said, the faculty are (mostly, with a very few exceptions) are great. When Career Services failed, it was my independent study advisor and the reference librarians who helped me find a job/alternate career path. / Also, and this should not come as a shock–their “employed on graduation statistics” are totally misleading. I’m class of 2010, and many of those listed as employed are on public interest fellowships and not actually employed at firms. Also, I was listed as employed when I had gone on to seek another degree (and incur more student loan debt!)

Alumni