<p>If you wanted to work in Portland, OR, would it be better to attend an the highest ranked Oregon law school (U of Oregon) or the highest ranked pacific northwest law school? (U of Washington)</p>
<p>Washington. There’s a very significant difference in quality there, and both schools are essentially in the same region.</p>
<p>You will learn Oregon law in an Oregon law school. Useful when taking the bar exam.
Also, you will make connections with Oregon attorneys going to school there - through social events, internships & clerkships, etc. Even meeting some of the 2L’S and 3L’s when you’re a 1L may be helpful, as they’ll already be working when you’re looking for a job.</p>
<p>Either school is fine. But WA has the mentality of top schools (ie everybody passes, everybody who is able to breath gets a B). Regional firms recruit, and have alumni, from both. Note, however, that if you go to Oregon practicing ( that is, getting hired) in Seattle will be tough; whereas if you go to WA practicing in Oregon will be easy.</p>
<p>Going to law school in Oregon is not going to give you a real leg up there on the bar exam. Regardless of where you study law, if you want to practice in Oregon, you’ll take a bar review course there; it will cover what you need to know that’s specific to Oregon. (My guess is that the University of Oregon isn’t that focused on Oregon law in its curriculum, for that matter; very few courses at Boalt focus specifically on California law.)</p>
<p>The Oregon bar exam has little on it that is specific to Oregon:</p>
<p>From the Oregon State Bar web site:</p>
<p>“You are not responsible for knowledge of Oregon law, except in the following subject areas:
(1) Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure,
(2) Oregon Rules of Evidence,
(3) Oregon Administrative Law and Procedure, and
(4) Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct (Legal Ethics).”</p>
<p>In any event, you’ll probably find that rule civil procedure, or evidence, or legal ethics in Oregon don’t differ that much from the comparable areas of law in other states.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that there’s a fair amount of anti-California sentiment in Oregon. They might be a little more charitable toward Washington; maybe there’s a “Pan-Northwestern” consciousness.</p>
<p>Actually, when it comes to the bar exam, most top schools do not teach to the exam – those schools teach common law (meaning case law through the years) and certain “code” classes that teach case law based upon statutory codes, such as evidence, securities regulation and federal taxation. There are local schools, which are typically not as highly ranked in whichever survey you are inclined to pay attention to, that teach to the bar exam, using released questions and essays from previous bar exams to teach class. If you go to one of the schools that do not teach to the test, you will take a bar review class prior to taking the bar exam (BarBri, Pieper and a host of others) that will teach you everything that you need to know to pass the bar exam in whatever jurisdiction you are taking the test. The test is different in every state.</p>