HUGE move from East 2 West .... need HELP (Los Angeles, San Francisco: credit, attorneys)

[BELLA06]

Okay folks, I have this grand plan to make the biggest move of my life in 2011! I want to move from Washington DC to L.A. California. First of all I want to attend Law School in Cali, so one factor I need help with is are there any good credible Law Schools in the surrounding areas. And numero dos, I am definately interested in a safe, wonderful neighborhood that's diverse, lively, beautiful & private but AFFORDABLE (min$1000-max$2000 p/m rent). Preferably a gated community, but I don't know how that works in Cali. Basically I've never been to Cali & I have no idea where to even start looking for housing. Can anyone please guide me to what neighborhoods to check out, keeping in mind that I need it to be convenient to employment & Universities, safe because I will be living alone, and upbeat with open-minded unpretentious classy people. If anyone has ever been to Washington DC, I'm looking for the Adams Morgan or Georgetown of L.A. Hopefully that'll give you a better insight of what I'm looking for

[Christine Joan]

Sorry, I have never been to Washington D.C., but think I might be able to get the ball rolling for you. First, are you sure you want to attend law school here in California where the cost of living is so high and there are already more attorneys than there are available associate positions? If you are certain that you want to practice law here, by all means, start thinking about applying to law schools here. If you are planning to practice in Washington D.C. or another state, it would make more financial sense to attend law school in that area where you can develop long-term relationships with potential employers through internships, externships, etc.

Second, go to any college or public library and ask for a book that lists all the available law schools in the country. It has been awhile since I took the LSAT but I remember looking at a book of all available law schools throughout the US. Thus, you will be able to find the ones that are located here in LA and there are quite a few of them. Off the top of my head, there is UCLA, Loyola, Southwestern, Whittier (but I believe they moved to Orange County) and a bunch of other law schools that are not ABA accredited, which if my memory is correct, means you would have to take the Baby Bar, and most other states would require you to attend law school all over again before you could practice outside Calfiornia, so these law schools should probably not be first on your list.

Third, follow the instructions listed for each school you are interested in attending and begin applying to each one when they begin taking application so if there are any problems in the application process, you have time to fix the problem before the admissions close for that semester.

After you have been accepted at a law school here, then, come back and ask about housing surrounding that school and visit the school and look at the housing boards, etc.

Good luck and best wishes to you.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by BELLA06

Okay folks, I have this grand plan to make the biggest move of my life in 2011! I want to move from Washington DC to L.A. California. First of all I want to attend Law School in Cali, so one factor I need help with is are there any good credible Law Schools in the surrounding areas. And numero dos, I am definately interested in a safe, wonderful neighborhood that's diverse, lively, beautiful & private but AFFORDABLE (min$1000-max$2000 p/m rent). Preferably a gated community, but I don't know how that works in Cali. Basically I've never been to Cali & I have no idea where to even start looking for housing. Can anyone please guide me to what neighborhoods to check out, keeping in mind that I need it to be convenient to employment & Universities, safe because I will be living alone, and upbeat with open-minded unpretentious classy people. If anyone has ever been to Washington DC, I'm looking for the Adams Morgan or Georgetown of L.A. Hopefully that'll give you a better insight of what I'm looking for

Planning is always a good idea.
You should repost this once you get accepted, otherwise people are going to spray paint responses all over the place based on assumptions of law schools you could go to.
Perhaps you could provide one or two assumptions of law schools (locations) you would expect to attend.

[Christine Joan]

It really would help if we had more information.

However, I neglected to list a couple of top law schools in LA: USC law school and Pepperdine. Both of these are excellent schools and quite expensive. USC is located near downtown LA but the area surrounding USC is now beginning a gentrification phase and is improving every year. Pepperdine is located above Malibu and is absolutely beautiful but from what I hear from the law graduates, it is quite conservative. I heard that Ken Starr (the special prosecutor who uncovered the relationship between Monica Lewinski and former President Clinton) is the dean at Pepperdine. I don't know if that is still true though.

BTW, UCLA is in a nice part of town if you can get in.

[BELLA06]

OMG Thank you guys so much for the advice. Any idea how the area around UC Berkeley is? And how far from LA is it located? I'm not @ all too familiar w/ Pepperdine, I'll have to look into that & how far is it from LA? The only issue would be the uptight conservatives, but hey it is what it is. Christine, I took ur advice and googled only ABA accredited Law Schools in California and I got an impressive amount that can easily be narrowed down to 5 once I look more into them. When I graduate from Undergrad in 2010, I want to take a year off to get these plans in order and finalize my School selections ad start sending off apps so I can be ready to attend in 2011. I am generally interested in UC Berkeley because of it's rep, but if there are other Law Schools that are as qualified as UCB, I'm def down for that! Again thanks soooo much guys

[Charles]

Originally Posted by BELLA06

Any idea how the area around UC Berkeley is? And how far from LA is it located?....

You want to attend UC Berkeley and you don't know how to determine the distance from Berkeley to Los Angeles?

You are a sophomore and you want to attend law school in "Cali" but you've never been to California and you also are asking if there are any credible law schools in California.

[Christine Joan]

All the UC schools have a wonderful reputation, especially Berkeley, and it is very difficult for most, especially if you are not a California resident, to gain admission there. Berkeley is in the San Francisco Bay area, so it is quite some distance from LA. You might also want to consider UC Davis too which is near Sacramento.

Most law schools use your college GPA and your LSAT score, combined with some other criteria to determine whether you will receive an admission letter or denial. I think it is always a good idea to find out what the admission criteria are for each school you would like to apply to before you send in your application and money so that you have an idea of whether you are likely to gain admission or not. There should be someone at your college who can help you with the law school admission process. The earlier you begin planning, the better.

Best wishes.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by BELLA06

And numero dos, I am definately interested in a safe, wonderful neighborhood that's diverse, lively, beautiful & private but AFFORDABLE (min$1000-max$2000 p/m rent). Preferably a gated community, but I don't know how that works in Cali.

Don't we all? I'd like a Ferrari and an F-18 too but that ain't happening around here. You should really come here an spend a week in LA/OC and a week in the SF bay area and narrow down your requirements a bit.

[CMDallas]

I would date anyone... ANYONE, although I do tend to lean towards Asian and Latinas (cause I'm half and half). But i wouldn't say no because someone is 'x' color or religion.
although the Latino and Blacks have something against each other. Some Asian parents only want their child to marry another Asian, or someone from their country as well.

[BELLA06]

Thank you so much Christine, you've been a major help. I think I'm gonna invest in UCLA & USC (I checked the statistic's of USC's out-of-state % and they were extremely high unlike the other selective Cali schools. I want to study Entertainment Law and those two were suggested to me from co-workers. I am still researching though so hopefully I'll be ready to start the app process in 2010. And EscapeCalifornia(interesting name) lol, thnk you, I don't expect the streets to be made of gold, just throwing the question out there "just in case", lol but I will look more into that once I finalize w/ School and stuff, so thank you. And CMDallas, that's weird that you would say the Latino's & Blacks don't get along. Mayb in LA, but here in DC we get along very well with the Latino's and whoever else for that matter. Just depends how open people are. I am a Black Woman and I have no racial preferance, a Man is a Man period ) It's all just how you look at it. Mayb you should broaden your horizon's, there is much more out there to just be hung up on "Race"