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Known as an innovative, business-oriented law school, Northwestern Law offers more to its students than just a prime central Chicago location. With its well-established preference for students with work experience and demonstrated interpersonal skills, the school fosters a professional environment. Employment statistics, though relatively solid, are weaker than most of the traditional top 14 law schools. The total cost of attendance, however, is second-highest, behind only Berkeley for out-of-staters.

One 2L said: "The student body is excellent, most of which has done something interesting before law school. Students tend to bring interesting perspectives into the classroom as a result, and I think this is a major advantage over schools primarily composed of people straight through from undergrad."

Northwestern Law places a heavy emphasis on global enterprises and practical learning and has highly regarded study abroad, clinical, and interdisciplinary programs in the country. The school recently conducted an initiative called "Plan : Preparing Great Leaders for the Changing World," in which it conducted extensive focus groups with law firm, corporate, and government leaders, with assistance by a legal consulting firm, to mold the direction of the law school. In an exclusive interview with TLS, the dean of the law school, David E. Van Zandt, described it as a plan that" emphasizes the foundational competencies that most law schools ignore, but that industry leaders agree are critical for success in today's legal careers."

Probably the most important result of the plan was the accelerated J.D. program. which is a three-year J.D. compressed into two years. The same number of credit hours is required, so it costs the same as a traditional J.D. Its participants enter OCI (the on-campus interview program that is the main source for biglaw jobs) with only one semester of grades.

Students tend to have few complaints besides the cost and the cold. "Northwestern is just a pleasant place to attend law school," a student said. "It has an atmosphere that makes it fun to be in grad school, instead of the hell on earth that 1L is rumored to be."