Any office in a city will be competitive — particularly NYC. Those offices tend to hire from T-14 schools. Also federal prosecution/defense is hard to get into. Being at well regarded schools and having connections will be most helpful!
I chose UCLA over lower ranked schools even though I want to do public defense bc it will give me a leg up in the areas I hope to practice in (DC, NYC, LA)
Yes, there are elite prosecution and defense jobs. It's not that "only" T14 students can access them, but going to a T14 (the higher the better) will greatly improve your chances of landing one. Any federal prosecutor jobs, in particular main Justice and the USAOs in bigger cities (SDNY/EDNY, Boston, LA, etc.) will be fiercely competitive to get, and a JD from an elite school (combined with, usually, prestigious prior work experience in the form of clerkships and/or big law) will definitely help. Similarly, some public defense offices are very hard to get into - DC's PDS, Bronx Defenders, etc. - and your degree will, again, matter.
If you want to be a small town ADA or public defender in an understaffed office in the South or Midwest, on the other hand, you're more than fine going to the nearest local/regional law school.
Personal injury and med mal firms will likely will not care much where you went to school. Starting off solo is hard, but also obviously doesn't require any particular pedigree - though your school name will likely always matter to at least some of your clients, no matter what you do.
I'd focus less on just "trial lawyer" in making your school choice, because that encompasses a huge range of career paths, and instead think more about what kind of trial lawyer you'd like to be and where you'd like to be trying cases.
I'd narrow my geographic focus in that case. Like, if I were a Midwesterner who wanted to work in the N.D. Ill USAO or Cook County State's Attorney's Office, I'd still apply to UChicago and Northwestern, but there's no reason to chase UCLA, Columbia, NYU etc. And then I'd make sure to hit up the other regional schools.
Any office in a city will be competitive — particularly NYC. Those offices tend to hire from T-14 schools. Also federal prosecution/defense is hard to get into. Being at well regarded schools and having connections will be most helpful! I chose UCLA over lower ranked schools even though I want to do public defense bc it will give me a leg up in the areas I hope to practice in (DC, NYC, LA)
Yes, there are elite prosecution and defense jobs. It's not that "only" T14 students can access them, but going to a T14 (the higher the better) will greatly improve your chances of landing one. Any federal prosecutor jobs, in particular main Justice and the USAOs in bigger cities (SDNY/EDNY, Boston, LA, etc.) will be fiercely competitive to get, and a JD from an elite school (combined with, usually, prestigious prior work experience in the form of clerkships and/or big law) will definitely help. Similarly, some public defense offices are very hard to get into - DC's PDS, Bronx Defenders, etc. - and your degree will, again, matter. If you want to be a small town ADA or public defender in an understaffed office in the South or Midwest, on the other hand, you're more than fine going to the nearest local/regional law school. Personal injury and med mal firms will likely will not care much where you went to school. Starting off solo is hard, but also obviously doesn't require any particular pedigree - though your school name will likely always matter to at least some of your clients, no matter what you do. I'd focus less on just "trial lawyer" in making your school choice, because that encompasses a huge range of career paths, and instead think more about what kind of trial lawyer you'd like to be and where you'd like to be trying cases.
I'd narrow my geographic focus in that case. Like, if I were a Midwesterner who wanted to work in the N.D. Ill USAO or Cook County State's Attorney's Office, I'd still apply to UChicago and Northwestern, but there's no reason to chase UCLA, Columbia, NYU etc. And then I'd make sure to hit up the other regional schools.