Corporate law focuses on the legal issues involving corporations, businesses, shareholders and even consumers. Corporate lawyers tend to be very well-paid, and competition for positions is fierce. Studying corporate law at a top law school puts a student on the perfect path to a career in corporate law. Thankfully, many of the top law schools for corporate law are also the top schools for other specialties.
Harvard Law School
Depending on who you talk to, Harvard's usually ranked either no. 1 or no. 2 on lists of best law schools. Because of this, you really can't go wrong with going to Harvard on a corporate law track. Besides its high ranking, however, Harvard also has one of the nation's top business schools, and the Harvard Business School works closely with the law school for corporate law students. The law school offers a "Law and Business" concentration for J.D. students, which provides the perfect background for a career in corporate law.
Yale Law School
Like Harvard, Yale is either no. 1 or no. 2 in law school rankings, so a corporate law hopeful can't go wrong. On top of this ranking, though, is a long list of corporate law resources at Yale. These include the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law, which provides lectures, roundtables and other events that focus on corporate law. Law School students are also able to enroll in courses at the Yale School of Management to improve their understanding of corporate issues.
Columbia Law School
Located in the heart of New York City, Columbia University is surrounded by numerous multinational businesses. The university's location allows its students to study corporate law in the field through internships and other job-training programs. With its proximity to Wall Street, Columbia's Center on Corporate Governance focuses on the regulation and legal issues surrounding complex financial institutions. As an Ivy League law school, Columbia also boasts prestige and a high ranking in most law school assessments.
Stanford Law School
Like Columbia, Stanford benefits enormously from its location. While Columbia thrives in financial, Wall Street-centric law, Stanford's Silicon Valley home allows the university law school to focus on other types of corporate regulation. Like the other top corporate law schools, Stanford hosts a center for the study of corporate law called the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance. The Center is highly interdisciplinary and makes use of Stanford's Silicon Valley location in its studies and research.
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Writer Bio
Kevin Wandrei has written extensively on higher education. His work has been published with Kaplan, Textbooks.com, and Shmoop, Inc., among others. He is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at Cornell University.