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Each year, tens of thousands of law school students graduate, take the bar (or choose not to), and look for work. But law school is not cheap, and it’s no secret that a lot of students take out massive student loans in order to finance their education. According to the most recent data from the American Bar Association, average debt for a student who attends a private institution is $122,158, and average debt for a student who attends a public law school is $84,600.

But that doesn’t mean that if you want to go to law school, you’re automatically signing yourself up for a life of paying back loans. There are ways to lower that bill, significantly, and it all starts with choosing the right law school. Check out our guide on how to find the best value law school for you.

Image courtesy of University of Nebraska College of Law

Here are the questions that you need to be asking yourself as you look for value in a law school:

How much does it cost?

This is the basic one–how much do the tuition and fees cost? This is where any prospective law school student should start. This information will be available on a school’s website, or you can use a site that aggregates it, like U.S. News & World Report, to compare tuition and fees.

Seems simple, right? But there’s more to how much a law school “costs” than just tuition and fees. Cost of living for a particular area also needs to be taken into account. There are cost of living calculators that you can use, or you can work it out by hand, but it’s important to acknowledge that things like rent, food, gas, and so many other life necessities require budgeting with your limited law school funds. And where you live can make that budgeting easier, or it can make it harder.

Some schools make it easy to find this kind of information and compare different options. For example, the Nebraska College of Law offers a helpful page that breaks down the different kinds of costs you could have as a law school student, so you can see them all at once.

What does student loan debt look like at that school?

Image courtesy of University of Nebraska College of Law

So, you’ve figured out what you can afford. How are you going to pay for it? Most students take on some amount of student loan–for the law school class of 2015, 78 percent of students who attended private schools had student loan debt, as did 77 percent of law students at public schools.

And all that cost comes at, well, a cost, at almost every level. At the macro level, there’s evidence to suggest that this influx of student loan debt isn’t good for the economy. But it hurts individuals too–studies have shown that a majority of millennials have put off buying homes and saving for retirement because of their high levels of debt. And for young lawyers particularly, student loan debt can restrict them from taking jobs and opportunities that they’re passionate about.

But keep in mind that those numbers are just the averages for public and private schools–the number of students with loans varies by school, as does an equally important metric: how much those student loans are. Like cost of tuition and fees, that information is readily available, and can offer insight into how much the school costs overall.

How well prepared will I be for life after law school?

You’ve decided on a law school, and you’ve figured out a way to pay for it, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to pack your bags quite yet–you also need to make sure that you’re going to be in a good position to make money after law school. Two good things to look at are bar passage rates and employment rates for the schools that you’re considering. You also need to look at the quality of jobs being obtained–are they legal jobs or are they in other fields? The ABA publishes this data for accredited law schools.

It’s also worth considering what kind of opportunities you’ll have while at law school. Ask yourself questions like: What types of opportunities does the school provide for you to work with real clients on real cases. Do they offer clinics or externship experiences? Do you want to get adventurous? Do they have a study abroad program or do they place students internationally? What types of resources does the school offer/provide to help you secure employment after law school? If you’re not happy with the answers to any of those questions, maybe it’s worth considering a different school.

What else do I get out of this law school?

Life isn’t just a mathematical equation though, and choosing a law school shouldn’t be either. There are lots of things you need to consider when determining if a law school is the right fit for you, like the size of the incoming class, or what specialty programs the school offers. For example, Nebraska Law offers an innovative, one-of-a-kind space law program–if that’s a specialty you’re interested in, or if there’s another specific specialty you’re interested in, it’s worth considering whether a school can offer you a leg up in that field. Consider other non-tangible measures too–like the size and reach of an alumni network, the workshops and resources that will help you develop your professional skills, and the connections you can make with professors.

So…What’s Next?

What’s next is up to you–you now have the tools to find the best value law school for you, so put them into practice! To understand what this looks like, look no further than Nebraska Law 1L Megan Heinzinger, from Illinois, who revealed how she put these concepts to work herself. She explained what she was looking for in a law school:

Selecting a law school with high bar passage and job placement rates was very important to me, as it is to many students. I also sought to find a school with low tuition, that would afford me the opportunity to be more selective in my job search after graduation. [The University of Nebraska College of Law] boasts both impressive student statistics and offered an unmatchable tuition rate. Moreover, [Nebraska] has an notably extensive network that facilitates placing students in jobs around the country and world. This was important to me, being that I plan to return to Illinois after graduation.

And she explained that she was attracted to Nebraska Law from a financial standpoint, saying:

I knew that by attending [Nebraska Law] I would graduate with significantly less debt than I would have at any other school I had applied to. The affordable tuition paired with Nebraska [College] of Law’s competitive edge was virtually unbeatable. The low cost of living in Lincoln was also an attractive draw.

Image courtesy of University of Nebraska College of Law

University of Nebraska College of Law

Students at the University of Nebraska College of Law study in a friendly, collaborative environment with internationally recognized professors. Reasonable tuition costs, and excellent bar passage and employment rates are part of the reason that Nebraska Law is consistently named a best value law school. The College of Law is part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a major research university and member of the Big Ten Conference. It is located in Lincoln, an exciting college town, the state capital, and a city of nearly 300,000 people. Learn more at law.unl.edu. The University of Nebraska College of Law is a partner of Law Street Creative. The opinions expressed in this author’s articles do not necessarily reflect the views of Law Street.

The post How to Find the Best Value Law School for You appeared first on Law Street.

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The University of Nebraska College of Law doesn’t care if you use your phone in school–in fact, it’s encouraged. Nebraska Law has developed an innovative app that helps law school students track their professional skill development, literally putting the students’ educational outcomes in their own hands. The Build Your Character Program, and accompanying app, is the first of its kind at an American law school. It links learning outcomes to both curricular and co-curricular activities, making it easy for students to understand exactly what professional skills they should be developing through attendance or participation in courses and programming. The app provides the means by which students are able to monitor their progress in the identified skill areas.

Image courtesy of Nebraska Law

It’s no secret that law school students have a lot to handle; there are a lot of moving parts to their days. The app helps students see the whole picture created by these parts. It provides a checklist of the skills that are key to becoming a successful lawyer. Courses and activities are “tagged” with these skills and calculated into a law student’s progress in skill development through their participation.

These skills include conflict resolution, working with others, identity, planning & organizing, and client & business relations; see the full list here.

By tracking their progress, students have a full picture of where they are in their education. It identifies areas of strength and competency, but also visually shows the students areas that could use some improvement. It’s holistic too, meaning that it incorporates every aspect of a student’s legal education, in and out of the classroom.

Interim Dean Richard E. Moberly and Assistant Dean of Student & Alumni Relations and Annual Giving Molly Brummond told me about the inspiration for the app. It came from the drive to answer a few different questions. Brummond told me:

We were looking for a way [to] increase participation in things that were happening at the law school. We recognize that law school students are under incredible time constraints, and so if you want them to participate you have to convince them that it’s worth their time. That’s the question we were trying to answer when we developed this program: how do we convince them that participating in [something like] the client counseling competitions, is worth their time, why is it important?

Additionally, the app serves as a way to provide students a clear path to obtain the skills that the school expects them to have upon graduation. For Moberly, the questions were:

What kind of things do we expect our graduates to be able to do when they leave here? What are the skills we expect them to have when they’re done with a Nebraska Law education? And how do we know whether they get those or not?

This program and the accompanying app were born as a way to answer those two tracks of questions–how to encourage students to get involved in activities that would further their education, and how to ensure that they have received the necessary skills to enter the legal field upon graduation.

But why is an app so revolutionary? Law schools have traditionally been slow to adopt technology, despite the fact that their students–who tend to be in the millennial generation, whole-heartedly embrace it in almost every aspect of their lives. There’s a reason “there’s an app for that” has become a cliche statement and a sitcom punchline. Millennials spend an estimated 90 hours per month on mobile apps. Two-thirds of the digital media consumed by millennials is done so on mobile. If you’re going to appeal to law school students, embracing their love of technology makes a lot of sense. Other features put on the app embrace the power of technology too–Nebraska is also using the app to send students updates and alerts, instead of just relying on email.

There’s a wide variety of skills that go into making a successful lawyer, and most law school students don’t know exactly what they’re going to do when they’re still in law school. Regardless of what they may aim to do, the legal field does change and evolve, and law school students need to be as well prepared as possible. The Build Your Character app makes it easy for students to make sure they’re on the right track and take control of their education–one swipe at a time.

University of Nebraska College of Law

Students at the University of Nebraska College of Law study in a friendly, collaborative environment with internationally recognized professors. Reasonable tuition costs, and excellent bar passage and employment rates are part of the reason that Nebraska Law is consistently named a best value law school. The College of Law is part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a major research university and member of the Big Ten Conference. It is located in Lincoln, an exciting college town, the state capital, and a city of nearly 300,000 people. Learn more at law.unl.edu. The University of Nebraska College of Law is a partner of Law Street Creative. The opinions expressed in this author’s articles do not necessarily reflect the views of Law Street.

The post Nebraska Law’s Build Your Character App Helps Students Begin with the End in Mind appeared first on Law Street.

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Space law. It’s a concept that, to some of us, sounds ripped out of the movie “Xenon, Girl of the 21st Century,” “Interstellar,” or possibly “Gravity.” But I want you to think back to the last time you used your smartphone as a GPS. How about the last time you flew on a plane? Or the last time you checked the weather for your area. Or the last time you streamed an episode of your favorite Netflix original show. All of those activities are in some way governed by space law, and how it intersects with the distinct but related fields of cyber and telecommunications law.

But what is space law, why does it matter, and how does it affect the education of law school students right now? Read on for an exploration of space law, the ways it affects us each day, and a look at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law’s innovative space, cyber, and telecommunications law program.

So, What is Space Law?

At its most basic, space law is the set of international and national laws that regulate what governments and private companies do in space. It also encompasses facets of international law and business law.

The need for “space law” arose when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in late 1957 and the U.S. completed its own satellite launch months later. After much negotiation, the Outer Space Treaty was concluded in 1967, laying out the basic tenants of space law that became the groundwork for the rest of the field. These principles fit a few themes–including freedom of exploration and use of space, that space is to be used for peaceful purposes, and (in a clear indication that these principles were designated during the Cold War) that “states shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner.” Check out the rest of the principles here.

Things have obviously changed since 1967, so these ideas have been expanded upon and undergone new developments. The United Nations’ Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOUS), which was a driving force behind the original Outer Space Treaty, has seen the development of four other treaties as well as developed five additional sets of principles.

But the creation of major new international rules have stalled the past several decades, while on the national level rule-making has accelerated. The U.S. enacted the first commercial space legislation in 1984 and continues to have the most detailed and advanced framework, including addressing topics such as commercial human space flight, liability for any third-party injuries, and asteroid mining. Many other nations have enacted legislation and look toward the U.S. framework as a model.

Why does any of this matter? After all–most of us aren’t launching space ships or trying to become astronauts. But these principles have allowed us to send up the satellites that we use for everything from satellite TV, navigation, banking, agriculture, and of course, military information. That’s where other aspects of law, like cyber law and telecommunications law come in.

Cyber Law 

Put simply, cyber law governs the use of computers and the internet. Current hot topics in cyber law include hacking, “the right to be forgotten,” and encryption. Cybercrime is also particularly pressing, whether the targets are private citizens or government entities.

Telecommunications Law 

Telecommunications law deals with broadcasting and electronic communication. In the United States, telecommunications laws and polices affect phone service, cable and TV programming, and wireless spectrum. Telecommunication law has seen significant evolution now that the internet has become so ubiquitous and will continue to change moving forward.

Why is it important to study all three?

Many of the issues covered by space, cyber, and telecommunications law see a significant amount of overlap. In fact, we couldn’t even talk about certain topics in cyber regulations and telecommunications–we wouldn’t even have access to much of this technology–without our exploration and use of space. According to the University of Nebraska Lincoln College of Law, the only school in the United States to offer a program that specifically teaches all three fields: “These three areas are intrinsically linked by the technology they require and the laws and policies that impact them.”

What’s Next in Space Law?

So, it’s clear space law, and the related fields of cyber and telecommunications law, affect each of our daily lives, in really commonplace ways. But a lot of the topics we’ve seen in the news lately also have the potential to be affected by these kinds of regulations.

Net Neutrality

Net neutrality–whether or not internet service providers should treat all content and sites the same–has increasingly become a hot button issue in recent years. Almost every 2016 candidate, from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump has at least mentioned where they stand on the topic.

Net neutrality is based on the idea of the internet as a commodity–some companies have access to it and they provide it to paying consumers. For now, it’s been a mostly earthbound commodity. While there have been dalliances with satellite internet, none have ended up particularly successful. But that’s probably going to change soon–last year companies like SpaceX and OneWeb both announced plans to create satellites that could deliver broadband. This transforms net neutrality from a grounded, national concept to an international dilemma. As Slate’s Nicholas Nardini put it:

A space-borne Internet could skirt these threats. It might also skirt law enforcement and surveillance: While tech companies today often dodge warrants by storing data in foreign countries, the lawless sky offers an even surer refuge. And though net neutrality is the law for now in Europe and the United States, it doesn’t really exist elsewhere. Any network offering satellite Internet to the developing world is likely to sacrifice neutrality for efficiency.

Commercial Space Flight 

Commercial space flight may have sounded like a science fiction fantasy just a few years ago, but we’re inching ever closer to it becoming a reality. Bigelow Aerospace is trying to launch a few giant space habitats for some commercial use; it aims to  launch the first in 2020. It could be used by both “space tourists” as well as for scientific research. Virgin Galactic is working on commercial human space flight, planning sub-orbital flights in the next year or so, and SpaceX and other companies contract on cargo carriage to the International Space Station and, in the near future, astronaut travel.

But if private citizens are going to start going into space, laws that had for so long mostly focused on governmental and military operations are going to need to be reexamined. Legal issues currently addressed in US legislation like licensing for private flights, who is liable in the case of injury, informed consent, and so many other questions are going to have to be dealt with in other national legislation as “space tourism” becomes more than just a fun idea globally.

So, how do I become a Space Lawyer?

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law has the only program in the United States that combines the fields of space law, cyber law, and telecommunications law. Since 2007, Nebraska has offered a Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law certificate for J.D. students. J.D. students can specialize in space, cyber and/or telecommunications law during their studies by taking 15 credit hours of courses in one or more of these areas in consultation with faculty in the area. Nebraska Law for the past decade has also offered an LL.M. in these areas of law, and more recently began offering a doctorate (J.S.D.) in space law.

Nebraska provides opportunities for students interested in space law to get hands on experience, through conferences in both Lincoln and Washington D.C. and participation in events such as the Lochs Moot Court competition. According to Professor Matthew Schaefer, the Director of Space, Cyber, and Telecom Law Program, Nebraska also has a notable list of alumni, who work at places like the U.S. State Department, relevant think tanks, SpaceX, McKinsey Consulting, and U.S. Cyber Command, to provide connections and inspiration to current and future students.

Space law isn’t just for people who are going to work specifically with commercial companies like SpaceX or government agencies. The interplay between space law, cyber law, and telecommunications affects business transactions and international law on the ground too. And firms increasingly have to rely on lawyers who have knowledge of cyber law, given that the internet is now wrapped up in essentially everything we do. As Professor Schaefer put it:

Even if you’re not going to go off and work for a space company, again, space law is a really good case study in international business transactions and global business, also an excellent case study in international law as well.

So, are you looking to pinpoint the future of law? Reaching for the stars doesn’t sound too crazy anymore.

Click here to request more info. 

Resources

Primary

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs: Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies

FCC: Telecommunications Act of 1996

Additional

Nebraska Law: Space, Cyber and Telecommunications Areas of Study

Space: Who Owns the Moon? | Space Law & Outer Space Treaties

American Bar Association: Space Law 101: An Introduction to Space Law 

 Bloomberg: The ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ and Other Cyberlaw Cases Go to Court

Law Street Media: FCC’s Spectrum Auction and Why it Matters 

Slate: The Final Frontier of Net Neutrality

University of Nebraska College of Law

Students at the University of Nebraska College of Law study in a friendly, collaborative environment with internationally recognized professors. Reasonable tuition costs, and excellent bar passage and employment rates are part of the reason that Nebraska Law is consistently named a best value law school. The College of Law is part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a major research university and member of the Big Ten Conference. It is located in Lincoln, an exciting college town, the state capital, and a city of nearly 300,000 people. Learn more at law.unl.edu. The University of Nebraska College of Law is a partner of Law Street Creative. The opinions expressed in this author’s articles do not necessarily reflect the views of Law Street.

The post Looking to Launch a Career in Space Law? Nebraska Law is Here to Help appeared first on Law Street.