Tell me about your town

[blueerica]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I didn't say affordable, I said "affordable".

To work in Santa Ana and live anywhere that you can actually purchase a home for under $500,000 (if you want to live near Santa Ana, you're lucky to get a condo in a decent neighborhood for $400k), you have to endure a commute over a distance that, without traffic, would take ~20-30 minutes but with normal rush hour traffic can take upwards of 90 minutes - 2 hours. And, seeing as you're likely to want to come into the heart of OC or go up to LA more often than not for entertainment, you'd be making that drive. A lot.

Don't get me wrong, if you can afford the outrageous prices to either purchase or rent, and/or you can deal with abominable traffic, it's got a lot to offer. But it's hard to understate those two issues here.

My mom got a condo 4 years ago that's a stone's throw from Santa Ana in Costa Mesa off Fairview and South Coast. It was $350 K (I think), and in a great neighborhood. The plus-side to that place is that you can get into any area of Santa Ana (traffic or not) within 20 minutes without speeding or running red lights. Just don't get on the freeway there from 7AM to 11AM or from 2PM to 7-8PM.

Hahaha.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by blueerica

My mom got a condo 4 years ago that's a stone's throw from Santa Ana in Costa Mesa off Fairview and South Coast. It was $350 K (I think), and in a great neighborhood. The plus-side to that place is that you can get into any area of Santa Ana (traffic or not) within 20 minutes without speeding or running red lights. Just don't get on the freeway there from 7AM to 11AM or from 2PM to 7-8PM.

Hahaha.

The key words here are "4 years ago". Housing prices in OC have risen dramatically since then. I doubt you could get anything decent in CM for that now.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Prudence

There are circuits beyond the ninth.

Bite your tongue!


There are plenty of good towns and cities on your list. No need to go clerking for some barbaric circuit operating on some 19th century version of justice and jurisprudence, Prudence.

[Prudence]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

There are plenty of good towns and cities on your list. No need to go clerking for some barbaric circuit operating on some 19th century version of justice and jurisprudence, Prudence.

As much as I would love to stay within the ninth circuit, the unfortunately reality is that it is one of the three most competitive circuits for clerkship positions (the other two being the second and D.C. circuits.) And while I might have a wall full of awards and a ranking near the top of my class, the reality is that I will not have a degree from a top 12 school, and thus there are many judges who will send my resume directly to the round file. Hence, I have to cast a fairly wide net.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Prudence

As much as I would love to stay within the ninth circuit, the unfortunately reality is that it is one of the three most competitive circuits for clerkship positions (the other two being the second and D.C. circuits.) And while I might have a wall full of awards and a ranking near the top of my class, the reality is that I will not have a degree from a top 12 school, and thus there are many judges who will send my resume directly to the round file. Hence, I have to cast a fairly wide net.

When I was in law school, the joke ran that there were twenty top ten schools.

My vote is that if you're applying for one year clerkships as opposed to permanent staff attorney positions, local quality of life should not be a consideration. I would think that a Ninth Circuit clerkship for a judge based in Anchorage would be as valuable to a firm, wherever it's based, as one for a judge based in Los Angeles or San Francisco. There might be some variance for district court clerkships, but I doubt it. You should ask your career guidance counselors what they think. If they're not on break.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

My vote is that if you're applying for one year clerkships as opposed to permanent staff attorney positions, local quality of life should not be a consideration. I would think that a Ninth Circuit clerkship for a judge based in Anchorage would be as valuable to a firm, wherever it's based, as one for a judge based in Los Angeles or San Francisco. There might be some variance for district court clerkships, but I doubt it. You should ask your career guidance counselors what they think. If they're not on break.

I just remembered you guys were thinking about moving to Ketchikan Alaska!

Pasadena
Woodland Hills
LA
Santa Ana

You've got a lot of living options living in the "greater LA area". Traffic can be nasty, but everyone drives (unless you have a train option, whcih is fantastic but small). Santa Ana is central to a lot of areas and you can get there fairly easily from the coastal communities (where I prefer to live). Pasadena is a great town with lots of cool little communities surrounding it. Woodland Hills is a mystery - as is most of the Valley.

ALL of these areas have both good and bad neighborhoods within easy commute and 2 have public transportation options (depending on where the court is is LA).

Portland
Portland is a nice city, but smaller in feel than Seattle. I wouldn't be opposed to living there, but it is not in my top 5.

Honolulu
At least it is on the Big Island so the island fever would be less. I'm not sure I could live on an island, though.

Fairbanks
Anchorage
Juneau
I've never been to Alaska, but I think it would be a nice adventure.

Oakland
San Fran
San Jose
The bay area is expensive but nice.

Missoula
Boise
Billings
More adventure. Hell, for a year or two, I'd move just about anywhere.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

I just remembered you guys were thinking about moving to Ketchikan Alaska!

Ah, yes, the year of exploding job offers in the early 90s recession. The firm that had offered me a job fell apart. I then accepted a clerkship offer from a superior court judge in Ketchikan, which would have meant another year of long distance relationship idiocy with my wife, who had a job in San Francisco. But we were prepared to do it. Then, the judge called me and said that because the price of oil had dropped, there was a real danger that the position would be eliminated. Unemployment was something I couldn't gamble with, so I got a research attorney job that came up at the San Francisco Superior Court. A year later, a law school friend of ours who had been laid off got the Ketchikan job, went up there for a year and had a great time.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Honolulu
At least it is on the Big Island so the island fever would be less. I'm not sure I could live on an island, though.

Honolulu is on Oahu, not the Big Island. A grand circle trip around Oahu is about 70 miles (though that requires taking some surface streets so you can delude yourself it is longer since it will take longer.

[Capt Jack]

San Diego
in alot of ways, see GD's post. pockets of bad surrounded by a majority of decent areas. traffic isnt what I'd call LA level, but it sure aint great and gets worse as the years go by. housing is pricey(period). I think the mid level for housing is from 400 to 500k. it can go way the 773H up from there without seeing alot of difference from the 400k versions. just location. gas is about as high here as anywhere in the US, considerably above the national average...so take that into account for sure

pretty laid back compared to some equally dense cities.
weather is hard to beat. it gets hot, but only maybe a week or two out of the year its really sucky. the rest is pretty tollerable depending on what micro climate you live in.

[Prudence]

(FYI: Seattle's pretty bad for traffic and housing too.)