The Lanman Center was bustling on Thursday night, but not with basketball players.

On Thursday evening, the second annual law school and public policy fair was held in the Lanman Center. Representatives from more than 30 of the nation’s top law schools and 10 of the best master’s programs in public policy were in attendance casting a net for Yale students. Stanford University, Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University and Georgetown University were among the institutions present.

“The schools love coming to Yale; we had close to a 100 percent positive response rate to our invitations,” Tracy Holleran, associate director of Undergraduate Career Services, said in an e-mail.

Each university had a table with pamphlets and brochures about its programs.

“My technique is to grab information from pamphlets and figure it out later,” Jane Yakowitz ’02 said.

Eric Maltzer ’02 said he was impressed by the quality of the universities at the fair.

“This year we made a concerted effort to get the best group of schools possible together in one room,” Holleran said. “We targeted schools where our students apply in the greatest number, plus other top ranked schools that students might like to consider, even if they haven’t traditionally received large numbers of applications from Yalies.”

More than 150 students attended the fair. While most were seniors and juniors, several ambitious sophomores showed up as well. The fair was designed for pre-law students of all levels. Some students were interested simply in learning more about the various schools, while others are actually in the application process.

“This fair is probably one of the most important events all year because it is the one opportunity where students can meet with admissions officers, ask questions, and get a feel for the schools without having to travel,” Holleran said.

Henry Granison, associate director of admissions at Cornell Law School, said the most common questions asked by students at the fair were logistical ones regarding criteria such as the LSAT and grades.

Students also had questions about the concentrations available at each law school.

“A lot of students are currently very interested in international law, corporate law and intellectual property,” said Sarah Rewerts, associate director of admissions at Northwestern Law School.

While Yale students applying to law school or graduate school will have to beat out thousands of qualified applicants for acceptance, on Thursday night, it was the universities who were promoting themselves.

“We are competing for the attention of the students,” Rewerts said.