Law Schools Ranked By Job Placement Rates

Updated as noted below

The ABA has provided a ton of data on law school job placement and I've tried to summarize it here - comparing the placement rate ranking with the U.S. News ranking,  and providing actual placement numbers.  The numbers set out here represent the percentage of graduates in the class of 2015 who found full-time long term positions (JD required or where a JD was an advantage) within nine months after graduation.  This is the number many ranking organizations use, though I recognize that there are other  ways to slice the data.  As I note below, I have excluded law school funded positions.

This ranking uses the freshest data currently available and - compared to what you can find for pretty much any other discipline outside of law - a pretty damn good data set.    We only wish business schools and other similar programs would give this sort of guidance to applicants.

I think a big takeaway is that the US News ranking doesn't actually predict how well graduates of a given school will do on the job market.  One conclusion from this data is that any school recruiting solid students (as opposed to students who probably don't belong in law school)  can deliver those students good job outcomes if it trains them well and provides good support from bar prep through career planning.  (It helps to be in a region with jobs or a region that is not a net importer of law grads.)

It's also worth pointing out that this chart suffers from an infirmity it shares with US News: it tends to over-state the gaps between law schools.  Another way to read this chart is to think in clumps - schools in the +/- 85% placement range; those in the +/- 75% placement range; etc.  But I do think there may be real differences between schools with 80% rates and those with 65% rates.

This ranking doesn't get at salaries - though, having looked at the data, I have a strong sense that there are really only about 15 schools where more than 33% of the graduating class scores a large firm job.   US News is actually pretty good at this element of ranking: if you want a big firm job, the US News top 15-20 is a reasonably good guide.  But US News ceases to be very predictive of large firm placement after that point.   This list also has anomalies: Yale is #20, but that probably has more to do with the choices that students made rather than the options they encountered.  And Georgetown?  My theory is that their career strategies office is good for students seeking big firms, but has work to do with the other 63% of the class.

The schools with the biggest gaps between this ranking and US News?  Figure that out for yourself - there are some whoppers!

Update:  I've decided that it would be more accurate and useful to round placement results to the nearest whole number and describe virtual ties as ties.  As I discuss above, my goal is to provide information without overstating gaps between schools.  Schools that are tied are listed in order of their precise rank.  With this change, Yale is now #18.  In this analysis, I excluded law school funded positions - consistent with US News - in large part because it is impossible to determine how many of these graduates would have been able to secure long-term full-time employment in the absence of law school assistance.   

Update 2: A kind reader has alerted me to at least one error - the numbers provided to the ABA by South Texas on their form are inconsistent with the numbers set out in the ABA spread sheet.  I am not going to change anything yet, but I hope that over the next day or two, I can identify any other conflicts between the forms and the spreadsheet.  If there is an error or two, I can fix that easily.  If problems are more pervasive, I'll pull and rework it entirely.  For now, please note that based on the employment form submitted to the ABA, South Texas seems to have a 62% placement rate, rather than a 54% rate,  which puts it at 152 rather than 172.

Update 3, Nov. 30, 12:30 pm: I have adjusted the chart to reflect what I expect are accurate numbers.  As I discuss in this post, there are discrepancies between data reported by the ABA in individual school summaries and in the overall compilation spread sheet.  This list reflects the numbers reported by schools in their individual school summaries.  These changes shifted the rankings a bit.  I have inserted asterisks after schools whose ranking changed after switching to the data provided on the individual school summary.  In a later post, I will detail the changes.   I believe the numbers are now as accurate as I can make them.  

So without further ado: 

Job Placement Rank	US News Rank	School	Percentage
1	7	PENN	93%
2	11	DUKE	92%
2	60	KENTUCKY	92%
4	13	CORNELL	91%
4	2	HARVARD	91%
4	4	CHICAGO	91%
7	6	NYU	90%
7	4	COLUMBIA	90%
9	2	STANFORD	89%
9	12	NORTHWESTERN - PRITZKER	89%
11	8	MICHIGAN	88%
12	8	VIRGINIA	87%
12	65	SETON HALL	87%
12	8	CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY	87%
15	55	BAYLOR	86%
15	30	OHIO STATE - MORITZ	86%
15	18	WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (ST. LOUIS)	86%
18	25	ARIZONA STATE - O'CONNOR	85%
18	20	IOWA	85%
18	1	YALE	85%
21	45	GEORGE MASON - SCALIA	84%
21	57	NEBRASKA	84%
21	86	ARKANSAS - FAYETTEVILLE	84%
21	45	SMU - DEDMAN	84%
25	30	BOSTON COLLEGE	83%
25	33	GEORGIA	83%
25	86	TULSA	83%
25	16	VANDERBILT *	83%
29	100	INDIANA - INDIANAPOLIS - McKINNEY	82%
29	22	EMORY	82%
29	50	FLORIDA STATE	82%
29	111	IDAHO	82%
29	40	WASHINGTON AND LEE	82%
29	48	FLORIDA - LEVIN	82%
29	40	WAKE FOREST *	82%
29	103	FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL *	82%
37	74	ST. JOHN'S	81%
37	15	TEXAS	81%
37	28	ALABAMA	81%
37	60	NEW MEXICO	81%
37	17	UCLA	81%
37	40	COLORADO	81%
37	60	CINCINNATI	81%
44	111	DRAKE	80%
44	65	CONNECTICUT	80%
44	65	KANSAS	80%
44	97	WEST VIRGINIA	80%
44	103	STETSON	80%
49	22	NOTRE DAME	79%
49	92	RUTGERS	79%
49	82	LOUISIANA STATE - HEBERT	79%
49	111	DREXEL - KLINE	79%
49	92	LOUISVILLE	79%
49	25	INDIANA - BLOOMINGTON - MAURER	79%
49	60	OKLAHOMA	79%
49	129	ALBANY	79%
57	20	BOSTON UNIVERSITY	78%
57	82	SAINT LOUIS	78%
57	33	WISCONSIN	78%
57	50	HOUSTON	78%
57	65	MISSOURI - COLUMBIA	78%
57	38	NORTH CAROLINA	78%
57	111	ST. THOMAS (MINNESOTA)	78%
64	123	MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY	77%
64	78	UNLV - BOYD	77%
64	19	SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - GOULD	77%
64	45	UTAH - QUINNEY	77%
64	33	UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (SEATTLE)	77%
64	unranked	MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE	77%
64	74	CARDOZO	77%
64	25	GEORGE WASHINGTON	77%
72	123	MARQUETTE	76%
72	37	FORDHAM	76%
72	33	WILLIAM AND MARY	76%
72	unranked	FAULKNER	76%
72	123	MONTANA	76%
72	74	VILLANOVA - WIDGER	76%
78	50	TEMPLE - BEASLEY	75%
78	48	MARYLAND - CAREY	75%
78	136	PACE	75%
78	14	GEORGETOWN	75%
82	144	NORTHERN ILLINOIS	74%
82	55	RICHMOND	74%
82	111	BALTIMORE	74%
82	92	SOUTH CAROLINA	74%
82	144	OKLAHOMA CITY	74%
82	143	SOUTH DAKOTA	74%
82	82	NORTHEASTERN	74%
82	65	LOYOLA - LOS ANGELES	74%
90	123	TEXAS TECH	73%
90	97	BROOKLYN	73%
90	40	ILLINOIS	73%
90	106	CREIGHTON	73%
90	22	MINNESOTA	73%
90	65	TENNESSEE *	73%
90	57	GEORGIA STATE *	73%
90	100	BUFFALO *	73%
98	30	CALIFORNIA-DAVIS	72%
98	111	HOFSTRA U	72%
98	50	TULANE	72%
98	72	DENVER - STURM	72%
102	136	ARKANSAS, LITTLE ROCK	71%
102	60	MIAMI	71%
102	57	CASE WESTERN RESERVE	71%
102	132	QUINNIPIAC	71%
102	unranked	SAMFORD - CUMBERLAND	71%
106	123	MERCER	70%
106	103	CATHOLIC	70%
106	100	BUFFALO	70%
106	86	PSU - DICKINSON LAW	70%
106	106	WASHBURN	70%
106	123	WYOMING	70%
106	100	MICHIGAN STATE	70%
113	40	ARIZONA - ROGERS	69%
113	132	GONZAGA	69%
113	unranked	BELMONT	69%
113	97	WAYNE STATE	69%
113	111	DEPAUL	69%
113	140	MITCHELL|HAMLINE	69%
113	111	NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL *	69%
120	86	PSU - PENN STATE	68%
120	78	PITTSBURGH	68%
120	111	TEXAS A&M	68%
120	unranked	MEMPHIS - HUMPHREYS	68%
124	82	NEW HAMPSHIRE	67%
124	132	WILLAMETTE	67%
123	unranked	ROGER WILLIAMS	67%
127	86	CHICAGO-KENT	66%
127	28	CALIFORNIA-IRVINE	66%
127	106	CLEVELAND MARSHALL	66%
127	132	VERMONT	66%
127	144	TOLEDO	66%
127	86	SYRACUSE	66%
127	50	CALIFORNIA-HASTINGS	66%
127	111	DUQUESNE	66%
135	38	BRIGHAM YOUNG - CLARK	65%
135	unranked	WIDENER-COMMONWEALTH	65%
135	unranked	REGENT	65%
135	72	LOYOLA -CHICAGO	65%
135	unranked	SOUTHERN ILLINOIS	65%
135	unranked	JOHN MARSHALL LAW SCHOOL (CHICAGO)	65%
141	136	CHAPMAN	64%
141	unranked	SUFFOLK	64%
141	unranked	LINCOLN MEMORIAL - DUNCAN	64%
141	unranked	NOVA SOUTHEASTERN	64%
141	131	CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK	64%
141	unranked	NORTHERN KENTUCKY	64%
147	65	PEPPERDINE	63%
147	unranked	DAYTON	63%
147	92	HAWAII	63%
157	136	AKRON	63%
147	106	U OF MISSISSIPPI	63%
152	74	SAN DIEGO	62%
152	144	CAMPBELL	62%
152	92	LEWIS AND CLARK	62%
152	unranked	SOUTH TEXAS *	62%
152	unranked	ST. MARY'S *	62%
157	unranked	NEW ENGLAND LAW	61%
157	78	AMERICAN	61%
157	144	NORTH DAKOTA *	61%
160	unranked	TOURO - FUCHSBERG	60%
160	78	OREGON	60%
159	144	PACIFIC - MCGEORGE	60%
163	106	HOWARD	59%
164	unranked	CALIFORNIA WESTERN	58%
164	111	MAINE, UNIVERSITY OF	58%
164	unranked	CONCORDIA	58%
164	unranked	WIDENER - DELAWARE	58%
168	unranked	APPALACHIAN *	57%
169	unranked	ATLANTA'S JOHN MARSHALL LAW SHOOL	56%
169	unranked	VALPARAISO	56%
169	unranked	WESTERN NEW ENGLAND	56%
172	unranked	ELON	55%
173	unranked	CAPITAL	54%
173	unranked	SOUTH TEXAS	54%
173	111	SEATTLE	54%
173	129	SANTA CLARA	54%
173	unranked	SOUTHERN	54%
177	unranked	MASSACHUSETTS -DARTMOUTH	53%
177	unranked	CHARLESTON	53%
177	unranked	ARIZONA SUMMIT	53%
177	140	LOYOLA - NEW ORLEANS	53%
181	unranked	LIBERTY	52%
182	unranked	DETROIT MERCY	51%
182	unranked	LA VERNE	51%
182	unranked	ST. THOMAS (FLORIDA)	51%
182	unranked	WESTERN STATE	51%
182	unranked	OHIO NORTHERN	51%
187	unranked	FLORIDA A&M	50%
187	unranked	DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA -CLARK	50%
189	unranked	SAN FRANCISCO	49%
189	unranked	BARRY	49%
191	unranked	SOUTHWESTERN	48%
191	unranked	AVE MARIA *	48%
193	unranked	NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL	44%
194	unranked	TEXAS SOUTHERN	43%
194	unranked	WHITTIER	43%
196	unranked	THOMAS M. COOLEY	42%
197	unranked	FLORIDA COASTAL	41%
197	unranked	GOLDEN GATE	41%
199	unranked	U OF PUERTO RICO	40%
200	unranked	THOMAS JEFFERSON	39%
201	unranked	CHARLOTTE	37%
202	unranked	PONTIFICAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF P.R.	22%
203	unranked	INTER AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO	14%

 

Comments

[Anon]

The Yale results are not an anomaly but a function the double digit percentage of graduates who clerk...I would have thought you knew that.

[anon]

Anon

Unfair snark. Dan pointed out: "Yale is #20, but that probably has more to do with the choices that students made rather than the options they encountered."

[Dan Filler]

The ABA treats judicial clerkships as LTFT JD required. Among Yale's 213 graduates, 11 were in school-funded positions and 7 more were pursuing graduate degrees. I don't assume that any of these folks were necessarily unable to get LTFT work of some sort - thus the "options" language.

[Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance King]

Stop arguing already. All of these legal jobs are moot on January 20th. President Elect Trump Tweeted tonight that his first act as Leader will be to kill all the lawyers.

[AnotherAnon]

Do these data include or exclude school-funded jobs?

[Anon]

Data should exclude school-funded, but as far as I can tell do not.

[PaulB]

The value of the data as presented is questionable. One number that jumps out is Seton Hall's ranking as #12. This reflects the huge percentage of graduates who spend their first year as a clerk to local judges in NJ. There are so many "clerks" that this is of little help in finding a quality permanent position. I believe that LST excludes state clerkships in their data presentation, even though a state Supreme Court clerkship would usually be highly beneficial for a new graduate.

[Charles Sullivan]

It's true that Seton Hall has a large number of students taking clerkship positions. It's also true that our survey of students coming out of clerkships (for the class of 2014, which means the survey was conducted in 2015) showed an employment of 96.72%. These results are basically due to successful efforts to reduce class sizes to match available employment opportunities for our graduates.

Charles A. Sullivan

[Anonymouse]

For the school noted (South Texas), there is no discrepancy between their form and the numbers in the ABA database. Both check out to 218 FTLT BPR and JDA jobs (206+12), and all of the "above the line" (i.e. the top box on the form) numbers match between the form and the database. Their form on their own ABA required disclosures web page also matches the information on the form and database on the ABA employment outcomes web page. So, not sure what happened there with the analysis...

If there ever is a discrepancy, though, the data on the individual school "form" is the more accurate, as that data generates automatically and instantly from the individual school entries on the EQ sub-page of their AQ page, so it would reflect any changes or updates (which are required to be made, as new/different information is discovered, pursuant to the ABA Protocol), whereas the full spreadsheet containing data for all schools combined is only periodically updated.

[tbk9]

I've done a similar ranking-type exercise using NALP and LST data. https://www.reddit.com/r/lawschooladmissions/comments/4obacu/calculated_law_school_employment_and_suggested/

I did some job-weighing to try and account for how different jobs are more prestigious/sought-after and to mitigate some absurd results (like Kentucky above Yale), though some still exist (like Seton Hall above Georgetown).

I also attempted to use salary data to suggest a cost of attendance, which should smooth out some other wrinkles (e.g., Baylor is ranked above USC, but that doesn't mean spending $200K at Baylor is a better option than spending $200K at USC).

It's just a quick little analysis I did and there are probably some methodology flaws, but I think it makes sense.

[John Steele]

Thomas Jefferson is No. 1 in debt load (172k) and No. 200 (of 203) in job placement rates. How has the ABA or some regulator not shut down the school yet? It makes Trump University look like a wise investment.

[anon]

John Steele

Golden Gate (add: take a look at its bar pass rates) is a contender for that coveted prize for the worst of the worst on the bottom rung.