Here at Above the Law, we try to pay attention to every sector of legal employment. We often find ourselves skewed rather heavily toward Biglaw, but as we all know, not everyone wants to work in Biglaw — including some of the people who are ensconced in high-paying Biglaw jobs themselves.
Imagine a place where you won’t be shackled to the billable hour. Imagine a place where you’ll get all government holidays off without having to worry about showing up just for the sake of appearances. Imagine a place where your clients are people, not corporate entities. If that seems nice to you, it’s because it is.
Today, we’re going to open the floodgates for the members of our audience, prospective law students in particular, who aspire to some day work in government and public interest jobs. Which law schools should you be considering if you’d like to have the best odds of reaching your goal?
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Along with its collection of data as to the law schools with the highest unemployment rates, the National Law Journal compiled a list of the 20 law schools with the highest placement rates for the class of 2012 in government jobs (like prosecutors) and public interest jobs (like public defenders).
Without further ado, here are the top 10 law schools from that list, in all of their star-spangled glory:
To see all 20 law schools with the highest government and public interest placement rates, click here.
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Georgetown is the only member of the T14 that cracked the top 10 here, and it comes in at #6. You’ll find that other highly regarded law schools that preach their commitment to public interest, schools like NYU and UVA, are ranked further down on the NLJ’s list, with NYU at #13 and UVA at #19. Perhaps graduates from the rest of our top law schools were too busy IMMERSING THEMSELVES IN THE STUDY OF PRESTIGE to consider working for their government or assisting the poor.
What’s interesting (read: so very, very obvious) here is that when looking at the top 20 list as a whole, we see that there’s a very large concentration of law schools that are clustered in Washington, D.C. and Virginia (e.g., William and Mary; GW; Georgetown; George Mason; American; Howard; UVA). This may be news to you, but apparently it’s good to be close to our nation’s capital, which also serves as a booming 501(c)(3) hub, if you want to get a government job or work as a nonprofit attorney. Mind: blown.
Was your alma mater able to earn a place on this list? Are these really the best law schools to go to if you’re interested in working in government or public interest? Let us know your thoughts.
Law Schools With the Highest Placement Rate in Government & Public Interest Jobs
[National Law Journal]