Which Law Schools Had The Best Employment Rates In 2014?

If the statistics of lower enrollment and higher employment continue, a solid, yet perhaps narrower, path for law schools will begin to emerge in the next few years.

A couple weeks ago, I was in Colorado Springs for a few days at a small conference with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS). For those not aware, IALLS is a national, independent research center dedicated to facilitating continuous improvement and in the American legal system. They have a variety of programs and research studies focusing on lawyers, judges, and law students going on at anytime. The research study I was there to hear about, regarding the skills employers look for when hiring, won’t be on display until later this year.

But last month, IAALS did release an update to their Law Jobs: By the Numbers tool that allows you to calculate law schools’ graduate employment rates by a variety of criteria.

A couple months ago, the American Bar Association released their updated ABA 509 data which shows a variety of employment and enrollment statistics about ABA-accredited law schools. A few months ago, I went through the 509 data at the time, and noted that matriculants were nearly down across the board. Fewer people are going to law school.

Yet Alli Gerkman, head of the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyer initiative, posted some thoughts on the IAALS blog:

Generally, employment rates seem to be on the rise (though, note that comparisons to 2014 data are imperfect because schools now report employment outcomes for students at 10 months out, rather than 9 months). In 2011, only 63% of graduates landed jobs that are considered full-time/long-term and require bar passage or view a JD as an advantage. That percentage increased to 65.7% in 2012, 67.1% in 2013, and 71.1% in 2014. How did every region fare in 2014?
  1. West North Central: 79.2%
  2. Mid-Atlantic: 75.7%
  3. Mountain: 74.3%
  4. West South Central: 74.1%
  5. East South Central: 73.1%
  6. New England: 72.5%
  7. South Atlantic: 71.9%
  8. East North Central: 69.8%
  9. Pacific: 63.7%

I’m more of a visual guy. So I went in and adjusted the calculator a bit and came back with this. I selected a very narrow criteria for my selection: bar passage required, full-time, long-term employment. Here are my results in comparison to the other standard ranking systems (including ATL).

Pretty interesting results. Employment rates are up across the board, although ATL still has the lowest view of employment data. So applicants down, employment up? That’s good right? That should mean we’re heading to an equilibrium point. Some bottoming out of the barrel where we know what’s the new normal. What number of law students the U.S. can regularly graduate to fill pure lawyer employment needs, as well as the growing trend of JD-advantage jobs that are on the rise.

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What does this mean for law schools? Also not sure. Maybe they will continue to tighten their belts and become smaller institutions. Maybe some will close. Others will likely begin to adapt as Washington has with its Limited License Legal Technician program, and offer narrower degrees and programs for those wanting to work in the legal field.

I think anyone making any solid predictions at this point are probably a little premature. Yet, if the statistics of lower enrollment and higher employment continue, I think a solid, yet perhaps narrower, path for law schools will begin to emerge in the next few years. But we’ll have to wait and see.


Keith Lee practices law at Hamer Law Group, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about professional development, the law, the universe, and everything at Associate’s Mind. He is also the author of The Marble and The Sculptor: From Law School To Law Practice (affiliate link), published by the ABA. You can reach him at keith.lee@hamerlawgroup.com or on Twitter at @associatesmind.

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