Biglaw, Law Schools

The 20 Best Law Schools For Getting Biglaw Jobs

We hope your law school made the cut.

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money falling from sky bonus salary student loans paid offIf you’re in law school, it’s highly likely that when you graduate, you’ll have up to six figures of student loan debt. To service that huge debt load, you’ll need to find a job with a high salary. That’s why law students strive to nab jobs in Biglaw firms, where the starting salary for first-year associates is generally $160,000 (and might be heading higher).

But will your law school pedigree (or lack thereof) allow you to get an offer at one of these firms? Let’s find out. The National Law Journal produced several helpful charts based on employment data for the class of 2015, and one of them lists the 20 law schools that sent the highest percentage of their most recent graduating class into Biglaw jobs.

On this list, you’ll find every single law school from the T14 (with Columbia in first place, as usual, with 73.61 percent employed in Biglaw firms), but we’re not here to tell you what you already know — that graduates of top law schools get top jobs at Biglaw firms. As we did with the federal clerkship rankings, we’re going to dive a little deeper into the list and highlight the schools you may not realize are some of the top Biglaw contenders:

  • 14. UCLA Law: 40 percent employed in Biglaw firms
  • 16. Boston College Law: 38.06 percent employed in Biglaw firms
  • 17. Vanderbilt Law: 37.30 percent employed in Biglaw firms
  • 18. USC Law: 34.27 percent employed in Biglaw firms
  • 19. Fordham Law: 33.66 percent employed in Biglaw firms
  • 20. Boston U. Law: 33.65 percent employed in Biglaw firms

Click here to see the rest of the law schools with the highest percentage of graduates employed in Biglaw firms, as well as other informative charts detailing the law schools with the highest percentage of graduates working in public interest, state clerkships, government jobs, and, of course, the schools with the most unemployed graduates.

Are you a recent law school graduate who’s working at a Biglaw firm? What did your law school do to help you? We’re interested in learning about your experiences — good or bad — and may anonymously feature some of your stories on Above the Law. You can email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog. Best of luck in Biglaw!

Law Grad Employment Rates Up, But Class Size Is Smaller [National Law Journal]

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Earlier: NY To $190K: Who Will Lead The Charge?
The 20 Best Law Schools For Getting Federal Clerkships
The 20 Law Schools With The Most Unemployed Graduates

Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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