The 20 Law Schools With The Most Unemployed Graduates

Which law schools landed themselves on this uneviable list?

Too many recent law grads are wearing this name badge.

Many recent law grads wear this name badge.

In the past, the American Bar Association released law school employment statistics nine months after graduation. It was like a birth story of sorts — recent graduates had nine months to carry their fledgling careers to full term, and after their diligent laboring in search of employment, they’d have beautiful entry-level jobs.

After the recession hit, that was no longer the case. Career prospects were being aborted left and right. Entry-level employment for recent graduates were few and far between, and law school administrators blamed the ABA for not giving their alumni enough time to find a job. The ABA eventually caved to law school deans’ demands, and began compiling law school employment statistics 10 months after graduation.

Has this solved the unemployment problem for recent law school graduates?

Thanks to smaller law school class sizes, it looks like things have improved, when in reality, they have not. Ten months after the class of 2015 graduated, 59.3 percent had long-term, full-time jobs that required bar passage, compared with 57.9 percent for the class of 2014. The job market has not improved much, if at all — the only thing that improved was the fact that there was a nine percent drop in the number of new law school graduates flooding the market in search of employment.

The National Law Journal produced several helpful charts based on law school employment data for the class of 2015. Today, we will highlight the most alarming chart of all, the 20 law schools with the highest percentage of unemployed graduates. Here are the the top 10 law schools on that chart for your sadistic viewing pleasure:

  1. Southwestern Law: 30.55 percent unemployed
  2. Florida Coastal Law: 28.36 percent unemployed
  3. Santa Clara Law: 28.31 percent unemployed
  4. Liberty U. Law: 26.23 percent unemployed
  5. Thomas Jefferson Law: 26.14 percent unemployed
  6. U. San Francisco Law: 24.70 percent unemployed
  7. Cooley Law: 23.55 percent unemployed
  8. Pacific McGeorge Law: 22.81 percent unemployed
  9. St. Thomas U. Law: 22.42 percent unemployed
  10. Charlotte Law: 22.37 percent unemployed

Sponsored

That was depressing.

Click here to see the rest of the law schools with the highest percentage of unemployed graduates, as well as other informative charts detailing the law schools with the highest percentage of graduates working in Biglaw and in state and federal clerkships.

Are you a recent law school graduate who hasn’t been able to find a job? What has your law school done 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 your job search!

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

Earlier: Now That There Aren’t As Many Law Students, Hiring Has Stabilized (NALP 2016)

Sponsored


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.