The American Lawyer asked survey respondents to rate their law schools on how well the schools prepared them for Biglaw life. Here are the top 10 law schools on that score (note the various ties):
1. Duke
1. Michigan
3. Loyola – L.A.
4. Stanford
4. Chicago
6. William and Mary
7. Emory
7. Vanderbilt
9. UVA
10. Northwestern
As Am Law notes, “[a]t the top, there was some overlap with the latest U.S. News & World Report law school rankings: The University of Michigan Law School, Duke Law School, Stanford Law School, the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law all make the top 10 on both lists.” All of these schools are top-25 schools according to the U.S. News rankings (and also the Above the Law rankings) with the exception of Loyola (#87 on the U.S. News list).
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And here are the bottom 10 law schools (again, note the ties):
1. Villanova
2. University of Washington
3. Seton Hall
4. American
5. Cardozo
5. Loyola – Chicago
7. Hastings
8. Brooklyn
9. Georgetown
9. Boston College
It’s harder to generalize about these schools. They’re not as highly ranked as the top-10 schools, but they do include some fairly well-ranked schools, including Georgetown and BC.
All in all, it’s nice to see how happy Biglaw associates are these days — especially midlevel associates, who have survived the early years of drudgery that might be responsible for giving Biglaw a bad rap. Relatively few law school graduates can land jobs at top law firms, but for those who can break in, Biglaw seems to be getting better.
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The Keys to Midlevels Satisfaction [American Lawyer]
The Best Places to Work [American Lawyer]
Which Schools Produce the Most Satisfied Big-Firm Lawyers? [American Lawyer]
Earlier: People Are Thrilled To Work In Biglaw — Except The Women (2013)
The Am Law Midlevel Survey Is Out, and Associates Are Happy for the First Time in Years (2012)
The Best Law Firms To Work For (2015)