Law Schools

The Best Law Schools For Getting A Biglaw Job (2021)

This is a great way for current and prospective law students to gauge their employment prospects.

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Rankings season is upon us, and many publications are rolling out their best offerings for readers’ perusal in advance of the release of the 2022 U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings.

For more than a decade, Law.com has published a list of the best law schools to go to if you want to work in Biglaw after graduation. Law.com refers to these institutions of higher education as the “go-to law schools,” and this year, they’re ranked by the percentage of 2020 graduates who took associate positions at the 100 largest law firms based on attorney head count.

Before we get to the list of the go-to law schools, it’s worthwhile to speak about the landscape for entry-level employment in the legal profession. Despite the pandemic, the class of 2020 actually did quite well when it came to securing Biglaw jobs — but they may be the last class to have such luck. Law.com has more info:

The J.D. class of 2020 looks to be the last to enjoy what has been a historically strong Big Law hiring market. Data from NALP indicate that the largest law firms had already started to pull back on summer associate hiring even before the pandemic, and those firms are likely to remain conservative in hiring new associates until the pandemic picture becomes clearer, say law firm career services officials. And many law schools are also slowly increasing the size of their classes, which means a smaller percentage of future graduating classes will snag Big Law associate jobs.

That said, things are looking swell for the Go-To Law Schools. Here are the Top 10:

  1. Columbia Law: 65 percent
  2. Northwestern Law: 59 percent
  3. Cornell Law: 56 percent
  4. Penn Law: 55 percent
  5. NYU Law: 53 percent (253 graduates)
  6. Duke Law: 53 percent (113 graduates)
  7. U. Chicago Law: 53 percent (107 graduates)
  8. UVA Law: 52 percent
  9. UC Berkeley Law: 45 percent
  10. Harvard Law: 44 percent

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You can access the full list of the Top 50 Go-To Law Schools by clicking here.

With 65 percent of its graduates heading to Biglaw firms after graduation, Columbia has ruled this ranking for the past eight years. The top five schools look a little different from last year’s ranking, with Cornell rising from ninth place to clinch the bronze medal. Northwestern and Penn switched places, while NYU and UVA sank (by two spots and three spots, respectively), with Harvard remaining as the Biglaw jobs caboose. It’s worth mentioning the fact that clerkship placements aren’t considered in this ranking, which is likely the reason why Stanford doesn’t make a Top 10 appearance and why Yale is just chilling outside the Top 15 on this list.

Law.com also has a list of “Firm Favorites,” noting the law schools that specific firms recruited most heavily from. Here are some highlights from that list:

Kirkland & Ellis: Northwestern (24)
Cleary Gottlieb: Harvard (22)
Ropes & Gray: Boston U. (19)
Skadden: Columbia (19)

Perhaps even more notable than these numbers are the tuition figures appended to this year’s rankings. While the total costs aren’t wildly different, the employment percentages are. Why pay ~$62,000 to go to a school that sends 30 percent of its graduates to Biglaw when you can spend ~$25,000 less to go to a school that sends about the same percentage of its graduates to Biglaw?

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Either way you slice it, this list is incredibly useful. It’s a great way for law students, both current and prospective, to gauge their employment prospects. Use these rankings wisely — or ignore them, at your peril.

The Top 50 Go-To Law Schools [Law.com]
Columbia Reigns Supreme in Big Law Hiring, But Northwestern, Cornell Came on Strong in 2020 [Law.com]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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