If you’ve been dreaming of becoming an associate at a Biglaw firm after graduating from law school, there are some schools that will make that dream a lot easier to achieve.
The American Bar Association recently released new employment data for the Class of 2023, and thanks to an analysis made by Reuters, we now know which law schools sent the highest percentage of graduates into jobs at Biglaw firms — i.e., firms with 251 or more lawyers — within 10 months of receiving their degrees. (N.B. This ranking differs from Law.com’s Go-To ranking, which lists the percentage of 2023 graduates who took associate positions at the 100 largest law firms based on attorney head count.)
Cornell has been the leader of the pack when it comes to Biglaw employment in recent years, taking the No. 1 spot for the classes of 2021 and 2022. For the class of 2023, however, the title has been snatched away from Cornell. Which school is now in the top spot on this ranking?
Product Spotlight: Lexis® Verdict & Settlement Analyzer
Put away the guesswork—Lexis® Verdict & Settlement Analyzer helps legal professionals assess case potential with confidence by using data-driven insights from the industry’s largest collection of verdicts and settlements.
Without further ado, these are the top 10 schools for Biglaw employment:
- Columbia: 75.88%
- Northwestern: 70.14%
- Penn: 69.35%
- Cornell: 68.97%
- UVA: 67.96%
- Duke: 64.29%
- USC Gould: 61.75%
- Georgetown: 60.58%
- Vanderbilt: 60.50%
- Chicago: 59.62%
You can access the full list by clicking here.
Congratulations to all of these top schools on helping their graduates get top jobs at top Biglaw firms. Check back with us next year to see if Columbia is able to hold onto the lead.
Context Windows In Legal AI And Why Content Still Determines Quality
Legal teams ask a practical question. If large language models are so capable, why does legal AI still depend on curated content, and why does surfacing that content matter so much?
These law schools sent the most graduates into Big Law jobs in 2023 [Reuters]
Staci 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 X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.