Lawyers love rankings, and there’s nothing they love more than rankings about prestigious job placement rates and the law schools that helped graduates land those impressive jobs. Readers are in luck, because today, we’ve got yet another ranking on the subject.
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 2025 graduates who took associate positions within the Am Law 200, the nation’s top 200 law firms based on gross revenue. (Compare this to last year, when the rankings were based on the percentage of graduates who landed as associates at NLJ 500 firms, the 500 largest firms in the country.)
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. The ABA recently released the data for the class of 2025, and their success in the job market was quite strong.
That said, things are going great for the Top 10 Go-To Law Schools:
- Columbia: 75.55%
- Northwestern: 67.80%
- Penn: 66.93%
- UVA: 65.26%
- NYU: 61.87%
- Chicago: 61.11%
- UC Berkeley: 60.42%
- UCLA: 55.72%
- Vanderbilt: 55.62%
- Georgetown: 53.77%
You can access the full list of the Top 50 Go-To Law Schools by clicking here.
Columbia is back to ruling this ranking, reclaiming its decade-long roost at No. 1 after a one-year absence (namely because the school decided to participate this year, unlike last year). USC Gould, on the other hand, which landed in 4th place last year, declined to participate this year, opening up the field for other top schools. Berkeley and Georgetown might have been kicked out of the U.S. News T14, but they’re both here to play in the Top 10 for prestigious employment outcomes. Congrats!
Perhaps even more notable than these numbers are the tuition figures appended to this year’s ranking. Law school costs versus employment percentages can vary greatly. Unless you’re tied to a specific location, why pay ~$83,000 to go to a school that sends about 53% of its graduates to Biglaw when you can spend ~$59,000 less to go to a school that sends about 55% of its graduates to Biglaw?
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 2026 Top 50 Go-To Law Schools: Big Law [Law.com]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of 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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.