Top Law Schools

Which school places best nationally in Biglaw?

Not sure, but my best guess would be finishing top 10% or better at those schools.

BU and BC place a ton in biglaw, but most regionally.
Notre Dame doesn't place as much as a percentage of the class, but definitely has more national reach.
Illinois does very well in Chicago biglaw, and probably gives you access to Milwaukee, St. Louis, Indianapolis as well, but clearly it's quite regional (though excellent).
GW will do well from the Mid-Atlantic to the NE.
Indiana is pretty limited, and Iowa wasn't included in your poll, but is similar.
I think Iowa has a bit more reach than Indiana, but there isn't that much in the way of biglaw in Iowa (plus Drake in Des Moines takes a bit away from even that pool).
WUSTL has great reach in the Midwest, but really isn't a biglaw powerhouse. William and Mary does well in the Mid-Atlantic and near SE, but definitely not much national reach.
Minnesota does not have much national reach, but obviously can own Minneapolis all day long, which is a nice market.
Emory has better national reach than most of the midwest schools it seems.

I'd rank the top 3 (just for national reach): ND, GW, BU
Top 3 for best access to market-rate biglaw: BU, BC, GW

I think fordham should also be in the discussion. They place really well in NYC.

Based on actual data, it looks like GW.
http://www.calvin.edu/admin/csr/student ... w/data.htm

I know the links posted here showing the raw data are (or seem to be) the best sources of info we have, but it needs to be said that they're hopelessly out of date. The truth is, we're only just starting to see how things work since the downturn in Fall '08.

As an Illinois 2L, I can assure you things are bad. The class of 2010 seems to have scraped by: one 3L friend of mine with top 1/3 grades has his Chicago big firm job. As for my class (2011), we're generally fucked, and getting used to the idea of being "real lawyers" (small firm types). Friends of mine in the top 10%, who are on law review, are summering at mid-sized firms, not at big ones.

The real question for the current applicant pool is: Will things turn around for the class of 2013? The general wisdom: It should be better for the current 1Ls and the next incoming class, but we don't know how much better. The bottom line: those graphs are still the best indicators available for how you'll do graduating from each school, but don't expect the 2005 data to match 2013. It won't be as good.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/fashi ... ef=fashion -- this should put things in perspective).

ArtVandelay wrote:Which school places best nationally in Biglaw?

Research will tell you much more than a TLS poll.

Either pick a market, or pick the school that gives you the best shot at big law even if you live somewhere you don't want.

To answer your question Notre Dame, but I'd probably pick BC/BU or GW.

Or more realistically which ever is cheapest after scholarships.

This is a post I made months ago, I'm too lazy to go through all of the schools listed. This is the best way I could think of then. It is not perfect, there is no claim that it is accurate, its just an observation

distilled List by State of (9384) Fordham grads, courtesy of http://www.martindale.com. Obviously no way to know what class years these are.

71 international

California (280)
Connecticut (359)
District of Columbia (196)
Florida (215)
Illinois (69)
Massachusetts (104)
New Jersey (967)
New York (6340)
North Carolina (45)
Pennsylvania (121)
Texas (66)
Virginia (69)
Washington (29)

BC. = 6717 results

43 international

California (331)
Connecticut (223)
District of Columbia (284)
Florida (161)
Illinois (106)
Maine (131)
Maryland (51)
Massachusetts (3144)
New Hampshire (195)
New Jersey (204)
New York (741)
Ohio (64)
Pennsylvania (128)
Rhode Island (184)
Texas (70)
Vermont (57)
Virginia (72)
Washington (40)

BU. = 10206 results.

102 international

California (692)
Colorado (81)
Connecticut (439)
District of Columbia (440)
Florida (339)
Hawaii (38)
Illinois (244)
Maine (229)
Maryland (100)
Massachusetts (3275)
Michigan (86)
New Hampshire (304)
New Jersey (391)
New York (1732)
Ohio (117)
Pennsylvania (255)
Rhode Island (318)
Texas (122)
Vermont (111)
Virginia (92)
Washington (91)

kurguzy wrote:http://www.law.com/pdf/nlj/20080414empl ... trends.pdf

Good chart, but NLJ / NALP 250 placement is not the same as national placement. Indeed, Fordham and GW place very well into big law, but don't place particularily well nationally. ND continues to place the best nationally amongst the schools listed.

chadwick218 wrote:

kurguzy wrote:http://www.law.com/pdf/nlj/20080414empl ... trends.pdf

Good chart, but NLJ / NALP 250 placement is not the same as national placement. Indeed, Fordham and GW place very well into big law, but don't place particularily well nationally. ND continues to place the best nationally amongst the schools listed.

That's what makes this difficult. GW places well in BigLaw but a lot of that is in DC, where I don't particularly want to be. I'm trying to figure out which school would have an edge in a "neutral" city.

thexfactor wrote:I think fordham should also be in the discussion. They place really well in NYC.

The title is "most national school."

I am surprised to see BU with 21% of the vote (tied with GW and well ahead of the likes of WUSTL) if we are truly speaking of "national" placement outside of the northeast.

ArtVandelay wrote:

chadwick218 wrote:

kurguzy wrote:http://www.law.com/pdf/nlj/20080414empl ... trends.pdf

Good chart, but NLJ / NALP 250 placement is not the same as national placement. Indeed, Fordham and GW place very well into big law, but don't place particularily well nationally. ND continues to place the best nationally amongst the schools listed.

That's what makes this difficult. GW places well in BigLaw but a lot of that is in DC, where I don't particularly want to be. I'm trying to figure out which school would have an edge in a "neutral" city.

I'm guessing this would be ND. As others have alluded to, BC BU and GW all have great BigLaw placement, but I don't think it's very national. The Boston schools do well in Boston and GW does well D.C., but that doesn't really make them "National".

That said, outside of the T14, you're probably better off picking a school that places particularly well in a region you like. ITE, I wouldn't bet on a T30 for national placement.