Top Law Schools

Re-did this post on 12/10/2012

All employment data from 2009 and on is available at the LST Score Reports website: http://www.lstscorereports.com

The Score Reports are an alternative to conventional rankings that sort schools based on geographical job outcomes. So, a school appears on the Mississippi state report only if the school places enough graduates in that state.

We also provide national reports, though these are not a good way to make a decision except (maybe) at the very tip top schools: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=other

List of school profiles here: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=schools
Guide to using the Score Reports: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=guides&show=12
The (Lack of) Value of the U.S. News Rankings: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=guides&show=13

According to the ABA data from 197 law schools:

Full-time, Long-Term Legal Jobs:
These jobs are either in judicial chambers or require an active law license; and at least 35 hours per week and have an expected duration of at least one year.

The overall full-time, long-term legal rate is 55.2%.

At 73 law schools (37.4%), less than 50% of graduates had these legal jobs.

• 30 schools (15.4%) had less than 40%
• 10 schools (5.1%) had less than a 33%

89 schools (45.6%) exceeded the national rate of 55.2%.

• 31 schools (15.9%) had more than 67%
• 19 schools (9.7%) had more than 75%
• 5 schools (2.6%) had more than 90%

Underemployed:
We define a graduate as underemployed when he or she is “Unemployed – Seeking”, pursuing an additional advanced degree, in a non-professional job, or employed in a short-term or part-time job.

The overall underemployment rate is 26.4%.

180 schools (92.3%) reported a rate greater than 10%.

• 144 schools (73.8%) were greater than 20%
• 109 schools (55.9%) were greater than 25%
• 57 schools (29.2%) were greater than 33%
• 20 schools (10.3%) were greater than 40%

Large Firms (at least 101 attorneys):

8.5% of graduates were employed at large firms in full-time, long-term positions.

At only 45 schools (23.1%) were more than 10% in these jobs.

• 20 schools (10.3%) were greater than 20%
• 11 schools (7.7%) were greater than 33%
• 3 schools were over half – Columbia, Northwestern, and Penn.

I really would like to know what these "JD advantage" jobs are. Can someone shed light on what that means?

The “J.D. Advantage” category includes jobs as paralegals, law school admissions officers, and a host of jobs. A graduate falls into this category when the employer sought an individual with a J.D. (and perhaps even required a J.D.), or for which the J.D. provided a demonstrable advantage in obtaining or performing the job, but the job itself does not require bar passage, an active law license, or involve practicing law.

RedBirds2011 wrote:I really would like to know what these "JD advantage" jobs are. Can someone shed light on what that means?

School funded employment or anything where a post graduate degree is required (of any type). Desirable outcomes include things like contract negotiations for companies or consulting, but those jobs are few and far between.

Keep up the good work LST bros, we appreciate it.

jenesaislaw wrote: Large Firms (at least 101 attorneys):

8.5% of graduates were employed at large firms in full-time, long-term positions.

At only 32 schools (16.2%) were more than 10% in these jobs.

• 19 schools (9.6%) were greater than 20%
• 11 schools (5.6%) were greater than 33%
• 2 schools were over half – Columbia and Penn.

Isn't NYU over half? 240+30+11 = 281, which is > half of 497, no? Same with Harvard? Haven't bothered to check others, but I think it's more than 2...

NJPitcher wrote:

jenesaislaw wrote: Large Firms (at least 101 attorneys):

8.5% of graduates were employed at large firms in full-time, long-term positions.

At only 32 schools (16.2%) were more than 10% in these jobs.

• 19 schools (9.6%) were greater than 20%
• 11 schools (5.6%) were greater than 33%
• 2 schools were over half – Columbia and Penn.

Isn't NYU over half? 240+30+11 = 281, which is > half of 497, no? Same with Harvard? Haven't bothered to check others, but I think it's more than 2...

Just checked Virginia and Chicago. They were both over half as well.

the individual reports are still c/o 2010

f0bolous wrote:the individual reports are still c/o 2010

It WAS working for a second, they probably took it down to fix a bug.

f0bolous wrote:the individual reports are still c/o 2010

Yea, the recent ones were up momentarily and then they took them back down.


Edit: scooped

Greenandgold wrote:

NJPitcher wrote:

jenesaislaw wrote: Large Firms (at least 101 attorneys):

8.5% of graduates were employed at large firms in full-time, long-term positions.

At only 32 schools (16.2%) were more than 10% in these jobs.

• 19 schools (9.6%) were greater than 20%
• 11 schools (5.6%) were greater than 33%
• 2 schools were over half – Columbia and Penn.

Isn't NYU over half? 240+30+11 = 281, which is > half of 497, no? Same with Harvard? Haven't bothered to check others, but I think it's more than 2...

Just checked Virginia and Chicago. They were both over half as well.

So is NU

What's with Unemployed - Not Seeking ? You just did law school for funzies?

justonemoregame wrote:What's with Unemployed - Not Seeking ? You just did law school for funzies?

Given up? Idk...

You guys are looking at the wrong year.

JNSL - mah boiii

justonemoregame wrote:What's with Unemployed - Not Seeking ? You just did law school for funzies?

Got married & pregnant, staying home with the kid.
Won the lottery.
Became seriously ill/disabled.

rinkrat19 wrote:

justonemoregame wrote:What's with Unemployed - Not Seeking ? You just did law school for funzies?

Got married & pregnant, staying home with the kid.
Won the lottery.
Became seriously ill/disabled.

Mommy and Daddy really wanted them to go to law school, so they went and then went back to living off the trust fund.

RedBirds2011 wrote:I really would like to know what these "JD advantage" jobs are. Can someone shed light on what that means?

It also includes policy-type jobs, and advocacy-type work. Government and nonprofit stuff where everyone who does it IS a lawyer, but technically you don't have to be because you will never represent or advise anyone or sign legal documents. Legislative work too.

Update: they're working on fixing the error.

I've got the data downloaded from when it was working. I'm trying to set up a graph like we've got for the 2010 data. I'll post it when I'm finished.

Worked for me @ 3:33 CST

Greenandgold wrote:I've got the data downloaded from when it was working. I'm trying to set up a graph like we've got for the 2010 data. I'll post it when I'm finished.

TYIA!

sjwest wrote:Worked for me @ 3:33 CST

The site works. The most recent data is just not up right now.

jenesaislaw wrote:You guys are looking at the wrong year.

It says 2011 on the Harvard sheet I'm looking at. Is this not class of 2011? It's reporting 288/26/19 for 501/251/101, with 589 graduates. But wrong year?

NJPitcher wrote:

jenesaislaw wrote:You guys are looking at the wrong year.

It says 2011 on the Harvard sheet I'm looking at. Is this not class of 2011? It's reporting 288/26/19 for 501/251/101, with 589 graduates. But wrong year?

2011 refers to the year the data were collected, not class year. Confusing, but changing hopefully.