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Noticed folks saying that WUSTL's biglaw + fed clerk rate is now 60% and US News shows a jump in median private sector starting salary from $125k to $162k. Is the economy opening up more biglaw jobs in StL/KC? Or is WashU becoming more of a national reach school?

Looks like everyone saw a jump in their numbers this year. Depending on how optimistic you are, it means that the legal hiring market is booming or that another downturn is imminent.

cavalier1138 wrote:Looks like everyone saw a jump in their numbers this year.

This is pretty much the whole story. To their credit, WashU has poured a ton of money and effort into 1) attracting the best students they can and 2) getting the attention of NY/Chicago employers, which makes them outsize beneficiaries of a good economy. It's hard to say how durable the effect will be if legal hiring contracts and the T13 graduating class is once again enough to satisfy demand.

ETA: Fordham also had an insane year, which strongly implies that the demand is coming from NY

WUSTL's long been a strong school, and I think it's on the upswing. That said, it's still very much a T20, and based on how the T20 have historically fared during recessions (they were hit disproportionately hard post-2008), and given the strong likelihood that we will experience another recession in the next few years, I would be wary of overrelying on any T20's current placement numbers.

olemiss18 wrote:Noticed folks saying that WUSTL's biglaw + fed clerk rate is now 60% and US News shows a jump in median private sector starting salary from $125k to $162k. Is the economy opening up more biglaw jobs in StL/KC? Or is WashU becoming more of a national reach school?

The datas out, Wustl misled the people at the ASD. Their biglaw + fed clerk rate is 52%(still very good). When the said 60%, they meant out of their employed gratduates 60% had biglaw + fed clerk + state/local clerk (came to about 59%).

macejames7 wrote:

olemiss18 wrote:Noticed folks saying that WUSTL's biglaw + fed clerk rate is now 60% and US News shows a jump in median private sector starting salary from $125k to $162k. Is the economy opening up more biglaw jobs in StL/KC? Or is WashU becoming more of a national reach school?

The datas out, Wustl misled the people at the ASD. Their biglaw + fed clerk rate is 52%(still very good). When the said 60%, they meant out of their employed gratduates 60% had biglaw + fed clerk + state/local clerk (came to about 59%).

Is this as egregious as it sounds? Was the initial statement in writing?

objctnyrhnr wrote:

macejames7 wrote:

olemiss18 wrote:Noticed folks saying that WUSTL's biglaw + fed clerk rate is now 60% and US News shows a jump in median private sector starting salary from $125k to $162k. Is the economy opening up more biglaw jobs in StL/KC? Or is WashU becoming more of a national reach school?

The datas out, Wustl misled the people at the ASD. Their biglaw + fed clerk rate is 52%(still very good). When the said 60%, they meant out of their employed gratduates 60% had biglaw + fed clerk + state/local clerk (came to about 59%).

Is this as egregious as it sounds? Was the initial statement in writing?

I wasn't at the ASD, so i'm getting second had accounts. From what I understand the dean announced this at ASD, so no writing. He said biglaw and clerk 60%/public interest 15% (which I believe turned out to be 14% if you include gov jobs).

I don’t think that’s an egregious misrepresentation.

Yeah, it's pretty common to fold state clerkships into a total "clerkship" number for promotional materials. It's necessary to hive off federal judges specifically when comparing law schools for a number of reasons, so it's de rigueur on websites like this one, but any kind of clerkship is a fine outcome for most people.

The Lsat Airbender wrote:Yeah, it's pretty common to fold state clerkships into a total "clerkship" number for promotional materials. It's necessary to hive off federal judges specifically when comparing law schools for a number of reasons, so it's de rigueur on websites like this one, but any kind of clerkship is a fine outcome for most people.

I agree with this. I don’t find that egregious at all.