Best law schools for law firm employment

We honor 42 law schools based on three criteria: 1) the three-year average for law firm employment, modified for quality; 2) the salary average, using data from the National Association for Law Placement; and 3) the percentage of alumni who are recognized as Super Lawyers.

BC Law is one of the best law schools in the nation when it comes to helping graduates land jobs at law firms. It earned an A+ in our latest ranking of Best Schools for Law Firm Employment.

Super Lawyers percentage is where University of Florida Levin College of Law excels: 18.5% of alumni are recognized by the Super Lawyer rating service.

Most attorneys do not earn Super Lawyer status until they have been in practice for at least seven years. The honor is based on their professional performance, not on the prestige of their law school or their GPA.

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Still, our analysis is intended to show prospective students which law schools are geared toward helping them land a law firm job. And the most prestigious law schools fare best when it comes to employment and salaries right out of law school.

That is why such heavyweights as Cornell Law School, Duke University School of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and Columbia University are at the top of the list. Each of them received an A+ for law firm employment and an A+ for salaries right out of law school.

If your dream is to land a high-paying BigLaw job, these schools are your best options, with more than 70% of graduates landing law firm jobs.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Harvard Law School or New York University School of Law are slouches. Graduates from all the schools in our top 20 do exceptionally well when it comes to landing law firm jobs. The median is 65% for the top 20, compared to 46% for all other law schools. But even more telling, the median law firm salary for graduates of the top 20 is $172,000, compared to $93,000 for all other grads.

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But while the top of the list closely resembles a ranking of the most prestigious law schools, there are surprises — law schools that unexpectedly excel. Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Wake Forest University School of Law, Emory University School of Law and University of Houston Law Center all did well.

Each of these schools takes an approach to preparing graduates that goes above and beyond the more prestigious schools. In short, they work harder to prepare graduates for a career.

Perhaps that’s why they perform better when it comes to the number of Super Lawyers they produce. We included this metric to balance out entry-level performance with long-term success. In addition to University of Florida, No. 2 on this list, SMU Dedman School of Law is No. 6 and BC Law is No. 11.

Read the full story here.

Best Schools for Law Firm Employment

Scroll horizontally to see all columns. Click on a column with an arrow to sort by that column and click again to sort in reverse.

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Law School	3-yr Employment Avg	Law Firm Employment Grade	Salary GPA	Superlawyer GPA	Final GPA	Final Grade
Boston College	70.37%	4	4	4	4.0	A+
Columbia Law School	80.89%	4.33	4.33	3.33	4.1	A+
Cornell Law School	84.11%	4.33	4.33	3.66	4.2	A+
Duke Law School	75.78%	4.33	4.33	3.66	4.2	A+
Harvard Law School	65.38%	3.66	4.33	4	4.0	A+
Northwestern Law	76.28%	4.33	4.33	3.33	4.1	A+
University of Michigan	65.09%	3.66	4.33	4	4.0	A+
University of Pennsylvania	72.70%	4	4.33	3.33	4.0	A+
University of Virginia	72.95%	4	4.33	4	4.1	A+
USC Gould School of Law	83.93%	4.33	4	4	4.1	A+
Vanderbilt Law School	72.04%	4	4	4	4.0	A+
Boston University	66.12%	3.66	3.66	4	3.7	A
Emory University	69.83%	3.66	3.66	4	3.7	A
Georgetown University	68.16%	3.66	4.33	3	3.8	A
New York University	66.79%	3.66	4.33	3.33	3.9	A
SMU Dedman School of Law	75.87%	4.33	3.33	4	3.9	A
UC Berkeley	65.12%	3.66	4.33	3.66	3.9	A
UCLA Law	72.76%	4	4	3.66	3.9	A
University of Chicago	63.67%	3.33	4.33	4	3.9	A
University of Florida	66.66%	3.66	3.66	4	3.7	A
University of Houston	75.05%	4.33	3.33	3.33	3.7	A
University of Texas	62.01%	3.33	4	4	3.7	A
Wake Forest University	70.50%	4	3.33	4	3.7	A
Brigham Young University	60.56%	3.33	3.33	3	3.3	A-
Cardozo School of Law	64.92%	3.33	3.33	3	3.3	A-
Fordham Law School	73.67%	4	3.66	3	3.7	A-
George Washington University	60.53%	3.33	3.66	2.66	3.3	A-
Howard University	67.27%	3.66	4	1	3.3	A-
LMU Loyola Law School	71.47%	4	3	3.33	3.5	A-
Notre Dame Law School	58.53%	3	4	3.66	3.5	A-
Ohio State University	59.56%	3	3.33	3.66	3.3	A-
St. John's School of Law	60.81%	3.33	3.33	3	3.3	A-
Stanford Law School	53.03%	2.33	4	4	3.3	A-
UC Davis School of Law	57.95%	3	3.66	3	3.3	A-
UC Law SF	62.21%	3.33	3.33	3.33	3.3	A-
University of Alabama	59.80%	3	3.33	3.66	3.3	A-
University of Georgia	59.89%	3	3.33	4	3.3	A-
University of Miami	67.28%	3.66	3.33	3.33	3.5	A-
University of North Carolina	58.64%	3	3.66	3.66	3.4	A-
Villanova Law	60.46%	3.33	3.33	4	3.5	A-
Washington and Lee University	59.41%	3	3.66	4	3.5	A-
Washington University	57.72%	2.66	3.33	4	3.2	A-

Most Improved

University of Missouri – KC has seen quite an improvement in law firm employment. It has risen from 48.6% in 2022 to 70.2% in 2024. It is followed by Texas Southern University in Houston, TX, and Santa Clara Law in Santa Clara, CA. Both saw more than a 17% increase in law firm employment numbers from 2022 to 2024.

Methodology

We look at the average employment rate for the prior three years (40%), employment types (40%) and number of Super Lawyers (20%).

For employment rate, we use the ABA’s official employment statistics, which breaks employment into 12 categories. We weight each category to calculate a weighted average, not counting graduates seeking further education.

Bar passage required: Full-time, long term is counted at 100%.

Bar passage required: Full-time, short term 70%

J.D. preferred: Full-time, long term 70%

Professional position: Full-time, long term 60%

Bar passage required: Part-time, long term 50%

J.D. preferred: Part-time, long term 40%

J.D. preferred: Full-time, short term 40%

Bar passage required: Part-time, short term 30%

Professional position: Part-time, long term 30%

Professional position: Full-time, short term 30%

J.D. preferred: Part-time, short term 10%

Non-professional position: Full-time, long term 10%

All other categories received no value.