JD News: Job Market for Law Grads Looks Grim
July 10th, 2012
By Manhattan LSAT instructor and jdMission senior consultant Mary Adkins
Have law schools been misleading with their job-placement statistics? Recently released American Bar Association (ABA) statistics suggest so. For the first time, the ABA reported data revealing how many law graduates at accredited schools secured full-time attorney jobs within nine months after graduation.
The Wall Street Journal published an analysis of the data that paints a grim picture of employment rates for new law school graduates. The numbers suggest that the job market for law grads is worse than previously thought. Nationwide, only 55% of the class of 2011 had full-time, long-term jobs that required a law degree nine months after graduation. The ABA defines “long-term” jobs as those that have a term of more than one year.
What is not surprising about the WSJ analysis is that students at top schools don’t have nearly as much difficulty finding work as students at lower-tier schools do, generally. More interesting are the exceptions. Among the schools that reported that over 80% of their classes landed full-time lawyer positions were Louisiana State and George Washington, with St. Mary’s and Mississippi College, and a few others, not far behind.
With respect to job placement, something is distinguishing these schools from those in their same tier. Local relationships? Goals of the graduates? Check out the interactive graph and see what you think.
Posted in JD News