The Ivy League school sent a higher percentage of its 2022 graduates into jobs at large law firms than any other U.S. law school, new data from the American Bar Association shows. Cornell took the top spot in 2021 as well.
Nearly 80% of Cornell’s 2022 juris doctors landed jobs at firms of 251 or more lawyers within 10 months of graduation, up from 76% the previous year.
Columbia Law School was second highest, sending 78% of its 2022 graduates to large firms. Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law was third at more than 68%. Duke Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School finished out the top five with large firm hiring rates of 67% and 66%, respectively.
The ABA on Tuesday released a wealth of data on the class of 2022’s employment outcomes, and the numbers reflect a strong job market for those graduates. Nearly 78% of last year’s new juris doctors found employment that requires bar passage within 10 months of leaving campus — up from about 76% among the class of 2021. That employment rate was higher than the class of 2019, which was the last cohort to enter the job market before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Akua Akyea, associate dean for career development at Cornell Law, attributed the hiring success of graduates from the Ithaca, New York, school to its students who are “problem solvers” sought by law firms.
Reuters analyzed the data to determine which law schools had the highest percentage of 2021 graduates who landed jobs at firms of 251 or more lawyers. Most of these large firms specialize in representing companies in transactions
