Summary: The Princeton Review has released its list of the best law schools for gainful employment.
If you are set on going to law school, and won’t be dissuaded by horror stories of a tepid market that snubs its nose at eager JDs, then you’d better do it right. Just as aspiring guitarists can’t be half-assed to make it in the music world, if you are going to be a successful lawyer you better make sure you are in a top-tier law school. The latest edition of The Best 169 Law Schools, 2015 Edition, has presently been released by the Princeton Review and will help you make your choice.
Why not settle for the law school down the street? Why aspire for the best? Consider the market. It’s horrible. Notoriously horrible. In 2012 only 56.2 percent of JDs had landed long term jobs requiring a law degree; in 2013 that figure was at 57 percent. That means the rest are probably in no position to pay of the huge debt law schools exact, and what’s worse, unemployment for law grads is at 11.2 percent, double the national average of 5.9 percent. If you are serious about making it in law, don’t go to anything but the best law schools.
Why is this? Consider the sorts of career prospects coming from the upper ups. The Princeton Review placed Northwestern as their No. 1. With 94 percent of their 284 graduates in 2013 employed in law, they are not the very top of all law schools, but the Princeton Review considered also survey results from students who rated their school in terms of opportunities for judicial externships, clerkships, and the morale students felt after graduation. Considering these surveys, Northwestern came as a certain number 1.
Not only have 94 percent of students realized their dreams in lawful employment, but the median starting salary of $160,000 was certain to offer relief for the average graduate debt of $156,000.
Following Northwestern came Berkeley, also with a 94 percent employment, and comments that they are in a “constant arms race to be better positioned for firm hiring,” as Forbes reported. Their “name has street cred,” and their Career Development Office “can and will help you find a job.”
The Princeton Review ranked the University of Chicago Law School in third place with 97 percent of its 2013 class employed in law, and with a median starting salary of 160,000, just as the No.1 and No. 2 schools.
If you are serious about becoming a lawyer, don’t wait till you graduate to make the extra effort: invest your time and resources into getting into the best school possible. This will ensure that you won’t graduate saddled with debt but nowhere to go.