Best Law Schools for Big Law

ALM/Law.com has published its 19th annual list of “go-to” law schools for big law. Northwestern Pritzker took the top spot, ending Columbia Law’s ten-year streak at the top (pushing it to the second rank). And University of Virginia Law moved up to the third rank from 11th last year. Some schools opted not to participate, including four T14 schools: Harvard Law, Stanford Law, Yale Law, and the University of Michigan Law School. 

In addition to this movement at the top, ALM/Law.com made some adjustments to their methodology. Instead of data sourced from law firms, they used data supplied directly by law schools. 

The top 10 schools and the percentages of graduating students who went into big law are provided below. Check out the Top 50 rankings at ALM / Law.com.  

  1. Northwestern: 65.23 percent

  2. Columbia: 64.30 percent

  3. UVA: 64.08 percent

  4. Penn: 62.90 percent

  5. Cornell: 62.07 percent

  6. Duke: 55.88 percent

  7. Chicago: 54.46 percent

  8. Vanderbilt: 53.97 percent

  9. USC: 53.01 percent

  10. Georgetown: 50.80 percent

Related: Best Law Schools for Practical Training