Graduate Employment Outcomes

Overview

This chart includes an overview of the employment data for the 2018-2022 graduating classes. You will also find more detailed employment data in the sections below. To view the official ABA reports for the past 3 graduating classes, click the following links.

Class of 2022 Official ABA Graduate Report
Class of 2021 Official ABA Graduate Report
Class of 2020 Official ABA Graduate Report

Information on employment outcomes for the Class of 2020 may not reflect a particular law school’s typical results in this area. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, bar admission exams were canceled or delayed in many jurisdictions, thus making it more challenging for graduates to secure employment by the annual Graduate Employment Status Date of March 15. Please reference the 3 years of employment outcome data posted on the ABA Required Disclosures webpage of each ABA-Approved Law School or at www.abarequireddisclosures.org.

JD 2022 JD 2021 JD 2020 JD 2019 JD 2018
Total Graduates 189 184 182 182 193
Employed 183 178 175 178 188
 Bar Passage Required 168 164 167 167 175
 JD Advantage 10 12 8 9 12
Professional Position 5 2 0 2 1
 Non-Professional 0 0 0 0 0
 Undeterminable 0 0 0 0 0
Pursuing Graduate Degree 5 5 1 2 4
Unemployed: Not seeking 0 0 1 1 0
Unemployed: Seeking 1 1 3 1 1
Unemployed: Start Date Deferred 0 0 1 0 0
Employment Status Unknown 0 1 0 0  0

Employer Type

Employment status is collected for 100% of graduating classes; 9 months after graduation.

 JD 2022 JD 2021 JD 2020 JD 2019 JD 2018
Law Firm Overall 47.55% 52.4% 42.14% 54.29% 49.45%
 Size: 500+ 37.70% 34.83% 42.29% 41.21% 47.87%
 Size: 251-500 0.55% 7% 1.69% 4.95% 1.59%
 Size: 1-250 9.30% 5.62% 6.85% 3.30% 1.06%
 Size: Unknown 0% 0 0 0 0
Judicial Clerkships 27.87% 32.58% 27.43% 30.77% 30.85%
Public Interest 14.75% 14.05% 12% 8.24% 4.78%
Government 4.37% 6.74% 1.71% 3.85% 4.78%
Business 5.46% 3.93% 4.57% 4.95% 5.32%
Academia 0% 0.50% 0.56 0.55% 1.06%
Graduate School 2.65% 2.03% 2.72% 0.55% 1.10%
Start Date Deferred 0 0.5% 0% 0% 0
Unemployed: Seeking 1.52% 0.54% 1.65% 0.55% .52%
Unemployed: Not Seeking 0.53% 0.55% 0.55% 0% 1.52%
Unknown 0 0 0.55% 0 0

Clerkship Specific

Clerkship status is collected for each class at 9 months after graduation.

JD 2022 JD 2021 JD 2020 JD 2019 JD 2018
Graduates reporting a clerkship as a first job 27% 31% 27% 31% 31%
Graduates reporting a clerkship starting at any time 40% 44% 43% 40% 37%
Clerks reporting multiple clerkships 22% 36% 31% 40% 31%

Region

Number of students per region; information collected for all employed graduates.

JD 2022 JD 2021 JD 2020 JD 2019 JD 2018
SF & Other Bay Area 62 47 48 50 58
LA & Other Southern CA 24 14 15 23 32
Other West
(AZ, NM, UT,CO, WY, ID, AK, HI, NV, WA, OR, MT)
12 15 17 20 11
NY & Other Northeast
(ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI)
30 36 28 28 32
DC & Other Mid-Atlantic
(NJ, DE, PA, MD, VA)
29 36 35 31 25
Chicago & Other Midwest
(OH, IN, IL, MO, KS, NE, IA, ND, SD, MI, MN, WI)
11 13 12 11 11
Southeast
(WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, TN, KY, AR, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, PR)
14 15 19 15 15
International 1 2 1 0 4

Salary

The chart below shows the salary range, median salaries and total number of graduates reporting salary for the last five graduating classes. To protect student privacy, salary information is not reported where fewer than 5 students reported their salary.

JD 2021$95k – $215k
$215k
74/74$55,756 – $78,861
$71,697
58/58$54k – $84,348
$60,000
22/25$67,000 – $121,000
$67,224
7/12<5,
<5,
2/7

Class Year Law Firms Clerkships Public Interest Government Business
JD 2022 $75k – $215k
$215k
82/87
$66,214– $88,318
$72,340
51/51/td>
$48k – $120k
$60,000
19/27
$60k – $130k
$83k
7/8
$190k – $500k
$260k
7/10
JD 2020 $70k – $200k
$190k
93/95
$64,009 – $78,081
$70,987
49/49
$45k – $67k
$51k
16/22
<5,
<5,
2/3
<5,
<5,
2/8
JD 2019 $95k – $215k
$190k
86/90
$61,218 – $73,905
$66,110
55/56
$45k – $63500
$50,000
11/16
<5,
<5,
4/7
$100,00 – $205,000
$130,000
5/8
JD 2018 $165k – $190k
$190k
96/100
$44,385 – $73,905
$67,856
57/58
$45k – $75k
$45k
9/11
<5,
<5,
4/9
<5,
<5,
4/10

Miscellaneous

JD Advantage Positions

See below for information on the jobs classified as JD Advantage for the class of 2014 – 2021

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</tableProfessional Other PositionsSee below for information on the jobs classified as professional other for the class of 2014 – 2021

Post PhD PositionsSee below for information on the first post-PhD positions for SLS joint degree PhD students for the class of 2014 – 2021

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C-suite Consulting Corporate Management Fellowship Finance Government Non-legal Position Research Position Miscellaneous
Number of Positions 7 7 13 11 11 7 3 3
 Position Examples Founder, VP, COO Consultant Operations, Business Development, Product Strategy Academic Fellow, Non-Profit Fellow I-Banking, Private Equity, Venture Capital Director, Special Advisor, Campaign Staffer Academic Researcher, Non-Profit Researcher Engineer, Reporter
Business Development C-Suite Consulting Corporate Management Finance Misc.
Number of Positions 2 3 1 7 4 5
 Position Examples Business Development CEO, Head of Enterprise, VP of Finance Consultant Marketing, Strategy, Product Development, Operations, Engagement Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Research Analyst Researcher, Data Scientist, Developer, Military, Actuary
University Professor Academic Postdoc Law Firm Attorney Public Interest Attorney Public Sector Attorney University Executive Director Judicial Clerkship (Federal Appellate) Miscellaneous
Number of Positions 4 6 4 1 1 1 1 2
 Position Examples Professor Academic Fellow (3 are now univ. professors) Associate Attorney Senior Attorney Special Counsel Executive Director Law Clerk Consultant, Legal Fellow