12 Law Schools Recruiters Love

Although Yale may be U.S. News and World Report's best law school, hiring firms themselves prefer Harvard.

According to a survey of 105 of the country's best law firms conducted by U.S. News, Harvard University produces the most sought-after law students.

Recruiting officials were asked to rank schools on a five-point scale, where a school rated "1" was considered marginal and one rated "5" regarded as outstanding. Harvard received an average overall rating of 4.9.

While U.S. News traditionally considers a number of measures in composing their annual rankings, this list is based entirely on recruiters' opinions of top schools. This means that some schools -- like Yale -- dropped, while others -- like Michigan and Cornell -- fared better than they would in the traditional U.S. News rankings.

Below, see the 12 schools that received a 4.5 or above rating by law firm hiring partners, and check out U.S. News for a full list.

Does this ranking system change your opinion of these law schools? Let us know in the comments section.

1 of 12

Harvard University: 4.9

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Comments

[FaceReality2]

04:30 PM on 03/15/2011

It's more important to be on the law review and/or in the top 10% of the class than it is to go to a prestigious school. Someone in the bottom half of the class at a nationally renown school has a harder time finding a job than someone in the top 10% of the class at a local school. Of course the top 10% at a top school have their choice of job offers at the nation's best law firms.

[The Notorious PDF]

09:04 AM on 03/16/2011

"Someone in the bottom half of the class at a nationally renown school has a harder time finding a job than someone in the top 10% of the class at a local school."

I would have to politely somewhat disagree. I have some first hand experience in this area, and from what I've seen, the top consideration is the school that you attended. They won't even look at your application in many places unless you went to what they consider a credible school. Their reasoning is that the students with the best grades and the highest LSAT scores tend to go to the schools that are the most difficult to get into. It seems to them that law schools of varying degrees of quality have been popping up all over the place, and they just don't think that some of these schools are credible. As long as you went to a school that employers think is a credible school with a rigorous, substantive program, then you're right, your grades are more important, and it doesn't matter as much which credible school you went to.

[FaceReality2]

03:22 PM on 03/16/2011

I was talking about a credible school of course, just not one that people outside the area or the state know much about. A classmate struggled at Duke Law School and transferred to Texas Tech after the first semester. She excelled at Tech (law review, etc.) and got a job with a top Texas firm. If she had been in the middle or bottom half of the class at Duke, I doubt she would have done as well job-wise. The more prestigious the school, the tougher the competition is for those coveted slots on the law review. Tech, the South Texas College of Law, and St. Mary's are all credible schools in Texas. Maybe not so much in NYC or D.C.

[LovelyRepublican]

01:41 PM on 03/10/2011

USNews is the National Enquirer of the educational magazine.

[DrSnuggles]

01:49 PM on 03/09/2011

Lawyer comment chains are the best - whatever happens in your life - you are going to hate AT LEAST 50% of all lawyers you meet in a professional capacity. Because whatever your opinion on a legal case is, there is a lawyer arguing for it and against it.

Not to mention the number of lawyers that get hated because the law doesn't favor the people involved (what do you mean I can't sue WebMD for medical malpractice?).

Add all these unfair hatreds to the number of lawyers who actually DESERVE it (lets even assume that percentage would be the same as any profession) and you find that 'at least ~50%' becomes 'almost 100%'.

[Uncle Bill]

12:24 PM on 03/09/2011

The best law school is the one your trial judge went to, the second best is Harvard etc.

[Tails]

10:38 AM on 03/10/2011

I thought the best law school was the one your job interviewer went to?

[aikani]

04:33 AM on 03/09/2011

If you are considering graduate school, but need loans to pay for education, don't do it. The guaraneed student loan programs are a joke and a scam, designed to impoverish students while enriching banks. The lenders have no incentive for efficiency, accuracy or honesty in handling student loans, the incentive is to push students into default then get them hooked into a new, higher value loan. Each prior loan is paid off by the guarantor, and each time the student ends up owing more.

[FaceReality2]

04:11 PM on 03/15/2011

"The guaraneed student loan programs are . . . designed to impoverish students while enriching banks."

This is why the banks want to keep making these loans instead of letting the government do it. It would be cheaper for the students if the government made the loans and cut the banks out of the loop. Isn't this what the Obama administration proposed?

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

07:10 PM on 03/08/2011

City schools for the most part......best internships and clerk connections thus best jobs....the same works for undergrads.

[Jim Pasterczyk]

06:48 PM on 03/08/2011

It's not what you know, it's who you know.

[hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr]

01:22 AM on 03/09/2011

Nope, it's your 1L g.p.a. versus your school's USN&WR ranking.

[MrBiggs]

04:12 AM on 03/09/2011

Lol no...I was literally handed a clerkship after law school because my Dad (a lawyer) is real close with a court of appeals Judge...it's who you know and if you don't know anyone then "it's your 1L g.p.a. versus your school's USN&WR ranking".

[enzosmom]

06:34 PM on 03/08/2011

If I knew someone contemplating law school now, I'd try desperately to talk him or her out of it unless it was a T-1 school. I'm an attorney with 13 years of government service and have been out of work for more than six months. Fourteen interviews later, I'm still looking. Firms only want top tier new hires or laterals who can bring them clients. Solo practitioners are clamoring for court appointments at $ 150 or $ 200 a pop. The degree flat out isn't worth what you'll pay to get it.

[JStading]

11:05 PM on 03/08/2011

"unless it was a T-1 school"

<~ Graduated from a T1 law school in the top 25% with two clinics and an externship with the federal government this past year.  Highest paying job offer -$45k.  Talk the kid out of it unless it's for free....

[FaceReality2]

04:16 PM on 03/15/2011

Graduates of T-1 schools don't have an easy time of it unless they were on the law review and/or graduated in the top 10% of the class.

[Derek Brett]

05:41 PM on 03/08/2011

I do not understand how this is really newsworthy. These schools read like a top 15 selection from U.S. News & World Reports. Of course recruiters/"head hunters" love these schools -- the largest corporate firms in the biggest markets almost exclusively compete for graduates from these schools, and pay top dollars to the head hunting agencies for making such placements happen. Are we really surprised? Actually, I am surprised -- that HuffPost actually used space to for this topic, rather than a topic that might actually generate greater substance for readers of its "College" page. Sorry, I do not mean to be cynical, but I am starting to notice less substance within these pages.

[Freedland]

04:47 PM on 03/08/2011

We could just borrow Watson and wheel him into the courtroom. Then, we could eliminate all of the economists.

[usna73]

04:20 PM on 03/08/2011

Let's close 6 of them,................the last thing we need is more ( good ) lawyers. Imagine.

[TeeSC]

05:01 PM on 03/08/2011

tru dat.   :-)

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

07:12 PM on 03/08/2011

Sad part is all the students who are putting themselves into deep debt and attending law school where there will be no recruiters....way too many law school seats as they are cheap to add.

[usna73]

08:02 AM on 03/09/2011

Indeed. Just another reason we are losing ground to the command economy of China.

[ralpher]

04:17 PM on 03/08/2011

As an alumnus from the big 12, none of this is a surprise. But I do find that the further you are out of law school the less that matters. What you do with the time is what counts.

[WendellPerrySociety]

03:53 PM on 03/08/2011

Total waste of time posting this. Not one surprise.

[stuckintraffic]

03:52 PM on 03/08/2011

The only reason we need lawyers is because lawyers keep writing laws that proliferate their usefullness.

[DrSnuggles]

01:45 PM on 03/09/2011

Lawyers don't write laws, legislators do. Elected officials.

[stuckintraffic]

03:29 PM on 03/09/2011

Most elected officials are what? Lawyers!!!! Save you lesson for the next Civics class.

[tcordier]

03:31 PM on 03/08/2011

Why not just throw up the law school rankings? Same list.