Do you like prestige? Of course you do. Is there really a law student who doesn’t? That being said, if you’re like the majority of your colleagues and you’d like to embark upon one of the most prestigious career paths available to recent law school graduates, then you’ll probably want to compete for an elite federal clerkship.
Law.com produced several helpful charts based on law school employment data for the class of 2019. Today, we will take a look at one of the more interesting charts, the law schools that sent the highest percentage of their most recent graduating class into federal clerkships. On this list, you’ll find a dazzling array of law schools from the T14, but we’re not here to tell you what you already know — that graduates of top law schools get top clerkships. That being said, we’re going to dive a little deeper into the list (the Top 20) and highlight the schools you may not realize are some of the top clerkship contenders. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:
1. Stanford: 29.12 percent
2. Yale: 25.81 percent
3. U. Chicago: 23.76 percent
4. Harvard: 17.70 percent
5. UVA: 15.73 percent
6. Duke: 14.03 percent
7. Notre Dame: 11.92 percent
8. UT-Austin: 11.45 percent
9. Georgia: 11.05 percent
10. Washington U.: 10.64 percent
11. Berkeley: 10.37 percent
12. Michigan: 10.10 percent
13. Washington & Lee: 10.00 percent
14. Penn: 9.60 percent
15. Illinois: 9.02 percent
16. Montana: 8.45 percent
17. Alabama: 8.27 percent
18. Vanderbilt: 7.62 percent
19. Cornell: 7.22 percent
20. Baylor: 7.09 percent
Way to go, Stanford! The elite school managed to boot Yale out of the top spot for clerkships this year, which is a remarkable feat in and of itself.
An obvious point to make here is that these rankings don’t distinguish between prestige of clerkship. Were these feeder judges or non-feeder judges, circuit courts or district courts, Article III courts or non-Article III courts? In the land of law, these things are important. Considering how coveted federal clerkships are, we’d absolutely love to see this information. If you have it, please feel free to email us.
Click here to see the rest of the law schools with the highest percentage of graduates employed in federal clerkships, plus other informative charts detailing the law schools with the highest percentage of graduates working in Biglaw, state clerkships, government and public interest jobs, as well as the law schools with the most unemployed graduates and most underemployed graduates.
Are you a recent law school graduate who landed a federal clerkship? What did your law school do to help you? We’re interested in learning about your experiences — good or bad — and may anonymously feature some of your stories on Above the Law. You can email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog. Best of luck in your clerkship and enjoy your time with your judge!
Law Grads Hiring Report: Job Stats for the Class of 2019 [Law.com]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.