Deciding where to attend law school

The American Bar Association collects data from accredited law schools including helpful employment data that shows what type of jobs graduates secure, where they’re located, and whether the jobs actually use their law degree.

It publishes that information in the form of “Standard 509 Information Reports.” These reports are also collected and synthesized in a digestible way at LawschoolTransparency, which allows you to search by school name or location, and allows you to select multiple schools to view side by side.

“Bar Passage Required” jobs are the ones where you need to be licensed to practice law. “JD Advantage” jobs are jobs which don’t require you to practice law, but having that JD degree probably gave you an advantage in hiring. If a law school’s data shows that only 50% of graduates get a full time bar passage required job, that means you are flipping a coin as to whether you will find a law job when you are done and should be very wary of applying there.

You can also see what percentage of students go into public interest jobs, legal clerkships, regional (small to middle sized) law firms, and national firms (big law firms).  If a school shows 10% or less graduates going into national firms, assume that you will likely need to graduate in the top 10% of the class to get a Big Law job. At a public interest heavy law school like CUNY where only 2.7% of graduates go into Big Law, you should assume that you are likely precluding yourself from being able to pursue Big Law after graduating. If you are unsure whether you might want to do Big Law or not, then you may want to pick a law school that tends to produce more big law attorneys.

Given the current legal employment market, it is important to carefully consider the amount of debt that you take on during law school. Paying full sticker price to attend law school can run you upwards of $250,000, a staggering amount of debt to carry for the next 30 years. So think long and hard before paying full sticker price for law school.

When comparing scholarship offers from multiple schools, be sure to look at the bottom line cost of attendance – don’t just compare scholarship amounts offered by each school in an apples-to-apples manner. For example, attending Wisconsin Law School as a Wisconsin resident with no financial aid offer (~$35,000/yr) is less expensive than attending a school that offered you a $15,000/yr scholarship toward a tuition of $55,000/yr. The $15,000 scholarship might seem tempting, but the bottom line cost is the more relevant factor. By applying to a range of schools, including target and safety schools, you are more likely to receive an award of merit-based financial aid from one or more schools.

Similarly, be sure to factor in the cost of living for each school.

Don’t forget to consider Return on Investment (ROI) in your calculations as well. Median salaries can be very different from school to school. Taking on more debt may be worth it for students planning to go to top schools and going to work for a large national law firm with high starting salaries.  Applicants who plan on going into low-salary public interest jobs may want to go to a lower cost law school or may plan to apply for  scholarships beyond merit based aid and/or Public Interest Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs.

See overall and law firm median salaries for the class of 2022

The US Department of Education College Scorecard shows median salaries, debt load at graduation, and shows you what an average loan payment would look like at a particular law school. To find the law school data, search for the school, then scroll down and click on Fields of Study>Show all available fields of study>Law – First Professional Degree.

For more information on costs and scholarships, see our Financing Law School page.

Make every effort to visit a school and to attend Admitted Students Day/Weekend.. If you are unable to attend, try to request a stipend to visit on another date. When you visit, speak with as many current or admitted students as you can. You would be spending three years with these potential peers. So gather as much information as possible while visiting, then listen to your gut when comparing schools.You can also ask the admissions office for the contact information to connect with current law students if you cannot visit, or you can reach out to student organizations on campus. Connecting with identity based student orgs such as a local chapter of the Black Law Students Association or a chapter of QLaw (the Queer Law Student Association), for example, can be a good way to find out more about what it’s like for other law students on campus with whom you identify.

The ABA also reports Bar Passage rate by school – the % of those who sat for a Bar Exam who passed. If the passage rate for a particular school is low, that might indicate that the school does not properly prepare students for the Bar Exam.

Law schools in Wisconsin (UW-Madison and Marquette) will show very high bar passage rates because of Wisconsin’s Diploma Privilege, which exempts graduates from these schools from taking a bar exam.