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Bad News for NY Law Grads

By Tania Karas
April 27, 2013

Just six in 10 of the 4,967 students who graduated last year from New York state's 15 law schools were able to find full-time, permanent employment requiring bar passage by Feb. 15, according to recently released statistics from the American Bar Association.

Reflecting a job market that remains tight, the 59.8% rate was somewhat higher than the national figure of 56.2%, but only a slight improvement from 2011's 57.2% for New York graduates.

Nationwide Results

Nationwide, the class of 2013 is expected to be even larger than the class of 2012, according to ABA enrollment data, which means increased competition for limited jobs. But the worst of the employment figures may soon be over. Graduating class sizes will be smaller from 2014 onward.

Only six U.S. schools placed more than 90% of their 2012 graduates in full-time, permanent positions requiring bar passage, including two from New York: Columbia Law School at 93.4% and New York University School of Law at 91.1%. Cornell Law School sent 85.8% of its graduates to those jobs.

According to the ABA, 11% of 2012 graduates nationwide were unemployed in February, an increase of more than 1% over last year. The unemployment rate for graduates of New York schools was about 13%. (The New York figure includes those not seeking work, but does not count those pursuing graduate degrees.)

New York Graduates

Most New York schools succeeded in placing only about half of their graduates in such legal jobs. However, three schools could take comfort in achieving significant increases ' including 17.7 points to 54.6% in the case of City University of New York School of Law, a 12.3 point jump to 48% for Pace Law School and a 10.5 point bump to 51.2% for the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.

Turning a Corner

Nationwide, job-seekers from the class of 2012 faced disadvantages on two fronts: In addition to a slowdown in hiring, they came from the largest graduating class in history at 46,364. In New York, last year's graduating class of 4,967 was about 5% larger than the class that preceded it.

Applicants to U.S. law schools nationwide have decreased about 35% since their peak in 2010, according to figures by the Law School Admission Council. About 87,900 applicants vied for a spot in the class that began in the fall of 2010, compared with projections of around 57,000 for the current application cycle.

Three New York law schools ' Columbia, NYU and Cornell ' were in the nation's top five most likely to send their students to jobs at big law firms with 100 or more lawyers, according to ABA data. Columbia sent 64.2% to big firms, while NYU and Cornell sent 59.5% and 57.9%, respectively. Others were far likelier to send their students into government and public interest jobs.

Nationwide, the percentage of students in positions funded by their schools decreased less than 1%, to about 4% of all recent graduates.

Tania Karas is a reporter for the New York Law Journal, an ALM sister publication of this newsletter in which this article also appeared. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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Just six in 10 of the 4,967 students who graduated last year from New York state's 15 law schools were able to find full-time, permanent employment requiring bar passage by Feb. 15, according to recently released statistics from the American Bar Association.

Reflecting a job market that remains tight, the 59.8% rate was somewhat higher than the national figure of 56.2%, but only a slight improvement from 2011's 57.2% for New York graduates.

Nationwide Results

Nationwide, the class of 2013 is expected to be even larger than the class of 2012, according to ABA enrollment data, which means increased competition for limited jobs. But the worst of the employment figures may soon be over. Graduating class sizes will be smaller from 2014 onward.

Only six U.S. schools placed more than 90% of their 2012 graduates in full-time, permanent positions requiring bar passage, including two from New York: Columbia Law School at 93.4% and New York University School of Law at 91.1%. Cornell Law School sent 85.8% of its graduates to those jobs.

According to the ABA, 11% of 2012 graduates nationwide were unemployed in February, an increase of more than 1% over last year. The unemployment rate for graduates of New York schools was about 13%. (The New York figure includes those not seeking work, but does not count those pursuing graduate degrees.)

New York Graduates

Most New York schools succeeded in placing only about half of their graduates in such legal jobs. However, three schools could take comfort in achieving significant increases ' including 17.7 points to 54.6% in the case of City University of New York School of Law, a 12.3 point jump to 48% for Pace Law School and a 10.5 point bump to 51.2% for the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.

Turning a Corner

Nationwide, job-seekers from the class of 2012 faced disadvantages on two fronts: In addition to a slowdown in hiring, they came from the largest graduating class in history at 46,364. In New York, last year's graduating class of 4,967 was about 5% larger than the class that preceded it.

Applicants to U.S. law schools nationwide have decreased about 35% since their peak in 2010, according to figures by the Law School Admission Council. About 87,900 applicants vied for a spot in the class that began in the fall of 2010, compared with projections of around 57,000 for the current application cycle.

Three New York law schools ' Columbia, NYU and Cornell ' were in the nation's top five most likely to send their students to jobs at big law firms with 100 or more lawyers, according to ABA data. Columbia sent 64.2% to big firms, while NYU and Cornell sent 59.5% and 57.9%, respectively. Others were far likelier to send their students into government and public interest jobs.

Nationwide, the percentage of students in positions funded by their schools decreased less than 1%, to about 4% of all recent graduates.

Tania Karas is a reporter for the New York Law Journal, an ALM sister publication of this newsletter in which this article also appeared. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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