Tax Prof Theodore P. Seto (Loyola-L.A.) has posted Where Do Partners Come From? on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Which law schools produce the largest numbers of partners at national law firms? This article reports the results of a nationwide study of junior and mid-level partners at the 100 largest U.S. law firms. It identifies both the top 50 feeder schools to the NLJ 100 nationwide and the top 10 feeder schools to those same firms in each of the country’s ten largest legal markets. U.S. News rank turns out to be an unreliable predictor of feeder school status. Hiring and partnering by the NLJ 100 are remarkably local; law school rank is much less important than location. Perhaps surprisingly, Georgetown emerges as Harvard’s closest competitor for truly national status.
Rank School (1986- Partners in the NLJ 100)
1 Harvard (946)
2 Georgetown (729)
3 NYU (543)
4 Virginia (527)
5 Columbia (516)
6 G. Washington (447)
7 Michigan (444)
8 Chicago (426)
9 Texas (384)
10 Northwestern (365)
11 Pennsylvania (329)
12 Boston U. (317)
13 Fordham (306)
14 UC-Berkeley (287)
15 UCLA (257)
16 Yale (253)
17 Stanford (240)
18 UC-Hastings (233)
19 Duke (219)
20 Boston College (213)
21 Cornell (204)
22 Vanderbilt (186)
23 Illinois (183)
24 American (179)
25 Loyola-L.A. (162)
26 Miami (160)
26 Temple (160)
28 Notre Dame (159)
29 Florida (154)
29 Loyola-Chicago (154)
31 Houston (153)
32 USC (151)
33 Washington U. (149)
34 Emory (148)
35 Villanova (137)
36 Catholic (135)
37 DePaul (134)
38 SMU (132)
39 Minnesota (130)
39 Pittsburgh (130)
41 Tulane (125)
42 St. John’s (121)
42 Wisconsin (121)
44 Brooklyn (119)
45 Chicago-Kent (111)
46 North Carolina (109)
47 Maryland (105)
48 William & Mary (104)
49 Georgia (99)
50 Ohio State (96)
51 San Diego (94)
52 Santa Clara (93)
53 Iowa (91)
54 Hofstra (89)
55 Kansas (87)
56 Case Western (86)
57 Indiana-Bloomington (85)
58 Suffolk (81)
58 Syracuse (81)
60 Rutgers-Newark (80)
60 Rutgers-Camden (80)
62 New York Law School (78)
63 Cardozo (77)
64 George Mason (76)
64 Missouri-Columbia (76)
64 San Francisco (76)
67 St. Louis (75)
67 Washington & Lee (75)
69 John Marshall (74)
70 Widener (71)
71 Pepperdine (66)
72 Seton Hall (65)
73 South Texas (62)
73 Wake Forest (62)
75 Albany (61)
75 UC-Davis (61)
75 University of Washington (61)
Update:
9 responses to “Seto: Law School Rankings by BigLaw Partners”
I’m still waiting for Paul’s “ranking of the rankings” which can’t be far off.
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Isn’t just the listing of the numbers of partners from each school misleading? Shouldn’t the size of the graduating class also be considered? Harvard and Georgetown have large enrollments while, for example, Chicago and Yale have much smaller graduating classes. Wouldn’t it be more useful to divide the absolute numbers of partners by the average size of the graduating classes of the various schools if schools are to be compared?
Might the fact that Georgetown has one of if not the largest classes of any of the top 25 law schools have an impact on this study? Harvard’s class size is also up there, but its rank correlates with its overall ranking.
Reporting these numbers without comparing them to the number of alums each school produces creates a rather distorted vision.
The absence of schools in Colorado, Utah and Arizona suggests that further research is needed to determine why mountain hiking boots are preferable to white shoes.
Chicago is the noteworthy school on this list. Adjusting for average class size over the past 20 years would place Chicago far and beyond at the top.
For other comments so far, why would the class size really matter? A firm is going to hire the person they think is best to work as an associate and the people that do well at that go on to be partners. The class size would only matter in one instance – someone hiring favoring their alma mater – but that is just one of endless reasons to hire someone.
G-Town, I don’t understand why you don’t think class size doesn’t matter?
School A: 1000 graduates over a 10 year period, 200 make partner
School B: 250 graduates over a 10 year period, 200 make partner
They both have the exact same number of partners, and the only difference is the number of graduates. From a ranking perspective, is there a difference in School A and B to you?
I take it from your ‘name’ that you went to the #2 school on the list, and your feelings get hurt when someone knocks you for being there?