Employment of Recent Law School Graduates Hits 10-Year High

Updated on April 23, 2024

Edited by

Over 85% of law school students from the class of 2023 had a job within 10 months of graduation.

Black female lawyer sitting in a meeting room with colleagues. She is listening intently to the speakers across from her (not pictured in the photo). She is wearing a black formal suit, and has notepads resting on the table in front of her.

Credit: Image Credit: Maskot / Getty Images

Over 4 in 5 law school students from the class of 2023 currently have a job.
Job placement rates have been above 80% in four of the past five years.
The class of 2023 boasted the highest placement rate from the last decade, according to the American Bar Association.
Students are most likely to be employed by a law firm post-graduation.

Law school graduates are finding quick success in their job hunts, according to new reporting from the American Bar Association (ABA).

Approximately 85.6% of students who graduated from an ABA-approved law school found a job within 10 months of graduation, the association found. That’s up slightly from the class of 2022, which reported an 84.6% job placement rate.

The percentage of recent law school graduates employed in full-time, long-term Bar Passage Required or JD Advantage jobs has reached its highest level in the past decade, Bill Adams, managing director of ABA accreditation and legal education, said in a statement.

Just 5% of recent graduates are still searching for a job, down from 5.3% last year.

It’s worth noting that these rates only count full-time jobs in which passage of the bar exam or a Juris Doctor (JD) degree is required or sought after. It does not count roles unrelated to legal practice.

ABA collected data on over 99% of the 35,215 students who graduated from the 195 ABA-approved law schools last academic year.

This ABA report also gives insight into the types of jobs recent law school graduates favor.

According to the ABA, the majority are now employed at a law firm (52.7%). Just 0.6% of students are solo practitioners 10 months after graduation.

Adams added that employment within 10 months of graduation has been above 80% every year since the class of 2019, except for the class of 2020. He said the class of 2020 was a one-year downturn, likely caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the job market.