The percentage of recent law school graduates employed in full-time, long-term Bar Passage Required or J.D. Advantage jobs has reached its highest level in the past decade.
Bill Adams
Adams noted that beginning with the Class of 2019, the percentage rose above 80% and has been steadily rising, but for a slight dip to 77.4% for the Class of 2020.
“This dip was likely due to the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal market, cancelations and delays to bar admission exam administrations, and an approximately 1.4% increase in the size of the graduating class that year,” he said.
For the class of 2023, the aggregated school data shows that 30,160 graduates, or 85.6% of the 2023 graduates of the 195 ABA-approved law schools, were employed in full-time, long-term Bar Passage Required or J.D. Advantage jobs roughly 10 months after graduation. That compares to 30,512 or 84.6% of the graduates reporting similar full-time, long-term jobs in the previous year.
An online table provides select national outcomes and side-by-side comparisons for the classes of 2022 and 2023. Further reports on employment outcomes, including links to individual school outcomes and spreadsheets aggregating those reports, are available on the ABA Required Disclosures page of the section’s website. Each year’s employment outcomes measure the post-graduation status of law graduates on March 15, approximately 10 months after spring graduation.
