Calculate law schools' graduate employment rate any way you choose. You can select one of the Preset Formulas from the list below or create your own formula by checking the individual categories you would like to include or exclude from the calculation. Why is Law Jobs: By the Numbers™ helpful?

The ability of law graduates to get jobs is a key indicator of the quality of legal education, as well as the value proposition of going to law school.

In recent years, the accuracy and transparency of data on law graduates' employment outcomes has understandably come under increased scrutiny. While there is no substitute for a careful review of raw employment data, we understand that many people, including prospective law students, like to see law school employment data presented in the form of an employment rate. That said, there are a variety of ways to calculate a law school's employment rate.

Enter Law Jobs: By the Numbers™. This interactive tool will empower you to calculate and compare employment rates for every law school that reports data to the American Bar Association. 1

You have the flexibility to review the employment rates using formulas that are commonly applied by organizations such as the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), US News & World Report, National Jurist and Law School Transparency (LST). But more importantly, you can build a formula based on what matters most to you.

Finally, while employment rates are a useful tool, we acknowledge that they do not tell the whole story of an individual's job prospects at any particular law school. We encourage prospective law students to ask law schools about their employment outcomes and the career services they provide.

1: For the sake of standardization, our calculator uses publicly available raw data for each law school taken from the ABA's Employment Summary Report and plugs it into preset formulas used by NALP and US News & World Report. Because the ABA, NALP, and US News all issue separate employment surveys, our calculation of a law school's NALP or US News employment rate may differ slightly from what is reflected in that school's rate as reflected in its NALP Form or in US News.

Year: [?]

This calculator uses raw employment data from the classes of 2011 and 2012, the most recent data published by the ABA.

For the classes of 2011, 2012, and 2013, the ABA required law schools to report employment outcomes for students within nine months of graduation. For the class of 2014, the ABA changed its reporting requirement and law schools now report employment outcomes for students within ten months of graduation. This should be considered when comparing 2014 data to data in previous years.

Preset Formulas:




Jobs to Include: (Required)
[?]
These jobs require bar admission and involve the practice of law. Unless you are interested only in non-legal employment (e.g., you do not plan on taking the bar), you should include these jobs in your formula.

[?]
According to the American Bar Association: "A position in this category is one for which the employer sought an individual with a JD, and perhaps even required a JD, or for which the JD provided a demonstrable advantage in obtaining or performing the job, but itself does not require bar passage, an active law license, or involve practicing law." Include these jobs if you believe that obtaining such a position might be of interest to you.

[?]
According to the American Bar Association: "A position in this category is one that requires professional skills or training but for which a JD is neither required nor a demonstrable advantage." Include these jobs if you believe that obtaining such a job might be of interest to you.

[?]
According to the American Bar Association: "A position in this category is one that does not require any special professional skills or training." Include these jobs if you believe that obtaining such a job might be of interest to you or if you want to see an employment rate that includes all jobs obtained by law graduates.

[?]
Jobs defined as "Undeterminable" are just that: law schools report to the ABA that these graduates are employed, but they provide limited information about the positions. As a result, if you select "Undeterminable," we are unable to let you filter by full-time/part-time and long-term/short-term—all must be selected.
Terms to Include: (Required)
[?]
These are jobs with defined terms of at least one year or that are of indefinite duration. Unless you are interested only in short-term employment, you should include these jobs in your formula.

[?]
Include short term jobs if you prefer a more comprehensive employment rate that includes jobs of all durations. Short term jobs may serve as springboards to long term employment.


Type to Include: (Required)
[?]
These are jobs that are 35 or more hours per week. Unless you are interested only in part-time employment, you should include these jobs in your formula.

[?]
Include part time jobs if you prefer a more comprehensive employment rate that includes both full and part time jobs. Part Time positions may serve as springboards to Full Time employment.

Exclude from Numerator:
[?]
These jobs are funded by the university or its donors. Include school funded positions if you are interested in a more comprehensive employment rate and/or if you view school funded positions as potential stepping stones to permanent employment. School Funded Positions may serve as springboards to other legal jobs. Exclude school funded jobs if you are interested only in jobs funded by outside employers.

[?]
Exclude solo practitioners if you do not consider self-employment as a meaningful part of a law school's employment rate. Likewise, remove solo practitioners if you assume that solo practice is not a viable option for new graduates.

Exclude from Denominator:
[?]
Exclude graduates whose employment status is unknown if you want to treat them as neither employed nor unemployed.

[?]
These are graduates who had job offers on the date that employment outcomes were measured, but whose jobs were scheduled to start after that date. Exclude these start-date-deferred graduates if you want to count them as not looking for employment.

[?]
These are graduates who affirmatively indicated that they were not seeking employment (e.g., they were caring for children full-time, or doing some other activity outside of the labor market). Exclude these not-seeking graduates if you do not want to count them as unemployed.

[?]
These are graduates who are enrolled full-time in post-JD degree programs (e.g., an LLM program). Exclude these degree-seeking graduates if you believe that they are not looking for work because they are seeking a graduate degree that they believe is valuable.


Bar Passage Required
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
JD Advantage
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Other Professional
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Non-Professional
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Undeterminable
All
Numerator
Select one or more job types you would like to include above. Select one or more job terms (LT/ST) you would like to include above. Select one or more job types (FT/PT) you would like to include above.
Bar Passage Required
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Excl. Solo
Excl. School Funded
JD Advantage
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Excl. School Funded
Professional Position
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Excl. School Funded
Non-Professional Position
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
Excl. School Funded
Undeterminable Position
FT LT
FT ST
PT LT
PT ST
× 100 = %
Denominator
All graduates except ...
If no categories of graduate are selected for exclusion, all graduates will be included.
Exclude Employment Status Unknown
Exclude Start Date Deferred
Exclude Unemployed-Not Seeking
Exclude Pursuing Graduate Degree Full Time
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