The Law Schools Whose Grads Earn The Biggest Paychecks
Law school is a gamble. It’s extremely pricey, and grads aren’t guaranteed a lucrative career. But if you invest in one of the country’s top programs, you could end up earning a six-figure paycheck right out of school.
Forbes turned to Payscale.com to find the law schools whose graduates make the most in the early stages of their career. Columbia Law School led the way, with alumni earning a starting salary of about $165,000. At mid-career, the median pay (50th percentile) for Columbia grads in the private sector is $187,000, according to data provided by alumni on the Payscale site.
“The main reason law school is a big gamble is the mismatch between demand and supply,” says Katie Bardaro, Payscale’s lead economist. “Simply put, there are more law school graduates than there are full-time, bar-requiring jobs. This has resulted in numerous law graduates moving into careers for which they are overqualified, like paralegal or legal assistant. Given these odds, as well as the exorbitant cost of law school, the potential for large amounts of plaguing debt is quite high.”
Payscale combed through the profiles of its 35 million unique users who supply compensation information on its website to find which law school grads make the most. They looked at starting salaries of graduates from 98 popular law schools and found roughly 31,000 of them in their database who had reported salary information, including 9,100 working in the private sector with less than five years of experience.
The salaries below from Payscale are current median salaries (as of the first quarter of 2013) for recent law school graduates who in almost all cases finished law school within the last five years. The median work experience for this group is two years, and their median age is 29.
In Pictures: The 25 Law Schools Whose Grads Earn The Most
Columbia Law School, which also landed at the top of last year’s list, has produced hundreds of notable grads, including presidents, Supreme Court justices, governors, and billionaires.
“I think the main reason for Columbia being on top is reputation,” Bardaro says. “According to our data, the graduates are working in notable firms throughout the country and not just in New York. This proves that branding of the law degree seems to have a strong correlation with earnings.”
No. 2 is Stanford Law School, where grads with little or no experience rake in a median salary of $147,000. At mid-career, Stanford law graduates earn $202,000, on average.
The University of Chicago Law School and Harvard follow closely, with recent grads earning $132,000 and $130,000, respectively. About 10 years into their careers, those grads earn upwards of $200,000.
Bardaro says the most common high-paying legal jobs for recent law school graduates include trial
attorneys and corporate counsel.
What do all these law schools have in common?
“Reputation and a strong alumni network; both of which drive graduates into full-time, private sector jobs–the best paid jobs for law graduates,” Bardaro says.
Ten schools in all show a median starting salary in private sector jobs of more than $100,000. Grads at all 98 law schools on the list earn six figures, on average, by the middle of their career.
Here are the top 10 law schools whose grads earn the highest starting salaries:
1. Columbia Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $165,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $187,000
2. Stanford Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $147,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $202,000
3. University of Chicago Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $132,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $204,000
4. Harvard Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $130,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $221,000
5. University of Virginia School of Law
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $109,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $192,000
6. Duke University School of Law
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $104,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $207,000
7. New York University School of Law
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $104,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $197,000
8. Georgetown University Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $103,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $187,000
9. Yale Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $102,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $168,000
10. University of Michigan Law School
Starting Median Pay (Private Sector): $101,000
Mid-Career Median Pay (Private Sector): $185,000
In Pictures: The 25 Law Schools Whose Grads Earn The Most
This is an updated version of a story that ran previously.
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