The prestige of securing an elite federal clerkship is a common aspiration for many law school graduates. Federal clerkship jobs represent one of the most recognized career paths within the legal fraternity. Given the importance of these roles, we are focusing today on a list of law schools that have provided a high percentage of their recent graduates to these clerkships.
The employment data for 2022, produced by Law.com, gives intriguing insights. Top 14 law schools have been marked out for their noteworthy contributions towards appointing graduates with top clerkships. However, our goal is to not only recognize this well-known fact but also delve deeper into 20 law schools that have really made the mark for themselves.
- Stanford: 24.87%
- Yale: 23.94%
- Chicago: 20.28%
- Norte Dame: 15.24%
- Virginia: 12.84%
- Harvard: 12.60%
- Alabama: 12.12%
- Duke: 11.68%
- Vanderbilt: 10.67%
- UT Austin: 10.38%
- Penn: 10.31%
- Michigan: 9.85%
- Baylor: 9.66%
- Washington & Lee: 9.32%
- Montana: 8.54%
- Washington: 8.37%
- Northwestern: 7.55%
- Mississippi: 7.38%
- South Dakota: 7.23%
- Georgetown: 6.77%
Stanford University has secured the top spot, even managing to surpass Yale University, which was one of the contenders for the leading position. While the list does not delineate the prestige of the clerkship, such as whether they are feeder judges or non-feeder judges, circuit courts or district courts, Article III courts or non-Article III courts, these aspects could hold significant relevance within the legal community given how sought-after these federal clerkships are.
For those who desire a broader look into the statistics and wish to analyze other law schools contributing to graduates employed in federal clerkships, follow this link.
We are keen on hearing your experiences as a recent law school graduate who has embarked on a federal clerkship journey. How did your law school prepare you for this prestigious role? We’d appreciate any details you’d like to share about your journey, which could provide other readers and aspiring individuals with valuable insights.
Please feel free to email us or tweet us @atlblog. We look forward to hearing about your experiences. Best of luck in your clerkship!