The J.D. Class of 2018 enjoyed the strongest entry-level legal job market in a decade, with 78.6% landing jobs that require a law degree or for which a law degree offers an advantage within 10 months of leaving campus—up from 75.3% the previous year.

But graduate employment rates fluctuated wildly among law schools, so Law.com has delved into the trove of jobs data released in late April by the American Bar Association to determine how schools performed in 10 different areas.

We have ranked schools according to their percentage of 2018 graduates in full-time, long-term jobs that require a J.D., which are often seen as the gold standard for new law graduates. Here, Columbia Law School comes out of top, with nearly 94% of recent grads landing such jobs. (Columbia is followed by the University of Virginia School of Law, Duke University School of Law, University of Chicago Law School and Cornell Law School.)

We've also looked at which school sent the highest percentage of 2018 graduates into federal clerkships, with Yale Law School leading the pack. Yale had 34% of recent graduates go into those positions, followed by Stanford Law School at 29% and Chicago at 24%

Our other charts break down which schools sent the most graduates into large firm jobs, government and public interest positions, and state and local clerkships. For the second year, we've calculated which schools sent the most graduates into large law firms or federal clerkships—a category we have dubbed “elite jobs.”

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On the flip side, we also ranked schools according to the percentage of 2018 graduates who were unemployed and looking for work 10 months after graduation. The ABA data shows that eight law schools had unemployment rates of 20% or higher, with all three of Puerto Rico's law schools landing on that list. We also look at the schools with the highest rate of underemployed recent graduates—that is, graduates who are unemployed or in jobs that are either short-term, part-time or non-professional.

The numbers tell a story of elite schools that enjoy high job placement rates, while many lower-ranked schools are struggling to place most graduates into solid legal jobs despite improved national employment rates.

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