Columbia Law School. (Photo: Bruce Gilbert)

Quite often, the road out of law school leads straight to an associate position at a firm, at least for students who want to use their degrees to practice in the private sector. But some law students have different dreams than climbing the ladder to partner—they'd like to work in the legal department.

Upon the release of the 2018 Go-To Law Schools List from our affiliate Law.com, Corporate Counsel decided to explore what the top five highest ranked schools on that list have to offer students who hope to someday practice in-house. It's clear that these schools have had the most success recently in placing new JDs at associate positions in the country's top 100 law firms. But what are they doing for the future general counsel of the world?

We asked and the law schools answered:

Columbia Law School

The top school on this year's Go-To Law Schools List is great at sending students to firms after graduation (more than two-thirds of its 2017 grads are working at the country's biggest law firms). But Columbia Law isn't just firm focused. In addition to bringing legal department speakers to campus, the school offers several courses and seminars directly aimed at cultivating in-house skills that are taught by big name GCs.

Want to learn about how in-house counsel work globally? You can learn directly from the former general counsel and vice chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Want to know more about the growing role of the general counsel? Let the GC of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. and the GC of Travelzoo teach you.

Marta Ricardo, assistant dean and dean of career services at Columbia, says the school seeks to show students there isn't necessarily a “linear path” in the profession anymore and that in-house practice is a real option, even early on in careers, especially when it comes to startups.

The school offers a JD/MBA with Columbia Business School, as well as law school programs that focus on key topics for in-house counsel, such as corporate governance and the art of transactional practice. Students also can participate in internships or fellowships in legal departments. For example, they can head to Washington, D.C. after graduation to work with in-house lawyers in Microsoft Corp's U.S. Government Affairs Group, where they'll learn more about interfacing with state and federal agencies and legislatures. Their top boss during the gig? Brad Smith, Microsoft CLO and Columbia Law class of 1984.

University of Chicago Law School

The school that took second place on the Go-To Law Schools list has its own set of opportunities for aspiring in-house counsel. The University of Chicago starts cultivating future business and legal luminaries early, during 1L orientation. The Kapnick Leadership Development Initiative, in partnership with University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, gives new students a head start with leadership and interpersonal skill building sessions, some of which have been taught by in-house leaders.

The law school offers not only a JD/MBA for students who see business practice in their future, but also an alternative certificate program for law students in the Doctoroff Business Leadership Program. This program allows students to add business courses to their three-year law school experience and do internships at major companies around the country. Another option for future GCs is participating in the school's Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab, which allows students to use classroom time to work with legal departments on real world projects. The lab has partnered with big companies like Nike Inc. and United Airlines Inc., just to name a few.

Numerous speakers, including general counsel, come to the school each year to give their perspectives. In May, for instance, the law school will host a General Counsel Roundtable. So far, the speakers' list includes Katherine Adams of Apple Inc. and Ted Ullyot, formerly of Facebook Inc.

New York University School of Law

NYU Law has worked to integrate business training and education into several aspects of its curriculum. Aspiring in-house counsel can avail themselves of several special programs, including the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Transactional and Law and Business courses, which bring top deal lawyers into the classroom to talk about their work on transactions, and the Mitchell Jacobson Leadership Program, which provides scholarships and coursework for students who want focused business training as part of their NYU experience. NYU also has a JD/MBA program.

The school places a strong focus on corporate compliance, ever an important issue for GCs. The Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement provides relevant courses and speakers. These cover topics from the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to white-collar crime and the capital markets.

NYU Law Dean Trevor Morrison has also stepped in to train the school's future in-house stars. He teaches the Role of the Corporate General Counsel Seminar. The course brings in general counsel from major companies (Verizon and Dropbox Inc., for instance) to present case studies and talk about their work.

University of Virginia School of Law

The University of Virginia School of Law has produced several attorneys who have gone on to lead the legal departments at major companies, including David Hyman of Netflix Inc. and J. Michael Luttig of Boeing. Craig Silliman, Verizon Communications Inc. GC and Virginia Law class of 1994, was recently at the school to give a talk about the role of general counsel at Fortune 50 companies.

The school offers programs to help its current students ascend to similar heights in the corporate legal world. The John W. Glynn Jr. Law & Business Program gives law students the opportunity to do coursework in finance and accounting, as well as opportunities to engage in an entrepreneurship clinic where they take on startups as clients with the help of students from UVA's Darden School of Business. The school also has a JD/MBA program.

To help bolster their education on business related issues outside the classroom, students can contribute to the The Virginia Law & Business Review and the Virginia Tax Review. The Virginia Law & Business Society and the Virginia E* Society are student groups that sponsor activities and networking for students interested in business.

University of Pennsylvania Law School

The University of Pennsylvania Law School makes no secret of the fact that it seeks to train students, not just for a career at the world's biggest firms, but also at the most prominent legal departments. In fact, Penn Law's Assistant Dean and Executive Director for Career Services, Maureen Reilly, is a former in-house lawyer herself. She says that, back when she was a law student aspiring to someday work in-house, she didn't have nearly the number of options that Penn's students have now.

Penn offers several classes taught by current and former general counsel, including Crisis Management, a class co-taught by Richard Walker, formerly GC of Deutsche Bank, and Challenges Facing the General Counsel, which is co-taught by Penn alumna Helen Pudlin, former GC of PNC Bank, along with Michael Holston, who was recently named top lawyer at General Electric Co.

Then there are numerous programs that expose students to the in-house and business sides of law. Penn takes advantage of its connection with The Wharton School to offer a JD/MBA as well as the Wharton Certificate in Management. The certificate program teaches Penn Law students about finance, corporate governance and other related topics. For future in-house attorneys who want to get proficient at tech, Penn also offers a law and technology specialization, as well as a technology certificate for law students as part of its Center on Professionalism.