Credit: David Palmer/ALM

Each year, Law.com ranks the 50 law schools that sent the highest percentage of juris doctor graduates into associate positions at the largest 100 law firms in the country, and for this year, one school returns to the top 50 after not making the cut for several years, plus there is a lot of movement among the top 10. For the 10th consecutive year, Columbia Law School topped the list, with 271—nearly 66%—of its recent graduate class now working in Big Law. Cornell Law School moved up to second place after being third for the past two years, with 128, nearly 64% of its recent graduates working in Big Law. Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law rose to third place from fourth last year with 164 (nearly 62%) of recent grads working in Big Law. The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School dropped to fourth place—a position it held two years ago—from second place last year, with 147, 56%, of 2022 graduates working in Big Law. In fifth this year is the University of Chicago Law School—with 122 (56%) of grads working in Big Law—jumping from ninth place last year, and up from seventh place two years ago. Another big jump is the University of Southern California Gould School of Law coming in sixth after sitting at 12th for the past two years. UC Gould sent 113, 53%, of its 2022 grads to Big Law. Duke Law School came in seventh this year, a slight drop from fifth and sixth place the past two years, with sending 113, 52%, of grads to Big Law. New York University School of Law also dropped slightly, having been sixth and fifth the previous two years, to eight position this year with 238 grads, 50%, going to Big Law. The University of California, Berkeley School of Law returned to ninth position—where it sat two years ago, one spot lower than last year—with 178, 49%, of grads working in Big Law after graduation. Rounding out the top 10 is Vanderbilt University Law School, which rose from 13th last year—an eight-spot increase from two years ago when it was at 21—with 86, 48%, of grads going to Big Law. The top 50 can be seen here and the entire Go-To Law Schools package can be explored here. Here are the seven New York law schools in the top 50: For other T-14 schools, the University of Virginia School of Law came in 11th, dropping from seventh and eighth positions the past two years—with 156, nearly 48%, going to Big Law, and the University of Michigan Law School came in 12th—two spots higher after sitting at 14th for the past two years—with 148 grads, 45%, going into Big Law. And for the other T-14s: |

• Georgetown University Law Center, 13th place, 297, 45% (sat at 11th past two years).
• Harvard Law School, 14th place, 274, nearly 45% (sat at 10th past two years).
• Stanford Law School, 20th place, 69, nearly 36% (last year also at 20th and at 13th place two years ago).
• Yale Law School, 26th place, 57, 27% (23rd last year, 16th two years ago).

The one new school in the top 50 this year is Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School, coming in at 46th—a position it held in 2019, the last time it was in the top 50—sending 17, 14%, of its 2022 grads to Big Law. University of Miami School of Law, which came in 48th last year and hadn't been in the top 50 the previous year, is the only school that didn't make the top 50 this year as compared to last year. Three others schools, who were new last year but not in the top 50 the previous year, remained in the top 50 this year: Northeastern University School of Law with 19% of grads going to Big Law, at 30th place this year up from 44th last year; University of Georgia School of Law (nearly 16%) at 41st this year up from 45th last year; and St. John's University (13%), ranking at 49th down from 43rd last year. Other notable increases among the rankings include Howard University School of Law coming in at 18th—the first time in the top 20 as compared to the previous two years when it was at 24th and 22nd—with 63, 39%, of grads going to Big Law. A very sizable jump was made by the University of Florida Levin College of Law, who rose to 38 this year after just making the list at 50th place last year, having sent 36, 16%, of grads into Big Law. On the opposite end of the spectrum, William & Mary Law School came in 50th this year, after sitting at 39 and 36 the past two years, with 28, 12%, of grads going into Big Law. Two other notable jumps include Tulane University Law School, which rose to 31 this year, up from 41 last year, with 34, nearly 19%, of grads going to Big Law; and the University of North Carolina School of Law rose to 33rd from 42 last year, with 35, 18%. The University of Illinois College of Law impressively moved to 28th last year up from No. 40 the previous year, and rose again this year to 23rd, sending 39, 30%, of its 2022 graduates to Big Law. There were also some other significant drops, besides William & Mary Law School: the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly Hastings) sent 49, nearly 16%, of its recent graduates to the 100 largest firms, landing the school in 40th place down from 32nd last year but up from 46th two years ago; Wake Forest University School of Law dropped from 34th last year to 42nd this year, sending 30, 15%, of grads to Big Law; and the University of Washington School of Law dropped from 36th to 43rd this year, with 23, 15%, of grads going to Big Law. Two schools dropped six spots: Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law dropped to 36th this year from 30 last year but up from 39 two years ago, with 33, nearly 18%, grads going to Big Law, and the University of Notre Dame Law School dropped from 22 to 28 this year, with 55, 26%, 2022 grads sent to Big Law. For the other 19 law schools not already mentioned, three stayed in the same position as last year: Boston University School of Law in 17th (91, 39%); Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law at 29th (66, 24%); and University of California, Davis School of Law at 35th (39, 18%). For the other 16 schools, their position varied up/down by four or less places.