The 24 best law schools for securing federal clerkships

Business Insider recently released its list of the 50 best law schools in the country, which focused on the institutions that lead to top jobs in the legal world.

The ranking primarily homed in on the percentage of graduates who land full-time, long-term, highly coveted jobs, which we narrowed down to two things: positions at big law firms and federal clerkships.

While not the highest-paying positions, federal clerkships allow young lawyers to make connections and can set them up for career success.

"Clerkships offer an opportunity to work closely with a judge, learn about the inner workings of the judicial system, and hone your legal research and writing skills," Stanford Law School — which sees 26% of graduates accept federal clerkships — explains on its website. "They also provide one or two years of practical training and enable you to make valuable professional contacts in the substantive and/or geographical areas in which you hope to practice."

We culled data from the American Bar Association to find the schools that funnel the highest percentage of graduates into these positions, using overall rank on our main list as a tiebreaker. Read on to see which law schools send the most graduates to federal clerkships.

Additional reporting by Kaitlyn Yarborough and Alexa Pipia.

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24. University of Mississippi

Location: Oxford, Mississippi

Percent of graduates securing federal clerkships: 6%

Bar passage rate: 85%

Median LSAT score: 155

Tuition at the University of Mississippi’s school of law costs only $15,036 for in-state residents, climbing up to $32,374 for non-residents. The school includes author John Grisham and Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker among its notable alumni.

 

23. The College of William and Mary

Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

Percent of graduates securing federal clerkships: 6%

Bar passage rate: 88%

Median LSAT score: 163

Founded in 1779, William & Mary Law School stands as the oldest law school in the US — and it’s still going strong. Fifteen percent of the class of 2015 secured jobs at big law firms with over 500 employees, and 88% passed the bar the first time around.

 

22. University of Georgia

Location: Athens, Georgia

Percent of graduates securing federal clerkships: 6%

Bar passage rate: 91%

Median LSAT score: 162

University of Georgia Law has excelled in international-law instruction for decades. Dean Rusk, the US secretary of state during the Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential administrations, served as a professor for more than a decade and is the namesake of the school's international law center. The law school has one of the lowest annual tuition costs on our list at $37,524.

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