More 2023 law school grads found full-time jobs than any class in past 10 years, new ABA data shows
Of the 30,160 graduates of the 195 ABA-accredited law schools in 2023, 85.6% had jobs as of March 15, or about 10 months after graduation, according to the ABA. (Image from Shutterstock)
More recent law school grads are employed 10 months after graduation than any class of the past decade, according to recently released data by the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
Of the 30,160 graduates of the 195 ABA-accredited law schools in 2023, 85.6% had jobs as of March 15, or about 10 months after graduation, according to an April 22 press release from the ABA.
That compares to 84.6% for 2022 graduates and 83% in 2021. The positions are full time, long term and require passing the bar or in which having a JD is considered an advantage.
The new graduate employment rate has been increasing since 2019, when it hit above 80%, said Bill Adams, the managing director of ABA accreditation and legal education, in the press release. However, the class of 2020 was the one exception, when employment figures hit 77.4%, he added.
“This dip was likely due to the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal market, cancellations and delays to bar admission exam administrations, and an approximately 1.4% increase in the size of the graduating class that year,” Adams said.
This year, however, the biggest decrease in jobs came from business and industry, which declined 18.1% to 2,662 jobs from 3,252 for the class of 2022, according to the employment outcomes table linked to the release.
The number of law firm positions decreased slightly, with 18,572 jobs this year, compared to 18,771 for the class of 2022—a 1.1% decrease.
For the class of 2023, 11.1% had positions in government, up from 10.4% in 2022. Also, the recent grads increasingly had clerkships, with 3,352 jobs—or 9.5% of the 2023 graduates—compared to 3,297—or 9.1%—of the graduates in 2022. More had public-interest jobs, with 3,122—or 8.9% of the graduates—compared to 3,013—or 8.4% of graduates in 2022.
JD-advantage jobs decreased to 2,660 in 2023 from 3,237 in 2022—down 17.8%. For bar-passage-required jobs, 28,244 of the class of 2023 were employed, compared with 28,054 in 2022.
