UNM Law School Grads Do Well With Jobs

Mike Bush | Albuquerque Journal - When it comes to graduates finding jobs, the University of New Mexico School of Law ranks high, placing between Yale and Georgetown on the national list of more than 200 accredited law schools, according to the nation’s largest organization of attorneys.

In mid-February, the American Bar Association looked at the employment status of the spring 2013 graduating classes – almost 47,000 new lawyers. Nationwide, the percentage of graduates who had found full-time, long-term employment practicing law was 57 percent. At UNM, it was 73.7 percent.

The law schools at the top of the list were Columbia University, the University of Chicago and New York University.

UNM’s 18th-place ranking was, of course, good news for David Herring, dean of the school. The data were scrutinized this month by the National Law Journal in an article accompanied by eight charts, “Which Law Schools are Tops for Jobs?”

“It is a noteworthy accomplishment for the UNM Law School to rate significantly higher than the national rate for long-term legal employment,” Herring said. “The positive employment rate for our graduates reflects the high caliber of education and training our students receive at UNM Law.”

One chart shows which law schools have the most graduates employed at large firms, in federal and state clerkships and in government and public interest jobs. UNM came in at No. 18. Another chart, “Government & Public Interest,” focused on the number of graduates who landed jobs as prosecutors, public defenders and nonprofit attorneys. UNM ranked 14th.

UNM President Bob Frank was just as enthusiastic. “The whole point of going to a professional school is to get a good job after graduation,” he said. “Once again our law school ranks right up there with the best in the nation, showing the tremendous value of a UNM degree.”

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