Law.com Big Law Schools Survey

From 2006 to 2022, ALM Law.com sent a survey to its list of the 100 largest law firms in the U.S., requesting information about first year associates and newly promoted partners and the law schools from which both groups graduated.

Reports from 2006-23 include the number of associates by firm hired from a variety of law schools, the number of associates per law firm promoted to partner in the previous year and their respective law schools, the percentage of graduates at 100 largest of the NLJ 500 firms by law school, average first year tuition by school, and a ranking differential between the NLJ Law Schools survey and the U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools ranking.

In most cases, data is self-reported by the law firm; in cases where firms did not respond to our efforts to contact them, law school data was supplemented from the Legal Compass database.

In 2023 we changed our methodology. Law.com sent a survey to US law schools, requesting graduate information on first year associates sent to NLJ 100 firms. In 2024, we expanded this list further to NLJ 500 firms.

Reports published from 2024 and beyond rank the top 50 US law schools that sent the highest percentage of its J.D. graduates to associate positions at the largest 100 law firms in the country. It also includes the number of associates hired by firm and average first year tuition by school.