Percentage of law graduates with legal jobs inches up

A slightly higher percentage of last year’s graduates landed legal jobs compared with graduates from 2013, according to recent figures released by the American Bar Association. But the increase appears to be a result of fewer law school graduates rather than a better hiring market. 

Ten months after graduation, the nation’s 204 accredited law schools that award the J.D. degree reported that 71 percent — or about 31,160 graduates — of the class of 2014 were employed in long-term, full-time posts that either required them to pass the bar exam or preferred those who had law degrees. 

In 2013, 31,368 graduates, or 67 percent, were employed roughly nine months after their 2013 graduation under the same terms.

The bar association said that the small drop in the total number of employed graduates was most likely a result of fewer people finishing law school in 2014 than in the previous year.

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