Top 10 Law Schools with the Highest Earning Potential

By Gregory John "G.J." Vitale on September 4, 2013

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Law is a competitive profession, and not all degrees are created equal. The last thing you want to do as a student is to spend tens of thousands of dollars to attend law school, and then get stuck without a job that pays you well enough to climb out of debt. As University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos said in the 2014 edition of U.S. News & World Report‘s Best Grad Schools publication, “If you’re taking on $120,000 of debt to get a $60,000-a-year job, that’s deeply problematic.”

In order to make this list not only comprehensive, but also realistic, I have employed the services of online and literature rankings from well-respected sources as well as research into data from the universities themselves. In order to keep data consistent, because programs report on many different professional fields (from academia to public service), we will only consider the salaries of graduates working in private law firms for our ranking purposes.

This is a list of earning potential and so statistics like average starting salary and percent of students employed at graduation are all-but ignored. What is important is the average salary of graduates working full time in the private sector. Without further delay, here are the top 10 law schools when it comes to earning potential for graduates:

Yale University

U.S. News & World Report – $160,000

Program website - “Not surprisingly, business and law firm respondents report the highest incomes, with 71% of those in law firms and 72% of those in business reporting salaries over $150,000.”

Photo by  Sarah_Ackerman on flickr.com

Harvard University

U.S. News & World Report – $160,000

Program website - Class of 2010 average: $155,075, median: $160,000. Class of 2009 average: $155,551, median: $160,000. Class of 2008 average: $156,508, median: $160,000.

Photo by  Patricia Drury on flickr.com

Stanford University

U.S. News & World Report – $160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 median: $160,000, range: $100,000-$175,000. Class of 2011 median: $160,000, range: $70,000-$174,000. Class of 2010 median: $160,000, range: $82,000-$180,000. Class of 2009 median: $160,000, range: $80,000-$180,000.

Photo by  Sandip Bhattacharya on flickr.com

Columbia University

U.S. News & World Report – $160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 average: $156,938, median: $160,000. Class of 2011 average: $154,870, median: $160,000. Class of 2010 average: $154,850, median: $160,000.

Photo by  allaboutuni2307 on flickr.com

University of Chicago

U.S. News & World Report – $160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 average: $146,805, median: $160,000. Class of 2011 average: $149,169, median: $160,000. Class of 2010 average: $143,768, median: $160,000. Class of 2009 average: $155,451, median: $160,000.

New York University

U.S. News & World Report – $160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 average: $155,985, median: $160,000. Class of 2011 average: $153,119, median: $160,000. Class of 2010 average: $156,062, median: $160,000. Class of 2009 average: $156,008, median: 160,000.

Photo by  Blastframe on flickr.com 

 

University of Pennsylvania

U.S. News & World Report – $130,000-$160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 average: $149,781, median: $160,000. Class of 2011 average: $148,464, median: $160,000. Class of 2010 average: $152,100, median: $160,000. Class of 2009 average: $154,311, median: $160,000.

Photo by  kajiai on flickr.com

University of Virginia

U.S. News & World Report – $125,000-$160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 median: $160,000. Class of 2011 median: $160,000. Class of 2010 median: $160,000. Class of 2009 median: $160,000.*

Photo by  Phil Roeder on flickr.com

University of California—Berkeley

U.S. News & World Report – $145,000-$160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 average: $148,816, median: $160,000. Class of 2011 average: $148,718, median: $160,000. Class of 2010 average: $149,370, median: $160,000.

Photo by  Curtis Cronn on flickr.com

University of Michigan—Ann Arbor

U.S. News & World Report – $140,000-$160,000

Program website - Class of 2012 average: $142,111, median: $160,000. Class of 2011 average: $146,362, median: $160,000. Class of 2010 average: $151,889, median: $160,000.

Photo by  cseeman on flickr.com

As a general rule, a law school with a solid reputation can land graduates higher paid positions. So even though you may pay more to attend, the prestige seems to pay off. Just like in undergraduate rankings where the top 10 schools are all within a stone’s throw of each other, it seems that any of these law schools would provide you with enough esteem to attract the highest-paying employers.

Do you have your own thoughts on this list? Are there any schools we should have included? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments below.

 *The University of Virginia combines data from law firms and business/industry.

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