Summary: The law school that attorneys attend plays a significant role in their ability to find a job out of school, but Harrison Barnes explains how that changes in lateral hires.
Those who want to be the best attorneys at top law firms know they have to attend a top law school but does this still apply when lateralling? Harrison Barnes provides the explanation in in his article “How Much Does the Law School You Went to Matter When You Lateral Firms?”
The way to really understand if a law school plays a large role in lateralling law firms is by looking at the data. Barnes collected the data from interviews and placements done through BCG Attorney Search. From there he had the data put into 15 charts depending on different factors.
Chart A: An overview of BCG data in relation to the rate that candidates from various law schools received interviews with law firms between 2015 and 2016.
Chart B: An overview of BCG data in relation to the rate that candidates from various law schools received placements with law firms between 2015 and 2016.
Chart 1: Percentage of candidates from any law school that received interviews in 2016.
Chart 2: Percentage of candidates from any law school that received interviews in 2016, with an emphasis on class size.
Chart 3: Percentage of candidates from top 10 law schools that received interviews in 2016 with no emphasis on class size.
Chart 4: Percentage of candidates from top 10 law schools that received interviews in 2016 with an emphasis on class size.
Chart 5: Top 5 law schools for laterals that received interviews in 2016.
Chart 6: Percentage of candidates from any law school that received a placement in 2016.
Chart 7: Percentage of candidates from any law school that received placements in 2016, with an emphasis on class size.
Chart 8: Percentage of candidates from any law school that received placements in 2016.
Chart 9: Top 20 law schools where candidates received placements in 2016 with no emphasis on class size.
Chart 10: Top 20 law schools where candidates received placements in 2016 with an emphasis on class size.
Chart 11: Top law schools for laterals receiving placements in 2016.
Chart 12: Percentage of candidates from any law school that received placements in 2015.
Chart 13: Law schools where candidates received the most placements in 2015 and 2016 and were on the “top 20 lists” for placements for both years, with no emphasis on class size.
What you will glean from the charts and data is that law schools don’t matter as much in the lateral market although it still is a factor. You could assume that generally top attorneys attend top law schools, so there is a correlation, but there are always exceptions.
Do you think the law school or law firm the attorney is coming from matters most? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about how law school affects an attorneys future, read these articles:
- 10 Reasons Why Attorneys Will Take Any Chance to Work at Large Law Firms
- 30 Factors That Make You More Employable with Big Law Firms
- Top Mistakes Attorneys Make That Ruin Their Chances in Big Law Firms
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