Date: July 6th, 2012 9:46 AM
Author: Racy Blue Lodge
We looked at where partners and associates at the top five litigation boutiques for 2012 according to Vault earned their law degree. We limited the study only to those who earned the degree since the year 2000. The firms studied were Susman Godfrey (headquartered in Houston, but with offices nationally); Keker & Van Nest (San Francisco); Bartlit Beck (Chicago); Kellogg Huber (Washington, DC); and Morvillo, Abramowitz (New York). These firms tend to be the most selective legal employers in the nation, and set the standard for compensation for attorneys as well.
The first chart ranks the schools by a kind of “per capita” measure (the total number of attorneys at these boutique firms divided by the size of the recent graduating class, rounded to the nearest 25); the second chart ranks the schools by the total number of alumni at these firms. The remaining charts show the representation of each school at each of the five firms.
"Per Capital [sic]" Placement at Elite Litigation Boutiques
ank School Number of Post-2000 JD Grads at Top 5 Litigation Boutique Average Class Size (Nearest 25) "Per Capita" Top 5 Boutique Employment
1 University of Chicago 27 200 .14
2 Harvard University 28 575 .05
Stanford University 9 175 .05
Yale University 9 200 .05
5 University of California, Berkeley 11 300 .04
University of Texas, Austin 15 400 .04
7 Northwestern University 8 250 .03
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 10 375 .03
University of Pennsylvania 8 250 .03
10 Columbia University 10 425 .02
New York University 8 475 .02
Runners-up for the top ten
University of California, Los Angeles 3 325 .01
Emory University 2 225 .01
University of Virginia 3 375 .01
Tulane University 2 250 .01
University of Utah 1 125 .01
University of California, Hastings 3 425 .01
St. John's University 2 300 .01
Tulsa University 1 150 .01
University of Houston 2 325 .01
University of Washington 1 175 .01
University of Notre Dame 1 175 .01
Other Schools Represented
Duke University 1 200 .005
Louisiana State University 1 200 .005
Georgetown University 3 675 .004
American University 2 475 .004
University of Minnesota 1 250 .004
George Washington University 2 550 .004
Washington University, St. Louis 1 275 .004
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1987551&forum_id=2#21026800)