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&lt;p&gt;Working as an associate in a BigLaw firm is the brass ring for many law school students. If that’s your goal, it may seem logical to go to the highest ranked law school that accepts you. But that might not necessarily be the choice. Fortunately, Vault has conducts the largest survey of law firm associates and has collected data to help us figure out which schools are the biggest feeders to BigLaw.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;First, let’s look at some raw numbers. There were 15,673 BigLaw associates who participated in Vault’s 2016 survey and identified their ABA-approved law school attended. Here we’ve defined BigLaw as any firm with 150 or more attorneys. Here are the top ten law schools by number of graduates who participated in our survey and are associates in BigLaw firms.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;School&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;# of BigLaw Associates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;% of BigLaw Associates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Columbia University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;890&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;5.68%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;New York University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;886&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;5.65%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Harvard University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;885&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;5.65%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Georgetown University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;798&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;5.09%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Virginia&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;501&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;3.20%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Pennsylvania&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;480&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;3.06%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;479&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;3.06%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fordham University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;478&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;3.05%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;George Washington University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;450&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;2.87%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Northwestern University (Pritzker)&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;438&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;2.79%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While these are undoubtedly some of the highest ranked law schools, they are also some of the largest. So let’s factor in the size the law school class to see if there are some lower ranked schools punching above their weight. The matriculation data comes from the ABA’s 2016 law school data and represents full-time students only. We used the matriculation numbers to calculate an expected number of BigLaw associates by school size only.&#160; We then compared that to the actual number of BigLaw associates to find out by how much each school was over- or under-represented in BigLaw. Here are the top ten schools in terms of outperforming their expected representation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;School&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Matriculation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Expected # of BigLaw&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;# of BigLaw Associates&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Percent above expected&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Columbia University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;1165&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;187&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;890&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;376%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Northwestern University (Pritzker)&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;658&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;106&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;438&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;315%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Pennsylvania&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;753&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;121&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;480&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;297%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;New York University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;1395&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;224&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;886&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;296%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Chicago&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;617&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;99&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;355&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;258%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Virginia&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;934&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;150&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;501&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;234%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;University of Michigan—​Ann Arbor&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;932&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;150&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;479&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;220%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Harvard University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;1767&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;284&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;885&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;212%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fordham University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;956&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;154&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;478&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;211%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stanford University&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;572&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;92&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;286&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;bottom&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;211%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It turns out that Columbia is still the tops at sending its students into BigLaw jobs, though after that the schools change a bit. Giant schools Georgetown and George Washington drop out of the top 10, replaced by relatively-small Northwestern and Stanford. Perhaps the most interesting school on both these lists is Fordham. The NYC law school is ranked only 37&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; by U.S. News &amp;amp; World Report, but is one of the biggest feeders into BigLaw no matter how you slice the data. And looking beyond the top ten, there are some surprising schools. Catholic University is ranked 103&lt;sup&gt;rd&lt;/sup&gt; by U.S. News, but is the 26&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; best school for BigLaw jobs. Brooklyn Law performs similarly well, ranking 97&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; by U.S. News but 32&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; in our list. You can find the entire dataset in a google doc &lt;a href=&quot;https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13-m3f65npl71dklpexdexwifkdchsjvkf6p1czdz8ay/edit?usp=sharing&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We should note that a job in BigLaw is obviously not the only reason to go to law school. Yale doesn’t make the top ten not because BigLaw firms don’t want to hire Yale grads, but because they often make careers outside of BigLaw (for instance in academia). And our methodology isn’t perfect. Part-time students have been excluded from the matriculation numbers, but the associates may very well have been part-time students. Class sizes may also have been larger or smaller when the current associates were in law school. But if you’re looking to go into BigLaw, you’d do well to look closer at this ranking than on U.S. News or other law school rankings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Follow Vault Law on Twitter&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/VaultLaw&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VaultLaw&lt;/a&gt;&#160;and follow Vault on Instagram&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;http://instagram.com/vaultcareers?ref=badge&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VaultCareers&lt;/a&gt;&#160;and&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/Vault&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Facebook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;

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