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April 29, 2024 Legal Education

ABA report shows job outlook good for 2023 law grads

The national legal job market for new law school graduates continues to show an uptick in full-time employment opportunities.

A recent ABA report showed employment for 85.6% of 2023 law school graduates compared to 84.6% of graduates in the previous year.

A recent ABA report showed employment for 85.6% of 2023 law school graduates compared to 84.6% of graduates in the previous year.

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On April 22, the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released its annual employment report for 2023 law school graduates and determined that 85.6%, or 30,160 graduates, found the equivalent of full-time employment 10 months after graduation. This compared to 84.6% of the graduates reporting similar full-time, long-term jobs in the previous year.

Bill Adams, managing director for ABA accreditation and legal education, said “the percentage of recent law school graduates employed in full-time, long-term jobs” under the section’s classification system “has reached its highest level in the past decade.”

Adams noted that beginning with the class of 2019, the employment percentage rose above 80% and has been rising steadily except for a dip to 77.4% for the class of 2020. “This dip was likely due to the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the legal market, cancellations and delays to bar admission exam administrations, and an approximately 1.4% increase in the size of the graduating class that year,” he said.

The report covered the 195 ABA-approved law schools still taking new students. It showed that the employment status of 99.2% of the 2023 graduating class was captured in the data, and that 5% of the class was either unemployed or still seeking a position.

The council, the ABA’s independent arm recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the national accreditor of law schools, requires schools to report annually to the council and publicly disclose a variety of  information, including employment outcomes.

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