Prep for Public Interest

Best Law Schools for Government and Public Interest

Interested in pursuing government or public interest work with your law degree? A new analysis by Reuters, using ABA employment data 10 months post-graduation for the Class of 2023, identified the schools sending the largest percentages of JD graduates into these fields.

Overall, around 20 percent of 2023 law graduates entered into the public interest or government sectors at 9 and 11 percent, respectively. However, at the City University of New York (CUNY) Law School, over 55 percent of 2023 graduates entered the fields. Almost half pursued a job in public interest (43 percent), with another 13 percent entering into the government. At the University of the District of Columbia’s Clarke School of Law, nearly 44 percent entered into public interest and government jobs. 

The top 10 schools and the percentages of graduating students who went into government/public interest are below. 

CUNY Law: 55.34 percent

University of DC Clarke Law: 43.75 percent

Albany Law: 36.36 percent 

Northern Kentucky Law: 34.58 percent

SUNY Buffalo Law: 33.12 percent

Florida A&M Law: 33.04 percent

University of Cincinnati Law: 32.28 percent

University of California, Davis Law: 32.02 percent (tie)

University of Wisconsin Law: 32.02 percent (tie)

Penn State Dickinson Law: 32 percent 

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