Why Big Law Firms Care About Which Law School You Attend
Big law firms tend to be particular about which lawyers they hire, according to a report from U.S. News & World Report.
Reporter Ilana Kowarski writes:
Thomas J. Simeone, a managing partner at the personal injury law firm Simeone & Miller in the District of Columbia, who spent many years working at big law firms, says these firms typically prefer to hire alumni of elite law schools that place in the top 15 in national law school rankings. Some particularly exclusive big law firms primarily employ graduates of J.D. programs that place in the top five or top 10, and in general, grads from higher-ranked J.D. programs have better chances of finding a job at a big law firm, Simeone says.
Kowarski writes that graduates of lower-ranked law schools “often need to either achieve extraordinary law school grades or gain several years of impressive legal work experience to convince a big law firm to hire them.”
