UB Law School grads doing very well in tough job market

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo Law School today released employment figures for its Class of 2013, showing an employment rate on par with and exceeding the national average in one of the toughest job markets for new law school graduates.

The employment data was gathered by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), which publishes employment figures each year for new graduates nine months after they finish school.  The data is available at www.nalp.org.

For all U.S. law schools, NALP reported that 84.5 percent of graduates from the Class of 2013 were either employed or enrolled in an academic degree program nine months after graduation.  The UB Law School’s figure is 84.1 percent, very close to the national average, with 190 of 233 UB Law School 2013 grads securing employment within nine months after graduating, says Lisa M. Patterson, UB Law School’s associate dean for career services.

UB Law School’s employment figures score above the national average when factoring in one major difference in the way other law schools compile employment data, Patterson points out. According to the NALP data, many law schools hire their own graduates or fund their fellowships at nonprofit organizations. Many schools include these positions in their employment figures.  This accounts for 4.7 percent of all jobs held by the Class of 2013 nationwide, NALP’s data shows.

The UB Law School, on the other hand, does not hire its own graduates nor does it fund graduate fellowships at nonprofit organizations, Patterson notes.  When temporary, school-funded positions are excluded from NALP data, the UB Law School ranks second among all New York State law schools – behind only Columbia Law School – in the percentage of active job seekers who are employed, according to Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers.

Nationwide, according to NALP, 11.2 percent of law graduates from the Class of 2013 were still seeking work nine months after graduation; among UB Law School graduates the figure is a significantly lower: 8.4 percent.  In addition, UB Law School grads enrolled in graduate academic programs at a much higher rate than the national average – 4 percent, compared with just 1.8 percent nationwide.

The employment data also show that 69 percent of Buffalo’s Class of 2013 graduates hold jobs that required that they pass a state bar exam, indicative of traditional careers in law practice, Patterson says. The nationwide average is 64.4 percent.

These UB Law School graduates are working in locations from Florida to Alaska, Hawaii to South Korea, as prosecutors, public defenders, associates at private firms or solo practitioners, as well as in corporate settings, non-profit agencies and federal government positions.

“While the market continues to be a challenge, our students are some of the most successful in the state in landing a wide variety of long-term legal jobs,” says Patterson.  “The quality of our educational program combined with our affordability enables our graduates to enter practices from Wall Street to Main Street.”

Since its founding in 1887, the University at Buffalo Law School – the State University of New York system’s only law school – has established an excellent reputation and is widely regarded as a leader in legal education. Its cutting-edge curriculum provides both a strong theoretical foundation and the practical tools graduates need to succeed in a competitive marketplace, wherever they choose to practice. A special emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, public service and opportunities for hands-on clinical education makes the UB Law School unique among the nation’s premier public law schools.