Top 10 Law Schools for Career Prospects

It's that time of year again, which means The Princeton Review has released its newest edition of The Best 167 Law Schools. Now, we know you normally only care about the all-powerful U.S. News rankings. But this year's Best list has some possibly useful information.

It includes a ranking of the Top 10 Law Schools for Career Prospects.

Yes, career prospects. Apparently they still exist. Well, if you go to one of the following schools.

1. Northwestern University School of Law - 98%
2. University of Chicago Law School - 99%
3. Columbia Law School - 99%
4. University of California, Berkeley - 96%
5. Georgetown University Law Center - 96%
6. University of Pennsylvania - 99%
7. Vanderbilt University Law School - N/A
8. George Washington University - 95%
9. University of Michigan Law School - 99.14%
10. New York University School of Law - 99.38%

Those little numbers represent the percentage of students employed within 9 months of graduation. Certain schools (coughMichigancoughNYU) were a bit overzealous in their calculations, while another simply didn't want to share.

And of course, you'll notice that the numbers are not in descending order. That's because the law school career prospects list is not solely based on employment numbers.

Nope, the rankings also include student survey results. Students were asked about externship and internship offerings; opportunities for practical experiences; post-graduate preparation; and average starting salary.

Still, one important question remains:

How useful is the list of Top 10 Law Schools for Career Prospects? Schools have been lying about career statistics for years. And average starting salary is misleading if not controlled for cost of living. Plus, the list doesn't even include Harvard, Yale and Stanford.

Related Resources:

• The Best Law Schools for Career Prospects (Forbes)
• Will More Law Schools (See: Thomas Jefferson) Admit Employment Stats? (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
• Villanova Sanctioned by ABA for Inaccurate Admission Data (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)