Employment Statistics

Last Updated: April 13, 2018

Class of 2017 Employment 10 Months After Graduation

Columbia Law School reported the information below to the American Bar Association (ABA) for all J.D. graduates in our Class of 2016, indicating their employment status ten months after graduation. For your reference, ABA Employment Summaries are provided for the classes of 2017 [PDF], 2016 [PDF], and 2015 [PDF].

To further assist our prospective students as they consider enrolling in law school, we have published Employment and Salary Information for the Classes of 2017, 2016, and 2015.

The 2017 NALP Summary Report will be posted as soon as it is available, expected August 2018.

Employment Status	Full-Time		Part-Time		Number
Employment Status	Long Term	Short Term	Long Term	Short Term	Number
Employed - Bar Passage Required	401	2	0	0	403
Employed - JD Advantage	2	0	0	0	2
Employed - Professional Position	4	0	0	0	4
Employed - Non-Professional Position	0	0	0	0	0
Employed - Law School/University Funded	13	0	0	0	13
Employed - Undeterminable	0	0	0	0	0
Pursuing Graduate Degree Full Time					3
Unemployed - Start Date Deferred					1
Unemployed - Not Seeking					0
Unemployed - Seeking					6
Employment Status Unknown					0
Total graduates					432

Employment Type	Full-Time		Part-Time		Number
Employment Type	Long Term	Short Term	Long Term	Short Term	Number
Law Firms
Solo	0	0	0	0	0
2 - 10	5	0	0	0	5
11 - 25	2	0	0	0	2
26 - 50	2	1	0	0	3
51 - 100	3	0	0	0	3
101 - 250	6	0	0	0	6
251 - 500	48	0	0	0	48
501 +	290	1	0	0	291
Unknown	0	0	0	0	0
Business & Industry	7	0	0	0	7
Government	16	0	0	0	16
Pub. Int. (inc. Pub. Def.)	23	0	0	0	23
Clerkships—Federal*	15	0	0	0	15
Clerkships—State & Local *	2	0	0	0	2
Clerkships—Other*	1	0	0	0	1
Academia	0	0	0	0	0
Employer type unknown	0	0	0	0	1
Total	420	2	0	0	422
* The above number reflects clerkships that begin within a few months of graduation. Judges increasingly prefer to hire clerks who will have work experience when their clerkships begin. These clerks are not reflected in the above number. In recent years, approximately 90-100 or more Columbia alumni have been clerking in the federal and state courts at any given point, with the vast majority clerking on federal appellate and district courts.

Employment Location	State	Number
State—Largest employment	New York	304
State—2nd largest employment	California	35
State—3rd largest employment	District of Columbia	27
# Employed in foreign countries		12

Government and Public Interest Fellowships

For more than 150 years, Columbia Law School graduates have served at the highest levels of government and public interest organizations. We are extremely proud of this legacy and are committed to enhancing it. Our graduates continue to secure prestigious fellowships, government Honors Program positions, and full-time legal jobs. These one-year fellowships require bar passage and allow our graduates who wish to devote their careers to serving the public good the opportunity to do socially important work while assisting underserved organizations and individuals with their legal needs. All positions funded by these fellowships are eligible for Columbia Law School's loan repayment assistance program (LRAP). View Columbia post-graduate government and public interest fellowship opportunities.