Law Schools

Want A Federal Clerkship? Check Out These Law Schools For A Leg Up

The top 10 law schools if you want a federal clerkship.

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gavel scalesIn the legal profession, there is a lot of prestige surrounding federal clerkships. After all, they’re pretty rare — only about 3% of the law school class of 2022 nabbed one — and learning at the knee of a federal judge is (usually, but not always) a great way to understand the profession. In the cutthroat market for these jobs, which law schools give you the best opportunity?

Recent data released by the American Bar Association (ABA) reveals the percentage of 2022 law school graduates that are working in federal clerkships from each institution. So, what are the law schools putting the biggest chunk of their grads into the uber-prestigious positions?

This year there’s a new number one school for federal clerkships — University of Chicago held that spot the previous two years. With over 25 percent of grads getting the coveted jobs, Stanford Law School takes the top spot. The top 10 is as follows:

  1. Stanford Law School 25.40%
  2. Yale Law School 23.94%
  3. UChicago Law School 20.28%
  4. Notre DameU Law School 15.24%
  5. UVirginia School of Law 12.84%
  6. Harvard Law School 12.60%
  7. UAlabama School of Law 12.12%
  8. Duke Law School 11.68%
  9. Vanderbilt Law School 10.67%
  10. UTexas School of Law 10.38%

These 10 law schools produced a full third of all federal clerks last year — so, if you’ve got your heart set on a federal clerkship, these schools really do give you an advantage.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on

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