The University of Miami School of Law is in the big leagues, making Law.com’s 2022 Go-To Law Schools hiring report. The Go-To Law Schools top 50 list results from lawyer headcount by the National Law Journal’s annual survey of the nation's 500 largest law firms.
This report ranks the 50 law schools that sent the highest percentage of 2021 J.D.s into associate jobs at the nation’s largest 100 law firms. From Miami Law, 40 recent grads went to the top 100 firms. This places Miami Law the highest in Florida among all law schools. According to Law.com, “The COVID-19 pandemic may have shuttered law school campuses, courthouses and law firm offices across the country, but it didn’t stop Big Law from hiring thousands of new associates.”
Miami Law Success is No Surprise
"We are fortunate to have a winning combination in terms of recruiting. We have long-standing relationships with law firms that are very supportive of hiring Miami Law students and a terrific career services staff committed to the success of our students," said Acting Assistant Dean Diane Quick of Miami Law's Career Development Office. "Most importantly, we have a student body that is well prepared for the rigors of large law firm practice and therefore are extremely competitive in the recruiting process."
Miami Law continually evaluates its curriculum to make sure students are prepared to meet the demands of today’s employers, which gives graduates a significant advantage in terms of contributing from the first day on the job and beyond.
This list is one way prospective and current law students can find out about the potential for career success after leaving law school.
25th in Promotions to Partner
On top of employment success, Miami Law ranked 25th in promotions to partner in the 2022 Go-To Law Schools: Associates to Partner ranking which shows law schools that saw the most alumni promoted to partner in 2021. Moreover, this ranking follows on the heels of the 2021 Go-To Law Schools for Associates to Partner listing, which revealed the most alumni promoted to law firm partnership during 2020. Results of a nationwide survey of junior and mid-level partners at the top 100 largest U.S. firms showed Miami Law as having produced a record number of law firm partners and ranking 31st, ahead of schools such as Vanderbilt Law, UNC Law, Tulane Law, and Brooklyn Law and on par with schools such as Cardozo Law, University of Houston, and the University of Maryland.
Leadership Footprint at Big Law
Miami Law is not only sending graduates to the biggest law firms, it has also made its mark founding and leading some of the world’s top law firms as evaluated in The American Lawyer’s 2021 Am Law 100.
The founders of Greenberg Traurig, Robert H. Traurig, J.D. ’50, and Larry J. Hofman, J.D. 54, both graduated from Miami Law. Traurig, for whom the LL.M. in Real Property Development was named, was one of the three founders of the global law firm. Hoffman, who received the DBR’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, is credited with strategically directing “the firm’s growth from a local law firm into the international firm that now ranks among the leaders in the legal marketplace.“
Yvette Ostolaza, J.D. '92, was named chair-elect of the management committee at Sidley Austin LLP, one of the country's premier law firms. When she takes the reins in April 2022, she will be the first woman in that role and one of only a handful of women to hold such a role at a global law firm.
After decades of success as an international lawyer, Miguel A. Zaldivar, Jr., J.D. '95, became the global CEO of Hogan Lovells with a four-year term of office in July 2020. Further, Ira Coleman, LL.M. ‘87 in Tax, is Chairman of McDermott Will & Emery, also in the Am Law 100.
Law.com also added that "data for this special report was provided to Law.com by the largest 100 firms in the country. For firms that did not submit new associate numbers, we relied on data from ALM’s RivalEdge database and independent reporting. The rankings do not reflect law graduates who took jobs as judicial clerks following graduation, nor do they include 2021 LL.M. graduates."
More on career development at Miami Law
