Elite firm hiring
By Macleans.ca | September 10th, 2008 | 5:36 pm
Maclean's second annual ranking of Canadian law schools
Maclean’s counted the number of graduates from each law school who work as associates at the largest law firms in each of nine Canadian regions (as determined by Lexpert) and at the five leading New York law firms (as determined by Vault), per each school’s first-year class.
* indicates a tie
Enrolment figures obtained from the Law School Admission Council, for common law schools, and directly from the universities for civil law schools. Enrolment is averaged over two years when possible.
GO TO NEXT CHART: National reach
[...] This is the second year that Maclean’s has ranked Canada’s law schools, and this year’s methodology follows the same approach as last year—with a few improvements. The goal remains the same: to objectively assess each school against recognized measures of faculty quality and graduate employment quality. Are a law school’s professors significant contributors to the intellectual life of their discipline? Do a law school’s graduates land the most sought-after jobs in government, the private sector and—new this year—academia? Go straight to the rankings [...]
[...] NEXT CHART: Elite firm hiring [...]
It should probably be noted that this particular measure explicitly disadvantages schools at which students are self-motivated, or are motivated while law students, to seek government employment (DOJ, etc.).
The notion that the five leading NY law firms as noted by Vault make up the entire world of “elite” hiring outside of Canada is absurd. I work at a NY firm that is in the 5-10 category of Vault firms, and in my area, we are the leading law firm in the world. To pretend that my firm isn’t elite is laughable, frankly. Similarly, to exclude from the “elite” group the now couple hundred strong group of Canadian lawyers working in London is to miss an important elite constituency.
Of course, using the “elite job” barometer to measure law school quality is also silly, but I think most people with a brain appreciate this fact.