Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School Employment Statistics by Position, Term, and Location

Employment Summary and Comparison

For the 411 graduates from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, 319 were hired including 289 full-time and 30 part-time positions. Among them, 311 students employed as long-term contract and 8 students employed as short-term contract.

189 graduates got a job where bar passage required and 72 got J.D. advantage (or J.D. preferred) jobs where it does not require passage of the bar exam. 42 graduates got professional positions.

Compared to all law schools in U.S., Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School' rate of employed is much lower than the average rate of 90.60%. Compared to law schools in Michigan, its rate of employed is much lower than the average rate of 89.88%.

	Total Graduates	% of Employed	Total Employed	Full-time	Part-time
Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School	Total Graduates	411	77.62%	319	289	30
All Law Schools	35,529	90.60%	32,188	31,164	1,024
Public	13,852	91.04%	12,611	12,223	388
Private	21,677	90.31%	19,577	18,941	636
Michigan Law Schools	1,551	89.88%	1,394	1,347	47
Public	760	95.92%	729	721	8
Private	791	84.07%	665	626	39

Employment by General Category

The below table summarizes the employment statistics by general position categories and employed stats for 411 graduates. The category definition can be found at ABA's employment protocol

	Total	Percentage (%)	Full-time		Part-time
	Total	Percentage (%)	Long-term	Short-term	Long-term	Short-term
Total Graduates	411
Bar Passage Required	189	45.99%	182	0	7	0
J.D. Advantage	72	17.52%	60	4	7	1
Professional Position	42	10.22%	33	2	7	0
Other	15	3.65%	8	0	7	0
Undeterminable	0	0.00%	0	0	0	0
Enrolled in Graduate Studies	4	0.97%
Start Date Deferred	6	1.46%
Unemployed - Not Seeking	3	0.73%
Unemployed - Seeking	74	18.00%
Employment Status Unknown	5	1.22%

Employment by Position Types

The below table summarizes the employment statistics by company and job position types for 411 graduates from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

	Total	Percentage (%)	Full-time		Part-time
	Total	Percentage (%)	Long-term	Short-term	Long-term	Short-term
Total Employed	319	-	283	6	28	2
Law Firms	144	35.04%	133	2	9	0
Solo	14	4.39%	12	0	2	0
1-10	82	25.71%	75	1	6	0
11-25	25	7.84%	24	1	0	0
26-50	5	1.57%	5	0	0	0
51-100	4	1.25%	4	0	0	0
101-250	7	2.19%	7	0	0	0
251-500	1	0.31%	0	0	1	0
More than 500	5	1.57%	5	0	0	0
Unknown Size	1	0.31%	1	0	0	0
Business and Industry	84	26.33%	69	3	12	0
Government	48	15.05%	42	1	5	0
Public Interest	26	8.15%	24	0	2	0
Clerkships - Federal	0	-	0	0	0	0
Clerkships - State, Local, and Territorial	8	2.51%	8	0	0	0
Clerkships - Tribal	0	-	0	0	0	0
Clerkships - International	0	-	0	0	0	0
Education	8	2.51%	7	0	0	1
Employer Type Unknown	1	0.31%	0	0	0	1

Employed at Law schools/Universities Funded Position

The below table summarizes the graduated who employed law school or its parent university funded position by term and working status atWestern Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

	Total	Percentage (%)	Full-time		Part-time
	Total	Percentage (%)	Long-term	Short-term	Long-term	Short-term
Total Graduates	319	-	283	6	28	2
Total Employed by Law School or University	1	0.24%	0	0	0	1
Bar Passage Required	0	-	0	0	0	0
J.D. Advantage	1	0.24%	0	0	0	1
Professional Position	0	-	0	0	0	0
Other	0	-	0	0	0	0

Employed Location

The most graduates (130) are employed by law firms or companies in Michigan, where the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School located. The following table shows the top three state that graduates got employed with number of employed.

	State	Number Employed	% of Employed
Largest Employment	Michigan	130	40.75%
2^nd Largest Employment	Florida	91	28.53%
3^rd Largest Employment	Illinois	13	4.08%

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