The 25 best law schools for landing a high-paying job at a big firm

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cornell law students

Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School graduates celebrate their new degrees.

Earning a law degree was once a sure-fire path to a successful and lucrative career. Law school enrollment remains high, but an oversaturation of lawyers has left graduates struggling in the job market. Even the grads who find jobs aren't guaranteed a six-figure salary, leaving many stuck under a mountain of student debt.

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Which is why Business Insider's recently released list of the 50 best law schools in the country focused on the institutions that lead to top jobs in the legal world. The ranking primarily homed in on the percentage of graduates who land full-time, long-term, highly coveted jobs, which we narrowed down to two things: positions at big law firms and federal clerkships.

Landing a spot at a large firm all but guarantees financial success - big firms pay significantly more than small ones. And the mega firms tend to play follow-the-leader when it comes to compensation: After a prominent New York City firm raised its base starting salary to $180,000 last month, many other big names followed suit.

We culled data from the American Bar Association to find the schools that funnel the highest percentage of graduates into the largest law firms - those with more than 500 employees. We used overall rank on our main list as a tiebreaker. Read on to see which law schools send the most graduates these companies.

Additional reporting by Kaitlyn Yarborough and Alexa Pipia.

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