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Dome of the Cornell Law Library

Applicants seeking an intimate and serene setting in which to attend law school may want to consider Cornell. The school offers solid employment prospects, particularly in New York City biglaw, at an extremely high price tag. About 85% of the class of had found long-term, full-time jobs requiring bar passage as of nine months after graduation, but according to Law School Transparency, the estimated total debt-financed cost of a Cornell J.D. is over a quarter of a million dollars.

Cornell law students have access to the rest of the university. For example, students interested in labor law can take interdisciplinary courses in labor relations in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell, while those interested in African legal systems can take courses in African history at the Africana Studies and Research Center.

The campus is picturesque; it overlooks a gorge and is close to many biking and hiking trails. The law school has fewer than two hundred students in each class, which, according to Richard Geiger, the dean of admissions, fosters a sense of community among law students. Students enjoy a student-faculty ratio of 9.9 to 1. The law school faculty and staff encourage students to work together rather than compete with one another.

stone benches in front of the Law School

Over half the class (55%) took jobs in New York; the second and third most popular jurisdictions were California (6%) and Washington, D.C. (5%). The bar passage rate in New York for the class of (68% reporting) was 91.7%, compared to 85% overall for the state's first-time takers.

Cornell is among the worst of the traditional top 14 law schools for placement into prestigious federal judicial clerkships. It ranks 17th among the top 20 in the new Above the Law rankings. with 6.3% of the class of getting these positions, which often lead to biglaw jobs.

Despite its reputation as a feeder for NYC biglaw, Cornell places well in public service. It ranks 8th among ATL' s top 20 schools, with almost 14% of the class obtaining full-time, long-term legal jobs in government or public interest.

Unfortunately and inexplicably, Cornell does not provide any information on its graduates' starting salaries. In spite of Law School Transparency 's laudable and largely successful efforts to encourage schools to be accountable and make such essential information available to 0Ls and the public, Cornell has apparently refused to cooperate. TLS urges prospective students to call the admissions office at 607-255-5141 and demand that Cornell make public its most recent NALP reports. In an age of absurdly high tuition, the information in the NALP report is critical for 0Ls to decide where to apply and, more important, where to attend.