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#DePaul and Chicago-Kent tie for fewest grads in lawyer jobs - Law News - Crain s Chicago Business

Photo by Mc4932/Wikimedia Commons Ten months after graduation, about 58 percent of DePaul University College of Law graduates had found jobs requiring them to pass the bar.

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DePaul University College of Law and IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law nearly tied among Chicago-area law schools for the lowest percentage of 2014 graduates who found jobs requiring bar passage, according to data released yesterday.

Ten months after graduation, about 58 percent of DePaul's graduates had found jobs requiring them to pass the bar, according to data from the American Bar Association. At Chicago-Kent it was about 59 percent.

The two schools diverged in their unemployment data, with about 19 percent of DePaul's 2014 graduates unemployed, compared with about 9 percent for Chicago-Kent. Chicago-Kent had more graduates take jobs where a law degree was preferred.

"There are some jobs that are unexciting where a J.D. is required, and there are some jobs that wonderful that are J.D.-advantaged," said Dean Harold Krent of Chicago-Kent, citing financial compliance and intellectual property consulting as examples of the latter.

The numbers don't tell the full story at DePaul either, said Bill Chamberlain, assistant dean for law career services. The school has had more graduates landing jobs that require bar passage every year since 2011. It also stepped up efforts this school year to prep first-year students for practice and to reach out to employers.

"You have to look at where we came from," he said.

About 93 percent of University of Chicago Law School's graduates found jobs requiring bar passage, making it the leader among Chicago-area institutions. It was followed by Northwestern University School of Law at 83 percent, Northern Illinois University College of Law at 65 percent, John Marshall Law School at 64 percent and Loyola University Chicago School of Law at 63 percent. About 76 percent of the 2014 graduates from University of Illinois College of Law, located in Champaign, scored employment requiring bar passage.

Most Chicago-area law schools hovered between 7 and 9 percent unemployment for their 2014 graduates, with University of Illinois at 6 percent.

Across the country, just under 60 percent of the class of 2014 had jobs requiring bar passage, with about 10 percent still seeking employment.