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Career Services

Employment Outcomes

Vanderbilt Law has one of the most successful career services programs among the nation’s leading law schools, providing comprehensive resources to help students explore top-tier career services options and to guide graduates to employment opportunities across the United States and around the world.

employment report
Section Contents

Vanderbilt Law graduates achieve strong employment outcomes across the legal profession and throughout the United States. The employment data below reports outcomes for the J.D. Class of 2025, 10 months after graduation, and follows ABA and NALP reporting guidelines. The report provides information on employment status, career sector and type, salaries, law firm size, judicial clerkships, and geographic destinations.

Exceptional Outcomes

  • No. 9

    Law schools that sent the highest percentage of J.D. graduates to the nation's 100 largest law firms,

    National Law Journal / Law.com (2026)

  • $225,000

    Private sector median salary of J.D. graduates
    (NALP, 2025)

  • 100%

    of J.D. graduates employed 10 months after graduation

    (NALP, 2025)

Vanderbilt Law graduates achieve strong employment outcomes across the legal profession. For the J.D. Class of 2025, 98.8% of graduates obtained employment requiring bar passage, compared to a national average of 83.4%. Overall, 100% of Vanderbilt Law graduates were employed 10 months after graduation.

EMPLOYMENT STATUSNUMBERAll Vanderbilt '25 Graduates (167)ABA National '25 Graduates (36,207)
Employed - Bar Passage Required16598.80%83.40%
Employed - JD Advantage00.00%6.09%
Employed - Professional Position10.60%1.80%
Employed - Law School / University Funded52.99%1.34%
Enrolled in Graduate Studies10.60%1.10%
Unemployed - Seeking00.00%4.94%
Employment Status Unknown00.00%0.65%
Total Graduates167100%

Employment Details

  • Employment and Salary by Sector

    Vanderbilt Law graduates enter both private- and public-sector careers, with strong salaries in each sector. Among reported 2025 graduates, 72.3% entered the private sector with a median salary of $225,000, while 27.7% entered the public sector with a median salary of $75,000.

    Employment Sector# of Jobs Reported% of Reported# with Salary25th PercentileMedian75th PercentileMean
    Private Sector
    Vanderbilt12072.3%117$197,500$225,000$225,000$202,568
    Public Sector
    Vanderbilt4627.7%42$69,250$75,000$83,127$76,135
    Data for J.D. Class of 2025

  • Employment and Salary by Career Category

    Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue a range of legal careers, including private practice, judicial clerkships, government, public interest, and education. For the Class of 2025, private practice accounted for 72.3% of reported jobs, while 24 graduates obtained judicial clerkships. Graduates also entered government and public interest positions.

    Employment Category# of Jobs Reported% of Reported# with Salary25th PercentileMedian75th PercentileMean
    Business & Industry0- -
    Clerkships2414.45%24$69,250$75,262$80,286$74,478
    Education31.81%-
    Government (excluding Clerkships)116.62%10----
    Private Practice12072.29%117$197,500$225,000$225,000$202,568
    Public Interest84.82%7$69,000$72,000$79,000$73,792
    Total Employed166100%
    Data for J.D. Class of 2025

  • Employment by Law Firm Size

    Vanderbilt Law graduates enter law firms of many sizes, from solo practices to the nation's largest law firms. Among the 120 Class of 2025 graduates who reported entering private practice, 78 joined firms with 501 or more attorneys. Overall, graduates entered firms across every category of firm size.

    Law Firm SizeNumber of Graduates
    Solo1
    1-106
    11 - 256
    26 - 504
    51 - 1001
    101 - 2508
    251 - 50016
    501+78
    Total Employed in Private Practice120
    Data for J.D. Class of 2025

  • Judicial Clerkship Outcomes

    Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue judicial clerkships in federal and state courts to gain valuable experience that can shape  careers in private practice, public service, academia, and beyond. Members of the Class of 2025 reported a total of 24 judicial clerkships, 18 federal-level and 6 state-level.

    Judicial ClerkshipsNumber of Graduates
    Federal18
    State6
    Total24
    Data for J.D. Class of 2025

  • Public Interest & Public Career Placements

    Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue public interest and public service careers with government agencies, prosecutors’ and public defenders’ offices, courts, legal aid organizations, and nonprofit advocacy groups across the country. Recent graduates have taken positions with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Community Legal Aid, the Southern Center for Human Rights, state attorneys general and district attorneys’ offices, and public defender organizations. 

    14th Circuit Solicitors OfficeAmerican Civil Liberties Union of TexasClark County Eighth Judicial
    District
    Community Legal AidKansas Department of EducationLegal Services of Long Island
    Metro Law DeptNashville DefendersNew Jersey Judiciary
    North Carolina Business CourtOffice of the District Attorney,
    Bronx County    		Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
    Philadelphia District Attorney’s
    Office     		Prince William County
    Commonwealth’s Attorney    		Project Hope, Washington, D.C.
    Santa Barbara District Attorney’s
    Office    		Solicitor General of GeorgiaSouthern Center for Human Rights
    Southern Environmental Law
    Center    		Tennessee District Attorney
    General, 17th District     		Tennessee District Public
    Defenders Conference, 17th
    Judicial District

Employment Destinations

  • Employment by Geographic Region

    Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue careers across the United States, demonstrating employment reach well beyond Nashville and Tennessee. Among reported Class of 2025 employment locations, the largest concentrations were in the East South Central region (24.1%), Mid-Atlantic region (18.7%), and South Atlantic region (16.9%).

    RegionNumber ReportedPercent of Reported
    New EnglandCT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT53.01%
    Mid-AtlanticNJ, NY, PA3118.67%
    E. North CentralIL, IN, MI, OH, WI2012.05%
    West North CentralIA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD21.20%
    South AtlanticDE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV2816.87%
    East South CentralAL, KY, MS, TN4024.10%
    West South CentralAR, LA, OK, TX2012.05%
    MountainAZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY42.41%
    PacificAK, CA, HI, OR, WA169.64%
    U.S. Territories0-
    Non-U.S. locations0-
    Data for J.D. Class of 2025

  • Most Common Employment Destinations

    Vanderbilt Law graduates build careers in major legal markets across the country. The employment destinations below provides a five-year view of where Vanderbilt Law graduates from the classes of 2021-2025 launched their professional careers.

    Location Employment is BasedPercentage of Classes
    New York20%
    Tennessee18%
    Texas12%
    Washington D.C.11%
    California6%
    Data for J.D. Classes 2021-2025

Meet Our Students

Associate, Paul Hastings

Billy Black '25

“I was results focused. It just seemed like if I did the legwork, I could end up wherever I wanted, [and] that flexibility was important to me."

Read More
Public Defender

Elizabeth Wehby '26

“I think the fact that people have so many [job] interests location-wise helps a lot with making it so that everyone is able to enjoy the supportive community.”

Read More
Summer Associate, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Gregg Cashmark '26

"Vanderbilt places people in jobs and clerkships really well, and [that is a] big thing I care about in law school… Vanderbilt’s kind of a no brainer.”

Read More

Employment Outcome FAQs

Vanderbilt Law employment data shows where graduates begin their careers, but employment outcomes are also connected to the experiences and resources available during law school. Graduates pursue careers in private practice, government, public interest, education, and other fields. Vanderbilt supports these pathways through career advising, experiential learning, faculty mentorship, public interest resources, and opportunities to develop specialized expertise.

  • How does Vanderbilt report employment and salary data?

    Vanderbilt Law reports employment and salary data for J.D. graduates in accordance with reporting guidelines established by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the National Association for Law Placement (NALP). The Employment Report reflects outcomes for the Class of 2025 as of 10 months after graduation and includes employment status, employment sector and category, salary information, law firm size, judicial clerkships, and geographic destinations. Salary figures are reported by employment sector and category and include the number of salaries reported and the 25th percentile, median, 75th percentile, and mean when sufficient data is available.

  • Where do Vanderbilt Law graduates work?

    Vanderbilt Law graduates work across the United States and in a range of legal sectors and practice settings. For the Class of 2025, 72.3% of reported jobs were in the private sector and 27.7% were in the public sector. By employment category, graduates entered private practice, judicial clerkships, government, public interest organizations, and education. The most common employment destinations were Tennessee (20% of the class), New York (16%), and California (10%).

  • How does Vanderbilt Law employment data compare with national law school employment data?

    Vanderbilt Law graduates have employment outcomes that exceed national law school averages in several key measures. For the Class of 2025, 98.8% of Vanderbilt graduates obtained employment requiring bar passage, compared with 83.4% nationally. Vanderbilt reported no graduates who were unemployed and seeking employment 10 months after graduation, compared with 4.94% nationally. Vanderbilt also reported 100% of graduates as employed 10 months after graduation, including graduates in law school- or university-funded positions.

  • What does Vanderbilt Law's employment data say about career mobility?

    Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue careers throughout the United States, not only in Tennessee. For the Class of 2025, 80.1% of graduates were employed outside Tennessee, according to the ABA Employment Summary. Graduates were employed across every major U.S. geographic region, with the largest concentrations in the East South Central region (24.1%), Mid-Atlantic region (18.7%), and South Atlantic region (16.9%). Tennessee, New York, and California were the three most common individual state destinations.

  • What career options do Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue beyond private practice?

    Vanderbilt Law graduates pursue careers in judicial clerkships, government, public interest, education, and other professional settings in addition to private practice. For the Class of 2025, 24 graduates obtained judicial clerkships, including 18 federal and 6 state clerkships; 11 entered government positions outside of clerkships; 8 entered public interest positions; and 3 entered education. Vanderbilt's Career Services supports career paths across all sectors including corporate law, public service, and judicial clerkships.