8 Law Schools With Terrible Employment Rates

Just 85.6 percent of law students who earned a law degree in 2011 were employed nine months later. It's the lowest rate of employment since 1994.

For those graduates lucky enough to find themselves employed, only 55 percent of them secured "full-time, long-term jobs" that require a law degree.

And yet the law schools keep churning out students ...

We've identified some of the schools with the highest rates of unemployment and underemployment, based on data from the Wall Street Journal. Schools are listed alphabetically.

Click here to see the schools >

This is part of our comprehensive ranking of The Best Law Schools in America.

#11 Western New England University School of Law, Springfield, Mass.

Unemployed, seeking employment: 21%

Employed in jobs requiring a JD: 30%

Passed the bar exam the first time: 66%

Average State Bar Passage Rate: 88%

Tuition: $38,116

According to US News, the average amount of student loan debt that Western New England University School of Law students from the class of 2011 were graduating with was $109,778. US News also reported that 93 percent of students graduated with debt.

Methodology: Tuition represented does not include the cost of living. The employment statistics represent law students from the graduating classes of 2011 nine months after graduation. Data was collected from the Wall Street Journal and the American Bar Association/Law School Admissions Council.

#10 University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Ore.

Unemployed, seeking employment: 21%

Employed in jobs requiring a JD: 41%

Passed the bar exam the first time: 75%

Average State Bar Passage Rate: 75%

Tuition: $28,348 for Oregon residents; $35,368 for non-residents

Despite the pride that follows being the State of Oregon's only public law school, the University of Oregon School of Law's rate of unemployment still clocks in at 21 percent. Unemployment aside, the school's first-time bar exam passage rate is right on par with the state average at 75 percent.

Methodology: Tuition represented does not include the cost of living. The employment statistics represent law students from the graduating classes of 2011 nine months after graduation. Data was collected from the Wall Street Journal and the American Bar Association/Law School Admissions Council.

#9 Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, Calif.

Unemployed, seeking employment: 23%

Employed in jobs requiring a JD: 43%

Passed the bar exam the first time: 87%

Average State Bar Passage Rate: 72%

Tuition: $44,920

Awaiting the 2012-2013 incoming class of students coming at Pepperdine University School of Law is an annual tuition of $44,920 and an unemployment rate of 23 percent from prior graduating classes.

Methodology: Tuition represented does not include the cost of living. The employment statistics represent law students from the graduating classes of 2011 nine months after graduation. Data was collected from the Wall Street Journal and the American Bar Association/Law School Admissions Council.

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