According to a recent study conducted by The National Jurist, New Mexico is in the second hottest job market for entry-level attorneys.
Based on data from both the National Association for Law Placement and the American Bar Association the Mountain area—consisting of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming—has an overall job placement rate of 78.3 percent for new attorneys. That is a 1.05 ratio of graduates to jobs.
The publication says that the Mountain region “came in first two years ago and hasn’t slowed in terms of job opportunities.”
“The key to almost every successful job search is networking, especially in a close-knit community like New Mexico,” said Heather Harrigan, assistant dean of Student and Career Services. “We are fortunate to have an incredibly supportive legal community, consisting of alumni and friends of the law school that is more than eager to help our students connect with legal opportunities.”
Here in New Mexico the legal market is not flooded with entry-level candidates, as the UNM Law School is the only law school in the state and has a small student body.
“This will be particularly important given the state’s budget situation, which will likely have an impact new attorney hiring, especially as we traditionally have more recent graduates accept positions in public service than other law schools,” added Harrigan.
During the ranking process, The National Jurist split the U.S. into 20 geographic regions and assessed each for the ratio of jobs to graduates, as well as the placement rates of schools within each region.
The New York-New Jersey region took the top spot for new law grads. The article cites school support for this graduates as one of the key factors for a region’s ranking.
At the UNM School of Law, the Office of Student and Career Services provides all students and graduates with individualized comprehensive professional development assistance.
For more information, visit UNM School of Law.