Class of 2012
JD Class of 2012 Employment Statistics – 9 Months after Graduation1
317 Graduates
| Total percentage of graduates employed in professional positions | 90.5% |
How is Denver Law’s Employment Rate Calculated?
Numerator: The numerator in our calculation is the number of 2012 JD graduates who were working as of February 15, 2013 in any professional capacity (legal, nonlegal, full time, part time, long term and short term). This includes graduates working in jobs requiring bar admission, jobs where the JD provides an advantage, and other positions that require professional skills or training. In previous years, we have included nonprofessional jobs in our calculation which was consistent with reporting conventions of the American Bar Association, National Association of Law Placement and US News & World Report. For the class of 2012, however, we have excluded the 6 nonprofessional positions obtained by 2012 graduates.
Denominator: The denominator in our calculation reflects the number of 2012 JD graduates known to be in the workforce as of February 15, 2013. Consistent with the practice of the United States Department of Labor, we excluded from the denominator the 13 graduates who were not known to be seeking employment as of that date. Specifically, we excluded 3 graduates who were pursuing another degree program, 6 unemployed graduates who were not seeking employment, and 4 graduates whose employment status was unknown.2
Raw Employment Data for the JD Class of 2012
American Bar Association (“ABA”) Report
Percentage of Employed Graduates Working in the Following Types of Employment
| Law Firms | 38% |
| Business and Industry | 15% |
| Public Interest | 7% |
| Government | 22% |
| Academia | 8% |
| Judicial Clerkship | 9% |
| Employer Type Unknown | <1% |
Salary Information
(Based on full time salaries that were reported or publicly available)
All Reported Full Time Salaries (Our salary statistics are based on obtaining full time salaries from 57% of the class, which were reported or publicly available. Equation: 180 known salaries divided by 317 JD graduates in the class = 57% of the class):
| Mean | $63,918 |
| Median | $56,000 |
| 75th Percentile | $70,000 |
| 25th Percentile | $48,000 |
| Range | $18,928 – $165,000 |
Private Sector: including positions in law firms, business and industry (based on the 101 salaries reported or publicly available for graduates employed in the private sector, which represents 32% of the class. Equation: 101 known private sector salaries divided by 317 JD graduates in the class = 32% of the class):
| Mean | $74,466 |
| Median | $65,000 |
| 75th Percentile | $95,000 |
| 25th Percentile | $50,000 |
| Range | $34,000 – $160,000 |
Public Service: including government positions, judicial clerkships, academic posts, or positions with non-profit advocacy or cause-oriented organizations (based on the 79 salaries reported or publicly available for graduates employed in public service, which represents 25% of the class. Equation: 79 known public sector salaries divided by 317 JD graduates in the class = 25% of the class):
| Mean | $50,432 |
| Median | $50,000 |
| 75th Percentile | $56,000 |
| 25th Percentile | $38,124 |
| Range | $18,928 – $165,000 |
Geographic Location of Employed Graduates
(Regional information calculated by dividing the total number of employed graduates in each geographic region by the total number of graduates.)
| New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) |
.3% |
| Middle Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA) |
1.3% |
| E. North Central (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) |
.9% |
| W. North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) |
1.9% |
| South Atlantic (DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV) |
1.9% |
| E. South Central (AL, KY, MS, TN) |
0% |
| W. South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX) |
2.2% |
| Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY) |
76.7% |
| Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA) |
2.2% |
| International/Other | .6% |
(1): At our initiative, these statistics have been audited on a sample basis by the University of Denver’s Office of Institutional Compliance & Internal Audit, an independent office reporting directly to the Audit Committee of the University of Denver’s Board of Trustees.
(2): We would typically also exclude graduates who, as of February 15, 2013, had accepted deferred offers of employment—that is, offers with start dates after February 15—however, we did not have any graduates with deferred offers in the class of 2012.