Alumni Network Regional Strength

The tables below show raw data from the Alumni Network National Reach study summarized by region. Each table has schools sorted by number of alumni in the region. The highlight colors show those schools that account for 50% (green), 80% (light grey) and 90% of all lawyers listed in the directory for that region. Just as there were some striking differences between schools in the prior study, there are some contrasts between regions here.

It seems worth noting that some schools appear quite often in these tables. Eight of the most "national" schools appear in the 50% or 80% cohorts of at least four regions (not counting their home region):

Georgetown: MA, PAC, MW, SE, NE, RM
Harvard: MA, PAC, MW, SE, SA, RM

Columbia: PAC, SE, SA, NE, RM
George Washington: MA, PAC, SE, NE, RM
Michigan: PAC, SE, SA, NE, RM
NYU: PAC, SE, SA, NE, RM
Virginia: PAC, SE, NE, RM, ESC

Yale: MA, PAC, SA, RM

And sixteen other schools appear in the 80% or 90% cohorts of at least five regions:

Duke: MA, PAC, MW, WSC, SA, NE, WNC, RM, ESC

Tulane: MA, PAC, SE, SA, NE, RM, ESC
WUSTL: PAC, MW, SE, SA, NE, RM, ESC

BU: MA, PAC, MW, SE, SA, RM
Cornell: PAC, MW, SE, SA, NE, RM
Northwestern: MA, PAC, SE, SA, WNC, RM
Notre Dame: MA, PSC, SE, SA, WNC, RM

American: MA, PAC, SE, NE, RM
Case Western: MA, SE, SA, NE, RM
Chicago: MA, PAC, WSC, NE, WNC
Indiana: PAC, SE, SA, WNC, ESC
Miami: MA, SA, NE, RM, ESC
Penn: PAC, SE, SA, NE, RM
Rutgers: PAC, SE, SA, NE, RM
Texas: PAC, SE, SA, RM, ESC
Vanderbilt: MW, SE, WSC, SA, RM


Mid Atlantic (MA) (N=47)

This region accounts for almost 1/5 of all lawyers in the country, based on listings in the Martindale directory. This is one of only two regions where an outside school (Harvard) appears in the 50% cohort. The top 12 schools account for half of all lawyers in the region, and 80% graduated from one of the 27 top schools. The Mid Atlantic is the biggest of big legal markets, and we might expect would draw graduates from all over the country. But with the exception of those from Tulane, 9 out of 10 lawyers listed in this region graduated from regional schools or from schools in the New England, South Atlantic, Midwest, and Southeast.



Pacific (PAC) (N=58)

As in the Mid Atlantic, 12 top schools also dominate this region. Just 32 schools account for 80% of all graduates. But here the 90% cohort includes significant numbers of alumni from schools in every other region except the East South Central.



Midwest (MW) (N=45)

Here again, just 12 top schools account for half of all attorneys listed in the region. But unlike in the Mid Atlantic and Pacific, here only two outside schools (Harvard and Georgetown) appear in the 80% cohort. In the 90% cohort schools from all regions other than the Pacific and West South Central make modest showings.



Southeast (SE) (N=71)

Just 8 top schools dominate the 50% cohort in the Southeast region. But the 80% cohort includes 18 outside schools from six other regions: East and West South Central, South Atlantic, New England, Mid Atlantic, and Midwest. The 90% cohort is far larger and much more diverse than those of the big three regions above -- including schools from every region except the Pacific and Rocky Mountains.



West South Central (WSC) (N=34)

This region is the smallest of the five largest legal markets. But unlike those above, this region shows a sharp divide between regional and national schools. Only here and in the West North Central do no outside schools appear in the 80% cohort. This is also one of four regions where no outside school has more than 1,000 alumni. Even the outside school with the greatest number of alumni (Harvard) has a network only about 6% as large as that of the University of Texas. Texas, with more than 11,000 alumni here, dominates this region to an extent beyond that of any top school anywhere else. Despite this, schools from every region other than the Pacific and Rocky Mountains still appear with modest sized networks in the 90% cohort.



South Atlantic (SA) (N=76)

As in the Southeast, there is no sharp divide between the 8 regional schools that account for almost half of all lawyers here and the 60 outside schools that account for most of the rest. And this is the only region besides the Mid Atlantic where an outside school (Harvard) appears in the 50% cohort. The 90% cohort includes modest numbers of alumni from schools in every other region, and even the 80% cohort includes those from every region other than the West North Central and Rocky Mountains.



New England (NE) (N=42)

This region has a moderate number of schools in the 90% cohort and no sharp dropoff between regional and outside schools. But the 80% cohort here includes graduates from schools in only three other regions: South Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, and Midwest. The 90% cohort adds two schools from the Southeast, and just one each from the West South Central and West North Central.



West North Central (WNC) (N=31)

The West North Central is even more exclusive than the West South Central, with the smallest number of schools making up the 90% cohort (N=31) and more than 80% of lawyers accounted for by regional schools. No outside school has even half as many alumni here as the regional school with the smallest number (North Dakota; N=1,248). But the 16 outside schools that fill out the 90% cohort represent every region other than the Pacific and East South Central.



Rocky Mountains (RM) (N=84)

This region has by far the largest number of schools in the 90% cohort, along with the most regionally diverse population of lawyers. Schools from every other region except the East South Central have modest numbers of graduates in the 80% cohort, and the 90% cohort includes schools all nine other regions. Despite this diversity, there is still a clear divide between the 10 regional schools that account for half of all lawyers and the outside schools that trail them. Even Harvard (N=602) has only half as many alumni here as the University of Wyoming (N=1,180).



East South Central (ESC) (N=33)

Just 4 schools account for half of all alumni listed in this region. And like the West South Central, this region shows a sharp divide between regional and outside schools. The outside school with the most alumni (Virginia; N=418) has less than 1/3 the number of graduates as the regional school that it follows (Mississipi College; N=1,317). No outside school has even 500 alumni here.