By Karen Sloan

April 24 (Reuters) - Yale Law School sent the highest percentage of 2025 graduates into federal clerkships, with 23.33% landing the prestigious jobs with federal judges.

Yale edged out the University of Chicago Law School, which held the top spot for federal clerkships four of the previous five years, according to employment data released Wednesday by the American Bar Association. Chicago sent 22.69% of its most recent class into federal clerkships.

Stanford Law School was third with a federal clerkship placement rate of 19.47%, followed by the University of Notre Dame Law School at 17.07%.

Federal clerkships are year-long positions considered a key credential for other highly sought-after jobs, including judgeships and law professorships. Clerks assist judges with legal tasks such as research and drafting opinions.

Harvard Law School produced the single largest number of federal clerks in 2025 at 100 — more than double Yale and Chicago’s 49 each. But the school’s large class size of 602 meant its federal clerk placement rate of 16.61% was fifth-highest.

Nationwide, federal judges hired 1,156 recent law graduates as clerks, down from 1,310 in 2024, the ABA data shows. Just 3.19% of 2025 graduates secured those positions, down slightly from 3.36% the previous year.

That decline doesn’t necessarily mean federal judges are hiring fewer clerks. A rise in so-called “double clerkships,” where law graduates complete back-to-back clerkships at the district court level, means fewer opportunities are available for law graduates right out of school.

Federal clerkships are concentrated among a relatively small cohort of the 198 ABA-accredited law schools. In 2025, 30 schools accounted for 59% of all federal clerk hiring.

Read more:

These law schools topped 2025 US legal hiring in latest ABA data

These law schools were tops for federal clerkships in 2024