Nontraditional Careers for Law Grads Include Cartoonists and Service Dog Trainers

Even Yale Law School has a significant percentage of graduates working outside legal settings.

According to a guide published by the school, 10 percent of alumni typically work in a business setting five years after graduation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The story cites statistics indicating that law grads are increasingly considering nontraditional careers as a result of the difficult economy. The National Association for Law Placement says only 68.4 percent of 2010 grads had jobs requiring bar passage, the lowest percentage since the group started collecting statistics.

At the University of Texas School of Law at Austin, alumni have jobs as cartoonists, service dog trainers and wind farm employees. Tim Kubatzky, the school’s executive director of development, tells U.S. News that a significant percentage of its graduates—perhaps as many as a third—are in nontraditional careers, though many started out in legal jobs.

Prior coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Can’t Find a Legal Job? Be the Next John Grisham or Fidel Castro, Law School Guide Suggests"