The National Law Journal recently reported that the average starting salary for a first-year associate at the nation’s large law firms is $215,000.
Cleveland is home to some of the largest and most prestigious law firms in the country and Case Western Reserve University School of Law, with its strengths in business law and litigation, has a history of extraordinary success in placing its grads in major law firms in Cleveland, as well as other large cities across the country. These firms practice every kind of law imaginable.
This past year, 34 members of our Class of 2024 obtained Associate positions at large national law firms, including seven at Jones Day, the fifth largest firm in the United States, with 2,500 attorneys in forty cities around the globe. 54 Jones Day attorneys in Cleveland, New York and Washington, D.C. are CWRU graduates, including the partner in charge of the Cleveland office, John Saada (LAW ‘93).
23 graduates of CWRU are attorneys at Squire Patton Boggs, the sixteenth largest law firm in the U.S, with 1,500 attorneys in forty-seven cities around the globe. The Global Managing Partner of the firm, Michele Connell (LAW ‘03), is a CWRU graduate. This year, Squire hired four 2024 CWRU Law grads as associates.
46 CWRU graduates are attorneys at BakerHostetler, the seventy-third largest law firm in the world, with 1,000 attorneys in 18 cities. BakerHostetler hired two CWRU graduates this year. CWRU grad Hewitt Shaw (LAW ‘80), served as Baker’s Managing Partner from 2005-2020.
37 CWRU graduates are attorneys at Thompson Hine, the 134th largest law firm in the U.S., with 400 lawyers in nine cities. Five members of the CWRU class of 2024 began working there this year.
Other large firms in Cleveland with a significant number of CWRU attorneys include Tucker Ellis (41 CWRU grads), Benesch Friedlander (39 CWRU grads), UB Greensfelder (29 CWRU grads), Calfee Halter (25 CWRU grads), Taft (23 CWRU grads); McDonald Hopkins (23 CWRU grads), Hahn Loeser (23 CWRU grads); Reminger Co., LPA (17 CWRU grads) and Vorys (17 CWRU grads).
CWRU is a national law school, with many of its alums employed in large firms across the country. In addition to placements in Cleveland, several members of the class of 2024 obtained associate positions at large national firms such as Dinsmore & Shoh (Cincinnati), Greenberg Traurig (New York), Jackson Lewis (New York), McGuireWoods (Richmond, VA), and WilmerHale (D.C.).
In addition, many CWRU grads have gone from Big Law to become general counsel in corporations throughout the U.S. and around the world. Notable examples include Jeff Barlow, General Counsel at Momentive Technologies; Colleen Batcheler, General Counsel at Hormel Foods; Sandip Beri, former General Counsel - South Asia at Citibank; Christopher Chan, General Counsel of JLL Technologies; William Gaertner, General Counsel of Leonardo Helicopters; James Graham, General Counsel of Cleveland Cliffs; Arjun Kampani, General Counsel of Rocket Lab; Randa Payne, General Counsel of Adena Corporation; Laura Quatela, former Chief Counsel of Lenovo Corp.; Jennifer Souza, General Counsel of Westfield Ins.; Steven Strang, General Counsel at State Industrial Products; Leila Vespoli, former Chief Legal Officer of First Energy Corp.; and Adam Zangerle, General Counsel at STERIS Corporation.
Meanwhile, CWRU’s pipeline to Big Law continues, with 30 rising 3Ls from CWRU working as summer associates at large firms across the United States in the summer of 2025.