At 67%, Memphis Law’s headline employment figure is exactly the kind of number that requires decomposition before judgment. Full-time long-term bar-required is the category that means “working as a lawyer”; everything else, part-time, JD-advantage, school-funded, is context. The 509 separates them, and so will this page.

The Memphis Law Employment Numbers

MetricFigureContextEmployment rate (10 months)~67%All categories combinedPrimary placementMemphis and TennesseeWhere the pipeline pointsNetwork strengthTN in-state, Memphis marketStrongest for matching plans

What Does Memphis Law’s 67% Employment Rate Actually Mean?

Taken literally: ten months after graduation, 67% of the class had a job, any kind, any duration, any funder. The figure that should drive your decision is narrower: full-time, long-term, bar-passage-required employment as a share of all graduates, because that category and only that category means practicing law. The rest of the blend, part-time, JD-advantage, school-funded, is context worth reading and discounting.

This is not Memphis Law being evasive; it is the standard format every school reports in, which is exactly why the ABA requires a disclosure that lets you take the blend apart.

How to Read the ABA 509 Like an Analyst

Every accredited school publishes a Standard 509 report and an employment summary annually, the raw, audited version of the brochure. Four moves, ten minutes: One, isolate the real categoryfull-time, long-term, bar-required, computed as a share of the whole class, not of “employed graduates.” Two, check who’s payingschool-funded positions are listed separately; a school employing its own graduates is supporting them, not placing them. Three, read the JD-advantage line skepticallysome of those roles are chosen, some are landed on; the line deserves attention when it is large. Four, map geography to your lifeplacement power is local, and a network concentrated somewhere you will not live is a discount, not an asset.

Withheld Tip: the most honest data source on placement is not a document, it is two or three graduates from the last two classes who targeted your market and practice area. Ten months of someone’s real search outweighs any percentage, and most will tell you the truth if you ask directly.

The Market-Fit Question Nobody Asks Early Enough

Placement is not a prize the school hands you at graduation, it is the compounding result of market fit chosen at the application stage. A student whose target market matches the school’s strongest pipeline aligns three years of machinery with their own trajectory, here, Memphis and Tennessee. A student aiming somewhere else entirely is planning to fight the current the whole way. One non-negotiable before you deposit anywhere: pick the market before you pick the school. The school is a vehicle; the market is the destination, and vehicles are chosen for destinations, not the other way around.

If You Only Do 3 Things

1. Compute the real ratio: FT/LT/bar-required over all graduates, three years running.
2. Map the placements, cities and employer types, against where you intend to live and practice.
3. Interview the data: two recent grads in your target market will tell you what no summary can.

Memphis Law Employment: Quick Answers

What percentage of Memphis Law graduates get jobs?

Roughly 67% report employment ten months after graduation, across all categories. The more meaningful figure, full-time, long-term, bar-required placement, requires the ABA 509 breakdown, which is exactly where you should look next.

Where do Memphis Law graduates work?

Primarily Memphis and Tennessee, with particular strength in TN in-state, Memphis market. Placement power is concentrated, a strength if that geography is your plan, a discount if it isn’t.

Do school-funded jobs count in employment rates?

They are included in headline figures and disclosed separately in the 509. They represent real short-term work, but they are the school hiring its own graduates, subtract them when you want to know what the market did.

Related Playbooks

• Memphis Law LSAT Score: What You Need
• Memphis Law Tuition: What It Really Costs
• Memphis Law Bar Passage Rate
• The Law School Admissions Timeline
• Best Law Schools in Tennessee

Lovare’s Take

Employment data is the closest thing this industry has to ground truth, and reading it well is a fifteen-minute skill most applicants never build, they accept the brochure number and spend three years discovering what it blended. You are training to be a lawyer. Start with the document: pull the 509, find the real category, and make the decision on evidence. That habit will outlast the application season.