MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University College of Law ranks 16th in the nation for the most alumni leading publicly traded companies, according to new research. The findings come from Robert Anderson, associate professor of law at Pepperdine University.
Using data from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Anderson recently determined the top 25 law schools with the highest percentage of alumni serving as corporate directors or executive officers. He writes about his research in his blog, Witnesseth: Law, Deals, & Data.
While Anderson’s rankings closely match the standard law school hierarchy, he told The National Law Journal that “a handful of law schools performed better on the corporate boardroom analysis than their U.S. News & World Report rankings would indicate.” WVU Law’s No. 16 on the corporate leadership list is higher than its No. 91 U.S. News Best Law Schools ranking.
In his blog, Anderson writes “West Virginia manages to break into the top 25, largely because of its small size and critical mass of graduates in public company positions.”
WVU Law has 12 alumni who are directors and executive officers of publicly traded companies, according to Anderson’s research. Per student enrolled, that’s a higher number (and ranking) than several U.S. News top 25 institutions.
Top 25 Law Schools for Alumni Leading Publicly Traded Companies
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- Columbia University
- Yale University
- Cornell University
- University of Chicago
- New York University
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
- Northwestern University
- University of California—Berkeley
- Georgetown University
- University of Virginia
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Notre Dame
- West Virginia University
- University of Texas—Austin
- University of Southern California
- Boston College
- Duke University
- George Washington University
- Fordham University
- Vanderbilt University
- Boston University
- Brooklyn Law School
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