Where Private Fund Lawyers Went to Law School
Of the 1,300 fund lawyers whose bios name a law school, the most went to NYU (123), Harvard (89) and Georgetown (80). 35 schools have 8 or more partners listed.
1,049 fund lawyers at 40 firms. Counts as of Oct 24, 2026, from the firms’ own bio pages.
By law school
Schools with 8 or more fund lawyers listed, at two firms or more. Each school opens the table, filtered to everyone who lists it.
| Law school | Lawyers | Firms | Most at |
|---|---|---|---|
| NYU | 123 | 33 | Kirkland & Ellis (20), McDermott Will & Schulte (11), Proskauer Rose (10) |
| Harvard | 89 | 29 | Kirkland & Ellis (19), McDermott Will & Schulte (7), Gunderson Dettmer (6) |
| Georgetown | 80 | 27 | Kirkland & Ellis (14), Dechert (13), McDermott Will & Schulte (6) |
| Columbia | 78 | 25 | Kirkland & Ellis (13), Gunderson Dettmer (6), Proskauer Rose (6) |
| University of | 75 | 26 | Kirkland & Ellis (11), Greenberg Traurig (9), Dechert (6) |
| Fordham | 59 | 22 | Kirkland & Ellis (13), Proskauer Rose (6), Seward & Kissel (6) |
| Northwestern | 41 | 18 | Kirkland & Ellis (15), Sidley Austin (5), Mayer Brown (4) |
| University of Michigan | 40 | 23 | Kirkland & Ellis (8), Sidley Austin (5), Gunderson Dettmer (2) |
| University of Pennsylvania | 38 | 22 | Kirkland & Ellis (5), Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (4), Dechert (3) |
| University of Virginia | 37 | 22 | Kirkland & Ellis (7), Hogan Lovells Cadwalader (5), Paul Hastings (3) |
| Boston University | 36 | 14 | Kirkland & Ellis (11), Proskauer Rose (4), Dechert (3) |
| Duke | 33 | 17 | Kirkland & Ellis (7), Proskauer Rose (3), Debevoise & Plimpton (2) |
| University of Chicago | 30 | 15 | Kirkland & Ellis (7), Sidley Austin (4), Debevoise & Plimpton (2) |
| George Washington University | 28 | 15 | Kirkland & Ellis (5), Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (3), Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (3) |
| Boston College | 27 | 10 | Kirkland & Ellis (7), Proskauer Rose (5), Dechert (4) |
| Cornell | 27 | 18 | Gunderson Dettmer (4), Kirkland & Ellis (3), Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (2) |
| University of Texas | 22 | 12 | Haynes and Boone (3), Hogan Lovells Cadwalader (3), Holland & Knight (3) |
| Brooklyn Law School | 20 | 14 | McDermott Will & Schulte (3), Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (3), Lowenstein Sandler (2) |
| Yale | 18 | 12 | Kirkland & Ellis (4), Davis Polk & Wardwell (2), Dechert (2) |
| Vanderbilt | 17 | 8 | Kirkland & Ellis (8), Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (2), Dechert (2) |
| Stanford | 16 | 7 | Gunderson Dettmer (6), Kirkland & Ellis (3), Lowenstein Sandler (2) |
| Suffolk University | 16 | 8 | Proskauer Rose (5), Kirkland & Ellis (3), Gunderson Dettmer (2) |
| American University | 15 | 10 | Troutman Pepper Locke (3), Dechert (2), Kirkland & Ellis (2) |
| Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law | 15 | 9 | Kirkland & Ellis (4), Katten Muchin Rosenman (2), Lowenstein Sandler (2) |
| Southern Methodist University | 14 | 6 | Haynes and Boone (9), Debevoise & Plimpton (1), Holland & Knight (1) |
| UC Berkeley | 13 | 9 | Kirkland & Ellis (3), Sidley Austin (3), Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (1) |
| Hofstra University | 11 | 9 | Proskauer Rose (2), Winston Taylor (2), A&O Shearman (1) |
| Loyola University | 11 | 6 | Kirkland & Ellis (5), Mayer Brown (2), Greenberg Traurig (1) |
| Tulane University | 11 | 6 | Dechert (4), Haynes and Boone (3), Holland & Knight (1) |
| UCLA | 11 | 8 | Kirkland & Ellis (3), Latham & Watkins (2), Davis Polk & Wardwell (1) |
| Catholic University of America | 10 | 7 | Dechert (3), Kirkland & Ellis (2), Hogan Lovells Cadwalader (1) |
| New York Law School | 10 | 7 | Haynes and Boone (3), Sidley Austin (2), Dechert (1) |
| University of Minnesota | 10 | 7 | Kirkland & Ellis (3), Sidley Austin (2), Ballard Spahr (1) |
| Villanova University | 10 | 6 | Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (3), Troutman Pepper Locke (3), Gibson Dunn (1) |
| Syracuse University | 9 | 6 | McDermott Will & Schulte (3), Troutman Pepper Locke (2), Holland & Knight (1) |
How we counted
Counted from the education each firm’s bio page lists: a J.D. or LL.M., or a school with “law” in its name. A school’s law school and its university count as one (Harvard Law School is Harvard). A lawyer with two law degrees counts once for each school.
Facts only: nobody is ranked against anyone else, and nobody pays to be listed. Anyone listed can claim their profile and correct it. How the directory works.