Inside IE's Legal Placement Engine: 95% Hired, 180+ Students Placed Each Year

Each year, IE University places more than 180 students into roles across the legal sector, with more than 95% of those placements coming directly from law programs. The figure has held steady for several years, reflecting what the Talent & Careers team describes as a tight alignment between academic structure and market demand.

According to Pablo Castro Rodríguez, Associate Director of Talent & Careers, two factors drive that consistency: program design and employer relationships.

"It's a combination of program design, especially the Double Masters in Lawyering, and deep, long-term employer relationships that allow us to sustain placement rates above 95%," Castro Rodríguez said. The Double Masters in Lawyering, which includes mandatory internships, drives a significant share of those placements, reaching 100% employment on its own.

The second identified pillar is sustained engagement with hiring firms. The T&C team actively recommends profiles, tracks shifting hiring needs, and maintains continuous contact throughout the year. That trust pays off in markets where firm-by-firm hiring fluctuates depending on business conditions. 

"Some firms increase their hiring in a given year, while others reduce it," Castro Rodríguez said, noting that IE has recently seen "notable recoveries and renewed growth with some key firms that had reduced their hiring in previous years," driven by more proactive engagement and tighter alignment on candidate profiles. 

Sustaining that pipeline also requires preparing students for processes where IE goes head-to-head with the country's most established law schools. "We compete with top universities for the same positions, so this targeted preparation is key," Castro Rodríguez added.

The traditional core of IE's hiring ecosystem consists of large national and international firms, including the Magic Circle, mid-sized practices, and boutiques. For specialized profiles, particularly in tax, the Big Four continue to be major recruiters.

What has shifted over the past five years is the expansion beyond traditional firms. IE has increasingly placed students in tech and finance companies, including Amazon, Fever, Santander, and BBVA, reflecting growing demand for in-house legal roles in multinationals.

"While the law firm ecosystem remains stable and central, we've strengthened our ability to place students in international and in-house legal roles in top-tier companies," Castro Rodríguez said.

Roles concentrate in core business law areas like Corporate/M&A leads, tax, international arbitration, private law, and litigation. There has also been a clear increase in opportunities in data protection, digital law, and legal tech, driven by new European AI and data regulations. Students are watching that shift play out in real time, and increasingly, in their own coursework.

"There's a lot of regulation going on in the AI sector that is needed. We have the European regulation on AI that was recently enacted," said Ioan Andrei Rusu, a second-year Dual Degree BBA and Law student. "There will be both job cuts because AI will replace [entry-level work], but also a need for people to regulate these innovations. So there's a balance." 

Rusu added that IE's faculty treat AI as a working reality rather than a shortcut that should be banned: "Professors are not restricting AI use. They understand that it's a new technology that is being used when you work, so there is no need to completely ban it. But it's important to use it mindfully."

However, translating market trends into actual hires takes more than curriculum. Career fairs are one of the team's most direct levers, and the recent Feria de Talento Jurídico, held at IE Tower, brought 55 recruiters from 20 firms into direct contact with more than 80 students. Castro Rodríguez identifies the events strategy as one of the team's most effective levers, citing high firm attendance and strong conversion into hires.

Recruiters at the fair consistently emphasised mindset over pure academic credentials. "Knowledge and skills add up, but attitude multiplies," said Cayetana Padró López-Tapia, Corporate & Private Equity Director at Hive Legal. "The success formula is attitude multiplied by knowledge and skills." 

Eva Alonso, HR representative at BDO Abogados, repeated that point: "We're not looking for anything specific academically. We look for people who are motivated, who are looking for their dream job, and who are enthusiastic about working and growing in their roles." Alonso also noted that BDO has previously hired IE students and alumni who now hold managerial positions at the firm.

That fit-driven hiring pattern is once again reinforced by IE's curriculum, which Rusu argues prepares students for the international, comparative work the market increasingly demands. 

"I study both German and US jurisdictions, meaning that I can be prepared for a job market that needs both," he said. "It gives me an advantage both when applying for a job, by having knowledge that people who study one jurisdiction would not have, but also while working, if I ever interact with a client in an international field."

The international dimension is increasingly important. Beyond Spain, IE students are placed in Belgium and Luxembourg, France, and LATAM, drawn by opportunities in EU law, arbitration, regulatory practice, and global compliance, areas where international profiles transfer more easily across jurisdictions.

"International placement is driven by a combination of student profile, market demand, and the type of legal work that is more globally transferable," Castro Rodríguez said. The result is a placement engine that holds steady through cyclical markets, expanding employer rosters, and a profession being rewritten by AI every year.