law phd program ranking

• 2023 Law School Rankings
• Press Release
• Rankings Methodology

Best Law Schools

Our best law schools list is based on a combination of institutional and student survey data, with factors including career outcomes, admissions selectivity, and academic rigor, among others.    

Showing 1 - 25 of 168 results

Georgetown university - law center.

• Washington, DC
• 2,008 Full-Time Enrollment

Harvard University - Harvard Law School

• Cambridge, MA
• 1,737 Full-Time Enrollment

New York University - School of Law

• New York, NY
• 1,379 Full-Time Enrollment

American University - Washington College of Law

• 1,315 Full-Time Enrollment

Fordham University - School of Law

• 1,257 Full-Time Enrollment

Columbia University - School of Law

• 1,234 Full-Time Enrollment

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - School of Law

• 1,108 Full-Time Enrollment

New York Law School

• 1,080 Full-Time Enrollment

Brooklyn Law School

• Brooklyn, NY
• 1,072 Full-Time Enrollment

South Texas College of Law - Law Program

• Houston, TX
• 1,051 Full-Time Enrollment

Suffolk University - Law School

• 1,037 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Miami - School of Law

• Coral Gables, FL
• 1,026 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Michigan - Law School

• Ann Arbor, MI
• 1,024 Full-Time Enrollment

Loyola Marymount University - Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

• Los Angeles, CA
• 1,021 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Illinois Chicago - School of Law (UIC Law)

• Chicago, IL
• 991 Full-Time Enrollment

The University of Texas at Austin - School of Law

• 985 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Law

• Berkeley, CA
• 983 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Florida - Levin College of Law

• Gainesville, FL
• 969 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California, Los Angeles - UCLA School of Law

• 955 Full-Time Enrollment

Cardozo School of Law - Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

• 933 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California - College of the Law, San Francisco

• San Francisco, CA
• 932 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Virginia - School of Law

• Charlottesville, VA
• 923 Full-Time Enrollment

Santa Clara University - School of Law

• Santa Clara, CA
• 880 Full-Time Enrollment

Emory University - School of Law

• Atlanta, GA
• 864 Full-Time Enrollment

Arizona State University - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

• Phoenix, AZ
• 812 Full-Time Enrollment

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Doctoral Programs

March 29, 2022

Emory University’s graduate and professional schools and programs continue to be ranked among the best in the nation, according to the 2023 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” guide released today.

“As a global leader in research and academic excellence, we are committed to producing and empowering the next generation of thinkers and doers,” says Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ravi V. Bellamkonda. “Our renowned and dedicated faculty foster an environment where students can think critically about the world around them, and the complex issues we face as a society, to discover how they can make a positive impact in our world.”

Emory's schools of nursing, public health, business, medicine, law, and several other entities were included in this year’s guide. In national rankings:

• Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing master’s program ranks 2nd in the nation. The school’s doctor of nursing practice program is 6th.
• Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health ranks 4th in the nation.
• Goizueta Business School’s full-time MBA program is ranked 21st, its Evening MBA program 11th and its Executive MBA program 16th. It ranked 22nd in management, 29th in marketing and 31st in business analytics for MBA specialties.
• Emory University School of Medicine ranks 22nd nationally among research-oriented medical schools.
• Emory University School of Law School ranks 30th in the nation. Its business/corporate law program ranked 23rd, constitutional law 26th, contracts/commercial law 23rd and health care law 23rd.
• Ranking 2nd in the nation is the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering PhD program, a joint effort between Emory School of Medicine, Emory’s Laney Graduate School and Georgia Tech.
• In Emory’s Laney Graduate School, PhD programs in several humanities and social science fields were newly ranked this year, including: biostatictics, 11th; psychology, 23rd; biological sciences, 25th.
• In U.S. News’ medical specialty rankings, Emory’s anesthesiology program ranks 16th, internal medicine 17th, obstetrics and gynecology 19th, pediatrics 14th, radiology 14th and surgery 12th. The family medicine program, newly ranked this year, is 18th.  
• In U.S. News’ rankings of nursing master’s programs, Emory’s family nurse practitioner program ranks 5th; nurse practitioner, adult/gerontology, acute care 4th; nurse practitioner, adult/gerontology, primary care 4th.
• In rankings of Emory’s doctor of nursing practice programs, adult gerontology/acute care is 7th, family practice 6th and nurse administration management 5th.
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New U.S. News Top 25 Law Schools 2024-2025 (with +/-)

Earlier today, U.S. News released their rankings to law school administrations under an embargo. Multiple law schools passed those rankings along to us, however, and we feel, for multiple reasons, that it makes sense to publish them. Among those reasons is the fact that just last year, U.S. News published their top 14 in advance of the full rankings release, and those top 14 turned out to include errors . This year, over 50 law schools opted not to participate in U.S. News' survey, and given that fact plus the immense scrutiny on the rankings and their trustworthiness, we think it's worthwhile for everyone to be aware of this initially-released top 25. If the public release next week is different from the below, it is our view that law schools, students, and applicants should be aware of that.

We'll publish the full list with +/-, plus commentary and analysis on the methodology and what changes they made in their calculations, next week.

U.S. News Top 25 Law Schools 2024 (with +/- vs. last year)

For now, as always, we want to disclaim that it is our strong opinion that rankings should not be a significant factor in where you decide to attend law school—and you should never put much stock in year-to-year changes.

Student Financial Services

2024-2025 estimated cost of attendance.

Cost of Attendance (COA)  is the estimated cost to attend one year of college.  The components include tuition, fees, housing, food, transportation, books and supplies, personal expenses, and other costs, depending on individual choices.

These estimates do not reflect your actual bill as not all components are directly charged by the university. To review the direct charges you may see on your bill, please refer to the university's Official Notice of Student Charges.

Please note that the health insurance opportunity provided by Howard University is not a typical cost of attendance component. If a student is unable to secure insurance from an insurance provider of their choice, they may request a cost of attendance increase via the Office of Financial Aid.

Undergraduate Program

• Based on full-time enrollment per semester. 
• Subject to change each academic year.

Graduate Programs

College of dentistry.

† - based on 11-month academic year (Fall/Spring/Summer)

• Based on full-time enrollment per semester.
• May vary based on the year in the program: Includes Books and Instruments
• Loan fees vary based on acceptance of Direct Federal Unsubsidized loan and Graduate PLUS loan credit decision
• May vary based on the year in the program: Includes Books and Instruments.
• Loan fees vary based on acceptance of Direct Federal Unsubsidized Loans and Graduate PLUS loan credit decision
• Loan fees vary based on acceptance of Direct Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans and Parent PLUS loan credit decision

College of Pharmacy

College of medicine.

• Loan fees vary based on acceptance of Direct Federal Unsubsidized loan and Graduate PLUS loan credit decision.

School of Law

School of divinity, school of business - mba | emba | omba, school of education - online human development.

Intellectual Property Law Graduate Programs in America

1-15 of 15 results

Notre Dame Law School

Notre Dame, IN •

University of Notre Dame •

Graduate School

• • Rating 5 out of 5   2 reviews

Doctoral Student: Great place to attend law school. The administration really values their students and the faculty actually care. Feels more like being part of a family than a school. The program also offers great scholarship options compared to other highly ranked institutions. ... Read 2 reviews

University of Notre Dame ,

Graduate School ,

NOTRE DAME, IN ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Great place to attend law school. The administration really values their students and the faculty actually care. Feels more like being part of a family than a school. The program also offers great... .

Read 2 reviews.

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Cleveland, OH •

Case Western Reserve University •

• • Rating 5 out of 5   4 reviews

Master's Student: The school was amazing, the professors were amazing, the area around the campus is nice. The only downside is the winters. I hate snow, and Cleveland gets a lot. ... Read 4 reviews

Blue checkmark.

Case Western Reserve University ,

CLEVELAND, OH ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says The school was amazing, the professors were amazing, the area around the campus is nice. The only downside is the winters. I hate snow, and Cleveland gets a lot. .

Read 4 reviews.

Law School - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Minneapolis, MN •

University of Minnesota Twin Cities •

University of Minnesota Twin Cities ,

MINNEAPOLIS, MN ,

American University Washington College of Law

American University •

Graduate School •

WASHINGTON, DC

• • Rating 4.22 out of 5   9

Illinois Institute of Technology

CHICAGO, IL

• • Rating 4.37 out of 5   38

American University

• • Rating 4.54 out of 5   147

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

New York, NY •

Yeshiva University •

• • Rating 4.5 out of 5   4 reviews

Doctoral Student: Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is a law school located in New York City. Cardozo Law is part of Yeshiva University and is situated in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, providing students with access to legal, cultural, and professional opportunities in one of the world's major legal and financial centers. What is great about Cardozo is its academic programs. Cardozo Law provides students with hands-on legal experience through its numerous legal clinics. These clinics cover various areas of law, including civil rights, criminal defense, intellectual property, immigration, and more. This practical training is designed to prepare students for the demands of legal practice. Further, Cardozo has a robust moot court and mock trial program, allowing students to hone their advocacy skills through participation in competitions and simulations. ... Read 4 reviews

Yeshiva University ,

NEW YORK, NY ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 4.5 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is a law school located in New York City. Cardozo Law is part of Yeshiva University and is situated in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, providing students with access... What is great about Cardozo is its academic programs. Cardozo Law provides students with hands-on legal experience through its numerous legal clinics. These clinics cover various areas of law,... .

University of Dayton School of Law

Dayton, OH •

University of Dayton •

• • Rating 4 out of 5   7 reviews

Doctoral Student: I am a first year law student at Dayton. It was overwhelming before classes started as the emails came in listing the class requirements. The orientation week first semester brought relief. Having the year 2 students there to walk us through expectations was a game changer. Having the first year schedule set by the school was also a relief. The professors are very knowledgeable and make themselves available to work through some of the struggles of being a year 1 law student. The grading is competitive but fair. In order to succeed you have to be all in. The first semester I spent 40-50 hours a week outside of class time studying and working on assignments. Overall I am very satisfied with the pace of learning, the content we are learning and the commitment of the professors to help each student succeed. ... Read 7 reviews

University of Dayton ,

DAYTON, OH ,

7 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I am a first year law student at Dayton. It was overwhelming before classes started as the emails came in listing the class requirements. The orientation week first semester brought relief. ... .

Read 7 reviews.

Washington, DC •

• • Rating 4.22 out of 5   9 reviews

Doctoral Student: WCL has a really great and supportive network to help its law students. The classes are interesting and its very fun! I think that anyone who can should go, and its a really great experience, and I have enjoyed what I have done so far. It's really great being at such a supportive school, and I feel that I am learning a lot. ... Read 9 reviews

American University ,

WASHINGTON, DC ,

9 Niche users give it an average review of 4.2 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says WCL has a really great and supportive network to help its law students. The classes are interesting and its very fun! I think that anyone who can should go, and its a really great experience, and I... .

Read 9 reviews.

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University of Connecticut School of Law

Hartford, CT •

University of Connecticut •

• • Rating 4 out of 5   3 reviews

Doctoral Student: I am currently a 1L at the university of Connecticut, School of Law. The best part of this program is that I am able to work during the day and go to school at night. The flexibility allows me to pursue a JD while I work during the day. The teachers are extremely understanding, reasonable, and flexible as they understand my day job will take precedence. The university gives evening division students the ability to be active on campus and make clubs and programs accessible. ... Read 3 reviews

University of Connecticut ,

HARTFORD, CT ,

3 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I am currently a 1L at the university of Connecticut, School of Law. The best part of this program is that I am able to work during the day and go to school at night. The flexibility allows me to... .

Read 3 reviews.

Chicago - Kent College of Law

Chicago, IL •

Illinois Institute of Technology •

• • Rating 4.83 out of 5   6 reviews

Doctoral Student: Some professors were wonderful to learn from, but then had horrific exams. The curve in 1L year was very difficult to fight against. ... Read 6 reviews

Illinois Institute of Technology ,

CHICAGO, IL ,

6 Niche users give it an average review of 4.8 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Some professors were wonderful to learn from, but then had horrific exams. The curve in 1L year was very difficult to fight against. .

Read 6 reviews.

University of Houston Law Center

Houston, TX •

University of Houston •

• • Rating 4 out of 5   2 reviews

Doctoral Student: I love how diverse the campus is, it provides a very welcoming atmosphere that I find important in a learning environment. Though I haven't officially started my first year yet, I appreciate how the faculty has kept in constant communication with their admitted students throughout this unpredictable and unprecedented admissions cycle due to the coronavirus. ... Read 2 reviews

University of Houston ,

HOUSTON, TX ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I love how diverse the campus is, it provides a very welcoming atmosphere that I find important in a learning environment. Though I haven't officially started my first year yet, I appreciate how the... .

Fordham University School of Law

Fordham University •

• • Rating 5 out of 5   10 reviews

Doctoral Student: I haven't begun my 1L yet, but the support and guidance from the Fordham Law admissions committee and financial aid team have been excellent. ... Read 10 reviews

Fordham University ,

10 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I haven't begun my 1L yet, but the support and guidance from the Fordham Law admissions committee and financial aid team have been excellent. .

Read 10 reviews.

Seton Hall University School of Law

Newark, NJ •

Seton Hall University •

• • Rating 4.17 out of 5   6 reviews

Master's Student: The process of getting into the program was relatively easy. The school is super helpful in helping incoming students. Dealing with loans is a bit challenging though. ... Read 6 reviews

Seton Hall University ,

NEWARK, NJ ,

6 Niche users give it an average review of 4.2 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says The process of getting into the program was relatively easy. The school is super helpful in helping incoming students. Dealing with loans is a bit challenging though. .

Thomas M. Cooley Law School

Lansing, MI •

• • Rating 3.74 out of 5   82 reviews

Doctoral Student: Cooley law school is an amazing place. I love how diverse the student body is but physically, culturally, intellectually, and ideologically. Each generation of students seamlessly surpasses the abilities of prior generations of Cooley students. I started in September 2022, and I see a dramatic difference in the average IQ on campus over the last year. I will say that some holdovers remain, but the future of this school is bright! I booked Civil Procedure and made Dean’s List 2 out of my 3 terms. With that being said, I confidently believe I would not have even been accepted into the Fall 2023 class. Despite the school’s punchline of a reputation, greatness is being born on the Tampa Bay campus! Mark my words, the next generation of Cooley lawyers who pass the Florida Bar will make waves! ... Read 82 reviews

LANSING, MI ,

82 Niche users give it an average review of 3.7 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Cooley law school is an amazing place. I love how diverse the student body is but physically, culturally, intellectually, and ideologically. Each generation of students seamlessly surpasses the... .

Read 82 reviews.

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School of Law - Golden Gate University

San Francisco, CA •

Golden Gate University •

• • Rating 4.67 out of 5   3 reviews

Current Doctoral student: As a 1L, the academic program has recently started a new system. With a smaller class size this year, students are able to get more one on one time with the professors to go over topics discussed in class and midterm exams or final exams from the previous semester. Overall, the faculty and staff work very hard to ensure your success. There are also classes if you didn't do well the first semester that have helped me better understand how to take exams and write better essays. ... Read 3 reviews

Golden Gate University ,

SAN FRANCISCO, CA ,

3 Niche users give it an average review of 4.7 stars.

Featured Review: Current Doctoral student says As a 1L, the academic program has recently started a new system. With a smaller class size this year, students are able to get more one on one time with the professors to go over topics discussed in... .

Michigan State University College of Law

East Lansing, MI •

• • Rating 3.25 out of 5   4 reviews

Doctoral Student: Our professors are some of the top in their fields and truly care about teaching their students, as well as providing valuable practical knowledge for after law school. ... Read 4 reviews

EAST LANSING, MI ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 3.3 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Our professors are some of the top in their fields and truly care about teaching their students, as well as providing valuable practical knowledge for after law school. .

University of New Hampshire - School of Law

Concord, NH •

University of New Hampshire •

• • Rating 3.92 out of 5   13 reviews

Doctoral Student: The size of my class is pretty small - which has both its advantages and disadvantages. I enjoy having a high faculty to student ratio so you are able to create a strong relationship with professors, however only having 140 students to interact with for three years can be a little stifling at times. ... Read 13 reviews

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Featured Review: Doctoral Student says The size of my class is pretty small - which has both its advantages and disadvantages. I enjoy having a high faculty to student ratio so you are able to create a strong relationship with professors,... .

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Methodology: 2023-2024 Best Law Schools Rankings

Find out how U.S. News ranks law schools.

Methodology: Best Law Schools Rankings

Employment of lawyers is expected to grow 10% over the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . Even so, law students often struggle to find a job after graduation that truly validates the significant time and expense they invested into their education.

U.S. News' Best Law Schools rankings are designed to help. Nearly 60% of the rankings methodology evaluated institutions on their successful placement of graduates. The remainder is a combination of academic metrics about faculty resources, the achievements of entering students, and opinions by law schools, lawyers and judges on overall program quality.

A school's overall Best Law Schools rank should be one consideration and not the lone determinant in where a student applies. The rankings only assess academic quality and graduate success – factors that are universally important to prospective students. But personal considerations involving location, campus culture, strength in specific programs, and cost after tuition and financial aid are also very important.

Consequently, U.S. News supplements its overall rankings with specialized subject rankings and a detailed searchable law school directory. Specialized rankings include part-time law programs and 13 distinct rankings by area, such as health care law, international law and legal writing. The full rankings, search tool and complete directory are free to all visitors of usnews.com and enable prospective students to compare an array of academic and nonacademic characteristics across schools to inform their choice.

How the Rankings Were Calculated

U.S. News derived each school's overall rank by scoring it on 10 distinct ranking factors explained in the section below. These scores were standardized so they were compared with the means and standard deviations among all other ranked schools.

Next, the standardized values were weighted, totaled and rescaled so that the top school received 100; others received their percentage of the top score. Finally, each law school was numerically ranked in descending order of its overall score.

As education costs continue to soar, students and their families are placing more emphasis on the results that education can bring. Additionally, the sophistication of data available on employment and bar passage rates has evolved over time. For example, this enabled the inclusion of schools’ ultimate bar passage rate as a new ranking factor this year. The ranking factor weights for this edition therefore feature an increased emphasis on outcome measures and a reduced emphasis on reputation, resources and selectivity. As in past years, changes in methodology, together with changes in individual schools’ data, can result in significant changes to schools’ rankings.

In fall 2022 and early 2023, U.S. News fielded statistical and reputation data surveys directly to nearly 200 law schools that were fully accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). It also collected data that law schools annually disclose and publish as required by the ABA. All statistical data used to calculate the rankings reflect the data available as of April 20, 2023. Indicators measuring graduate indebtedness, financial resources and employment at graduation that were previously part of the rankings were discontinued so the rankings formula only uses statistics that schools report to the ABA. As always, U.S. News relies on schools to accurately report their data.

Indicators Used in the Overall Law Schools Ranking

Placement Success and Bar Passage 

Placement success comprises three indicators that total 58% of each school's rank.

Outcomes 10 months after graduation (weighted by 0.33, previously 0.14):  This measures the extent by which graduates obtain the most in-demand jobs – namely those that are long term, full time and requiring (or taking advantage of) bar passage. A change this year was that maximum credit was assigned for graduates with school-funded fellowships – as long as those fellowships were otherwise full-time, long-term jobs in which bar passage was required or the J.D. degree was an advantage. Maximum credit was also assigned to law school graduates pursuing additional graduate studies.

U.S. News published an outcomes 10 months after graduation employment value for information purposes on usnews.com that equals the percentage of 2021 graduates in positions awarded 100% credit in the rankings. However, the actual value used in the rankings is an index that also awards partial credit for other outcomes values described below.

These non-fully weighted jobs that were some combination of particular factors, namely short term, part time, in many cases funded by the law school and/or not utilizing bar passage received less credit by varying amounts, determined by an allocation of some or all of these factors.

Law schools are required to report these highly differentiated outcome measures each year to the ABA. For a more detailed explanation, see Notes on Employment Rates below .

Bar passage rate for first-time test-takers (0.18, previously 0.03): For the second consecutive year, U.S. News used its treatment of bar passage rates to incorporate all graduates who took the bar for the first time. Computations were again modified to de-emphasize the impact of geography on law schools' relative performance.

Specifically, the bar passage rate indicator scored schools on their 2021 first-time test-takers' weighted bar passage rates among all jurisdictions (states), then added or subtracted the percentage point difference between those rates and the weighted state average among ABA accredited schools' first-time test-takers in the corresponding jurisdictions in 2021. This meant schools that performed best on this ranking factor graduated students whose bar passage rates were both higher than most schools overall and higher compared with what was typical among graduates who took the bar in corresponding jurisdictions.

For example, if a fictional law school in upstate New York graduated 100 students who first took the bar exam – and 79 took the New York exam, 18 the Massachusetts exam and three the Vermont exam – the school's weighted average rate would use pass rate results that were weighted 79% for New York, 18% for Massachusetts and 3% for Vermont. This computation would then be compared with an index of these jurisdictions' average pass rates – also weighted 79-18-3. (For privacy, school profiles on usnews.com only display bar passage data for jurisdictions with at least 10 test-takers.) Both weighted averages included any graduates who passed the bar with diploma privilege. Diploma privilege is a method for J.D. graduates to be admitted to a state bar and allowed to practice law in that state without taking that state's actual bar examination. Diploma privilege is generally based on attending and graduating from a law school in that state with the diploma privilege.

Ultimate bar passage rate (0.07 – new indicator): While passing the bar on the first try is optimal, passing eventually is critical. Underscoring this, the ABA has an accreditation standard that at least 75% of a law school’s test-taking graduates must pass a bar exam within two years of earning a diploma.

With that in mind, the ultimate bar passage ranking factor measures the percentage of each law school's 2019 graduates who sat for a bar exam and passed it within two years of graduation, including diploma privilege graduates.

Both the first-time bar passage and ultimate bar passage indicators were used to determine if a particular law school is offering a rigorous program of legal education to students. The first-time bar passage indicator was assigned greater weight because of the greater granularity of its data and its wider variance of outcomes.

Quality Assessment

Quality assessment comprises two indicators of expert opinion that contributed 25% to the overall rank.

Peer assessment score (0.125, previously 0.25): Law school deans, deans of academic affairs, chairs of faculty appointments and the most recently tenured faculty members rated programs' overall quality on a scale from marginal (1) to outstanding (5), and were instructed to mark "don't know" for schools they did not know well enough to evaluate. A school's score is the average of 1-5 ratings received. U.S. News administered the peer assessment survey in fall 2022 and early 2023; 64.5% of recipients at law schools who submitted the statistical survey responded.

Peer assessment ratings were only used when submitted by law schools that also submitted their statistical surveys. This means the schools that declined to provide statistical information to U.S. News and its readers had their academic peer ratings programmatically discarded before any computations were made.

Lawyers and judges assessment score (0.125, previously 0.15): Legal professionals – including hiring partners of law firms, practicing attorneys and judges – rated programs' overall quality on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding), and were instructed to mark "don't know" for schools they did not know well enough to evaluate. A school's score is the average of 1-5 ratings it received across the three most recent survey years. U.S. News administered the legal professionals survey in fall 2022 and early 2023 to recipients that law schools provided to U.S. News in summer 2022. Of the recipients surveyed in fall 2022 and early 2023, 50% responded.

Selectivity

A selective admissions process enables law schools to enroll students who are prepared for challenging coursework. Its three indicators contributed 10% to the ranking.

Median LSAT and GRE scores (0.05, previously 0.1125): These are the combined median scores on the LSAT and GRE quantitative, verbal and analytical writing exams of all 2022 full- and part-time entrants to the J.D. program. Reported scores for each of the four exams, when applicable, were converted to 0-100 percentile scales. LSAT and GRE percentile scales were weighted by the proportions of test-takers submitting each exam. For example, if 85% of exams submitted were LSATs and 15% submitted were GREs, the LSAT percentile would be multiplied by 0.85 and the average percentile of the three GRE exams by 0.15 before summing the two values. This means GRE scores were never converted to LSAT scores or vice versa. If a school was not required to report GRE scores to the ABA for the disclosure requirements because a small number of incoming students reported these scores, then they were not used in the rankings.

Median undergraduate grade point average (0.04, previously 0.0875): This is the combined median undergraduate GPA of all 2022 full- and part-time entrants to the J.D. program. Law schools with higher median GPAs scored higher on this indicator.

Acceptance rate (0.01, unchanged): This is the combined proportion of applicants to both the full- and part-time J.D. programs who were accepted for the 2022 entering class. A lower acceptance rate scored higher because this indicated greater selectivity.

Faculty and Library Resources

Faculty and library resources comprise two indicators, weighted at 7% of the ranking: one on student-faculty ratio and one for library resources.

Student-faculty ratio (0.05, previously 0.02): This is the ratio of law school students to law school faculty members for 2021-2022. It is a proxy for the amount of attention from faculty that may be available to students. This indicator’s weight was increased to partially compensate for the discontinuation of financial resources in the ranking formula, which was also a measure of school resources.

The student-to-faculty ratio definition that U.S. News uses is a modified version of the Common Data Set's definition, a standard used throughout higher education based on the ratio of full-time equivalent students to full-time equivalent faculty. For law schools, full-time equivalent faculty is defined as full-time faculty plus one-third part-time law school faculty. Full-time equivalent students are defined as full-time law school students plus two-thirds of total part-time law school students.

Full-time equivalent students is for the 2021-2022 school year's full- and part-time enrollment in order to match the cohort of full- and part-time faculty. It was based on the enrollment data from the Grants and Scholarship section of the ABA 509 disclosures.

Library resources (0.02, previously 0.01): This is the ratio of full-time equivalent students to full-time equivalent librarian positions. It was based on the 2021-2022 school year's full- and part-time librarians as required by law schools to publicly disclose each year. To calculate the full-time equivalent librarian numerator from data that schools disclosed to the ABA, U.S. News treated each part-time librarian as equivalent to one half of a full-time librarian, based on a comparison of schools’ ABA data and their U.S. News survey counts of full-time equivalent faculty. Full-time equivalent students is for the 2021-2022 school year's full- and part-time enrollment in order to match the cohort of full- and part-time law librarians. It was based on the enrollment data from the Grants and Scholarship section of the ABA 509 disclosures. Full-time equivalent students are defined as full-time law school students plus two-thirds of total part-time law school students.

Schools Listed With a Ranking Range

For greater transparency, the top 90% of ranked law schools all have their individual ranks displayed on usnews.com; up from 75% the previous year. For schools in the bottom 10% of the rankings, U.S. News elected to only display them alphabetically in rankings ranges.

U.S. News will supply schools listed in the ranking range with their numerical ranks if they submit a request following the procedures listed on the Information for School Officials page.

Unranked Schools

To be ranked, a law school must be accredited and fully approved by the ABA. All 196 law schools that were accredited and fully approved were ranked. There were no unranked law schools at the time the rankings were first released.

Notes on Employment Rates

In recent years, enhanced ABA reporting rules have led to more information becoming available from law schools about the many types of positions law students take after they graduate. Each year, schools are required to report to the ABA how many of their most recent graduates had various types of jobs lined up after graduation.

As in previous years, the ABA mandated that schools report law school and university positions separately from all other nonuniversity-funded positions to make the difference between the two types of jobs very clear. U.S. News continued to use this standard for data collection for the class of 2021 for 10 months after graduation, which is the ABA-required time frame. The ABA chose that 10-month time frame in order to provide enough time for J.D. graduates to take the bar exam in the state of their choosing, get results and look for a job.

These ABA standards require law schools to go into great detail by reporting 45 different job types, as well as employment status and duration. That includes, for example, whether each graduate's employment was long term – defined as lasting at least a year – or short term, whether it was full or part time, and whether it required passage of a bar exam.

U.S. News collected these same statistics when schools were surveyed for the annual rankings and gathered the same data on members of the class who were employed 10 months after graduation. U.S. News also collected data on students' jobs when the law school was unable to determine length of employment or full- or part-time status, as well as when employment status was unknown.

U.S. News incorporated this rich 10 months after graduation data into its computation of the employment measure for the class of 2021 at 10 months after graduation. Placement success was calculated by assigning various weights to the number of graduates employed in 45 of these different types of post-J.D. jobs, employment statuses and durations.

Full weight was given for graduates who had these types of jobs. The 100% weighted jobs were those who had a full-time job that lasted at least a year and for which bar passage was required, or a full-time job that lasted at least a year where a J.D. degree was an advantage.

New this year, we also give full weight to school-funded full-time, long-term fellowships where bar passage is required or where the J.D. degree is an advantage. We also now give full weight to those enrolled in graduate studies in the ABA employment outcomes grid.

Less weight went to full-time, long-term jobs that were professional or nonprofessional and did not require bar passage and to positions whose start dates were deferred. The lowest weight applied to jobs categorized as both part-time and short-term and those jobs for which a law school was unable to determine length of employment or whether they were full time.

In terms of all law school and university positions, U.S. News continues to apply a discount for some law school-funded jobs which aren’t fully weighted in our rankings calculations.

All these weighted employment figures were divided by the total number of 2021 J.D. graduates. They were used in the ranking formula only and are not published.

Actual rates for the other types of positions of each school's latest graduating class appear in the profiles.

Part-time Law Rankings

These rankings are exclusive to law schools with at least 20 part-time students enrolled in fall 2021 and fall 2022. Its three indicators incorporate data distinct from the overall law schools ranking. Review the part-time law methodology for more information.

Specialty Rankings

Law school specialty rankings, such as clinical training , tax law and health care law , are based solely on peer assessment surveys administered to law school faculty who teach in that specialty area. Peer assessment surveys for the law school specialty rankings were conducted in fall 2022 and early 2023 by U.S. News.

In summer 2022, law schools provided U.S. News with the names of law school faculty members who teach in each specialty area. Once again, law school faculty members who teach in each specialty area rated the other law schools in that specialty area on a 5-point scale. Schools are ranked in descending order from highest to lowest based on their average peer assessment scores in their specialty area.

As was the case with the overall law rankings and part-time law rankings, only ratings from schools that submitted a statistical survey to U.S. News were incorporated in the specialty rankings. The specialty response rates are based on those who responded from schools that submitted a statistical survey.

The number of schools ranked in the 13 law school specialty rankings and the response rates among those law school faculty members surveyed in fall 2022 and early 2023 were as follows:

• 196 schools ranked for business/corporate law (response rate: 58%).
• 188 schools ranked for clinical training (53%).
• 196 schools ranked for constitutional law (46%).
• 196 schools ranked for contracts/commercial law (42%).
• 196 schools ranked for criminal law (46%).
• 67 schools ranked for dispute resolution (56%).
• 195 schools ranked for environmental law (59%).
• 189 schools ranked for health care law (52%).
• 196 schools ranked for intellectual property law (57%).
• 174 schools ranked for international law (53%).
• 121 schools ranked for legal writing (63%).
• 196 schools ranked for tax law (54%).
• 196 schools ranked for trial advocacy (59%).

In the law school specialty rankings, all programs that received 10 or more ratings are numerically ranked in that specialty from highest to lowest. Schools receiving fewer than 10 ratings in a specialty aren't listed in that specialty ranking.

School Data, Profile Pages and Search

Responder schools provided the data listed in the rankings and their individual profiles in U.S. News' directory.

Missing information in some cases was filled with corresponding statistics schools disclosed as reporting to the ABA. For some data like program offerings not collected by the ABA (and by extension not used in the rankings), the school’s previous year’s reported data may display instead. Otherwise, if a data point is listed as "N/A," the data was not available.

The majority of institutions that reported statistical data to U.S. News were able to have profile pages that feature richer, more detailed and more current standardized information on their program characteristics for prospective students compared with law schools that did not make this data available. Nonresponders to U.S. News' law survey are flagged as being such at the top of their profile pages for transparency.

With search tools, visitors can filter rankings and profiles by characteristics like location, tuition, LSAT scores and average starting salary, and create personalized shortlists of schools to examine further.

Check back every now and then, as we occasionally add content to the website when we obtain additional data we think is useful – whether on job placement, GPA, LSAT scores or other factors – or we learn information that changes the data. As always, review U.S. News' editorial content that provides insights about law school trends and applying to law school.

Searching for a law school? Browse the rankings of the Best Law Schools.

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Dean Heather K. Gerken has announced that Garrett West ’18 will be joining the Yale Law School faculty as an Associate Professor of Law on July 1, 2024.

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West received his B.A. from Hillsdale College in 2015 and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2018, where he served as Articles and Essays Editor on the Yale Law Journal and as Submissions Editor for the Yale Journal on Regulation . During law school, West received the Thomas I. Emerson Prize in 2017 and 2018, awarded annually to a distinguished student paper on legislation. 

After law school, West clerked for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Thomas B. Griffith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Justice Samuel Alito ’75 of the U.S. Supreme Court.

West is currently an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he is a member of the firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation Group.

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The Sunday Read: ‘What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living’

Researchers are documenting a phenomenon that seems to help the dying, as well as those they leave behind..

By Phoebe Zerwick

Read by Samantha Desz

Produced by Jack D’Isidoro and Aaron Esposito

Narration produced by Anna Diamond and Emma Kehlbeck

Original music by Aaron Esposito

Engineered by Sophia Lanman and Sharon Kearney

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Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. Throughout Kerr’s childhood in Toronto, his father, a surgeon, was too busy to spend much time with his son, except for an annual fishing trip they took, just the two of them, to the Canadian wilderness. Gaunt and weakened by cancer at 42, his father reached for the buttons on Kerr’s shirt, fiddled with them and said something about getting ready to catch the plane to their cabin in the woods. “I knew intuitively, I knew wherever he was, must be a good place because we were going fishing,” Kerr told me.

Kerr now calls what he witnessed an end-of-life vision. His father wasn’t delusional, he believes. His mind was taking him to a time and place where he and his son could be together, in the wilds of northern Canada.

Kerr followed his father into medicine, and in the last 10 years he has hired a permanent research team that expanded studies on deathbed visions to include interviews with patients receiving hospice care at home and with their families, deepening researchers’ understanding of the variety and profundity of these visions.

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Additional production for The Sunday Read was contributed by Isabella Anderson, Anna Diamond, Sarah Diamond, Elena Hecht, Emma Kehlbeck, Tanya Pérez and Krish Seenivasan.

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Associate Professor of Special Education Jessica Logan has always been interested in child development, specifically the growth of academic skills in young children at risk for learning disabilities. She seeks to understand how children learn and the contexts in which they learn, exploring questions such as, “Why do some kids struggle with learning to read?”

But for Logan, it’s not enough to ask a research question and then develop a methodology. The methodology itself must be studied to understand whether it is best for answering the question. As new questions arise, new statistical methods may need to be designed and implemented. Likewise, new designs may generate new questions that otherwise could not be answered.

In graduate school, Logan’s passion for developmental science spurred her passion for quantitative methodology. Now she uses her skills not only to improve her own work but to study the statistical methodologies used in her field, and to support her colleagues in developing and refining their research designs. In short, Logan is a meta-scientist on a mission.

“Metascience is really at the heart of everything I do. I study what methods researchers are using to understand questions about child development and how we can innovate and improve methods to better align with those questions. If we want to ensure the best outcomes for children, we should study problems using the methods that best address each question,” Logan said.

To support her colleagues, Logan leads workshops on best practices for data management and data sharing , and how to implement novel statistical methods to rescue research projects marred by missing data .

In a recent project supported by a $837,860 grant from the National Institutes of Health, Logan and her colleague Sara Hart , professor of psychology at Florida State University, are developing intensive short courses in data management and data sharing for researchers in children’s learning and development. Data management concerns processes for collecting, organizing, validating, and securing data. Data sharing refers to the practice of sharing research data for use by other investigators.

Logan says that roughly 80 percent of researchers in the field of children’s learning and development do not share their data, but interest in developing best practices for data sharing is growing. As part of this grant, Logan will host 20 investigators in the field of developmental science for a five-day course in data management and data sharing at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development in August. Courses supported by this grant have the potential to improve data management and sharing practices in the field of children’s learning and development, which ultimately could improve the work of practitioners and outcomes for the children they serve.

Logan and Hart don’t just educate colleagues through workshops. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when physical isolation was hindering the professional growth of many early-career researchers, Logan and Hart began cohosting the podcast Within and Between . They wanted to reach a wide audience of young developmental scientists, many of whom peppered them with questions about the methods and metascience of developmental science and professional development concerns. As the tagline for the inaugural episode states, “When one person asks for advice, you give it to them. When five people ask you for advice, you start a podcast.” Through four seasons, Logan and Hart have offered advice on topics such as the open science practice of preregistering research plans publicly, developing research questions, deciding on which conferences to attend and why, preparing for annual faculty reviews, and of course, all things data management.

And when Logan, Hart, and several of their colleagues asked each other for advice on navigating systemic inequities in their field, they started POWER (Providing Opportunities for Women in Educational Research), a non-profit organization to connect, support, and advocate for researchers who identify as women or non-binary in the fields of education and child development.

“Women have held the majority of Ph.D.’s in education for a very long time—it’s a unique field in that way—but they hold fewer positions of power, so they are less likely to remain in the field. Early in their careers, researchers are postdocs and assistant professors, and female researchers who have children during this time are often held back. The tenure clock gets pushed back, but that pushes back raises and promotions, which affects their perception within their departments and their ability to contribute to science. They might get entry-level academic positions, but they occupy fewer leadership roles, are less likely to achieve tenure, and are less likely to receive federal funding than their male peers,” Logan said.

To help close the gap, POWER has a database to connect women and non-binary researchers in education and child development. The database can help users find potential research collaborators, mentors, colleagues who can write letters of support, and more.

Additionally, POWER provides a list of resources and hubs to connect researchers based on geographic locations and research specializations. The organization also hosts online and in-person networking events and has an active email listserv. Membership is free and open to any researcher in the field of education or child development.

As a researcher, podcaster, and leader of a non-profit, Logan wears many different hats, but no matter which one she wears at any given time, her mission is the same: to help improve the scholarship of education and developmental science researchers, so that their work can lead to better outcomes for children.

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