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2023 Best Legal Professions Schools

179 Colleges
$47,649 Avg Salary
$28,699 Avg Student Debt

With 45,189 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, legal professions is the #7 most popular major in the United States.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Legal Professions Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 179 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.

View our full ranking methodology.

Check out the legal professions programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.

Our analysis found University of Virginia - Main Campus to be the best school for legal professions students who want to pursue a degree in the United States. University of Virginia is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Charlottesville.

Full Legal Professions at University of Virginia - Main Campus Report

#2

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Chicago. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Legal Professions Schools list. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

Full Legal Professions at University of Chicago Report

#3

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Pennsylvania. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Schools list. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Pennsylvania

#4

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Legal Professions Schools list. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

Full Legal Professions at Stanford University Report

#5

Georgetown University

Washington, DC

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Georgetown University is a great place for legal professions students. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Washington.

Full Legal Professions at Georgetown University Report

#6

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

Harvard University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Schools ranking. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Harvard University

#7

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Schools ranking. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

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#8

New York University

New York, NY

New York University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Full Legal Professions at New York University Report

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public school with a very large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

#10

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

Vanderbilt University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Located in the large city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Full Legal Professions at Vanderbilt University Report

With a ranking of #11, Columbia University in the City of New York did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Columbia University in the City of New York

University of California - Berkeley ranked #12 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Schools list. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a very large student population.

Full Legal Professions at University of California - Berkeley Report

California University of Pennsylvania came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Schools ranking. Located in the small suburb of California, Cal U is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

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#14

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

University of Notre Dame ranked #14 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Schools list. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

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#15

Hamline University

Saint Paul, MN

Hamline University ranked #15 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Schools list. Hamline is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Saint Paul.

Full Legal Professions at Hamline University Report

American Public University System did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for legal professions students. It came in at #16 on the list. American Military University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the town of Charles Town.

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With a ranking of #17, South Texas College of Law did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students. South Texas College of Law is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Houston.

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The University of Texas at Austin landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Located in the city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a very large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at The University of Texas at Austin

#19

Boston University

Boston, MA

Boston University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for legal professions students. It came in at #19 on the list. Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Full Legal Professions at Boston University Report

Washington and Lee University landed the #20 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Washington and Lee is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Lexington.

Full Legal Professions at Washington and Lee University Report

University of California - Los Angeles ranked #21 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Schools list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of California - Los Angeles

#22

Fordham University

Bronx, NY

Fordham University landed the #22 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Located in the city of Bronx, Fordham U is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Full Legal Professions at Fordham University Report

University of California - Hastings College of Law landed the #23 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best legal professions programs. Located in the large city of San Francisco, UC Hastings is a public school with a small student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of California - Hastings College of Law

With a ranking of #24, University of Southern California did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Southern California

#25

Hodges University

Naples, FL

With a ranking of #25, Hodges University did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students. Located in the city of Naples, International College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Full Legal Professions at Hodges University Report

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Legal Professions students that almost earned our Best Legal Professions Schools award.

Rank College Location
27 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
28 Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn, NY
29 Emory University Atlanta, GA
30 Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC
31 Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL
32 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC
33 Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO
34 New York Law School New York, NY
35 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI

View the Best Legal Professions Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Major Annual Graduates
Law 36,216
Legal Research 6,659
Legal Professions (Other) 1,424
Legal Support Services 446
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 444

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration & Social Service 53,252
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 13,045
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 10,452
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 1,613

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to The wub.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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