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Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree Schools

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2023 Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree Schools

168 Colleges
$65,077 Avg Salary

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 Doctor's Degree Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 168 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best doctor's degree programs for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.

View our full ranking methodology.

The following schools top our list of the Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree Colleges.

Our 2023 rankings named University of Virginia - Main Campus the best school in the United States for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. University of Virginia is a fairly large public school located in the small suburb of Charlottesville.

Full Legal Professions at University of Virginia - Main Campus Report

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Northwestern University

#3

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

Out of the 168 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Chicago landed the # 3 spot on the list. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Chicago

#4

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Pennsylvania. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

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#5

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Out of the 168 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Stanford University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

Full Legal Professions at Stanford University Report

#6

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

Harvard University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Harvard University

#7

Georgetown University

Washington, DC

Georgetown University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Washington.

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#8

New York University

New York, NY

New York University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

Full Legal Professions at New York University Report

With a ranking of #9, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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

#10

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

Vanderbilt University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Vanderbilt University

University of California - Berkeley landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of California - Berkeley

Columbia University in the City of New York came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.

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#13

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

University of Notre Dame landed the #13 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Notre Dame

With a ranking of #14, South Texas College of Law did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. South Texas College of Law is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Houston.

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University of Southern California ranked #15 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Southern California

The University of Texas at Austin ranked #16 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Legal Professions at The University of Texas at Austin Report

With a ranking of #17, Washington and Lee University did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Washington and Lee is a small private not-for-profit school located in the distant town of Lexington.

Full Legal Professions at Washington and Lee University Report

#18

Boston University

Boston, MA

With a ranking of #18, Boston University did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Boston University

University of California - Los Angeles landed the #19 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Read More…

#20

Fordham University

Bronx, NY

With a ranking of #20, Fordham University did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Bronx, Fordham U is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Fordham University

University of California - Hastings College of Law did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for legal professions students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #21 on the list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, UC Hastings is a public school with a small student population.

Full Legal Professions at University of California - Hastings College of Law Report

Washington University in St Louis ranked #22 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. WUSTL is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

Full Legal Professions at Washington University in St Louis Report

#23

Brooklyn Law School

Brooklyn, NY

Brooklyn Law School ranked #23 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Brooklyn Law is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Brooklyn.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Brooklyn Law School

#24

Emory University

Atlanta, GA

Emory University came in at #24 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Emory University

Mitchell Hamline School of Law did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for legal professions students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #25 on the list. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, Mitchell Hamline is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Full Legal Professions at Mitchell Hamline School of Law Report

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
26 Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC
27 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC
28 New York Law School New York, NY
29 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
30 Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA
31 William & Mary Williamsburg, VA
32 Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
33 Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School Lansing, MI

View the Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree 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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