Do you want to know what the best law schools are in your state? The entities in the best position to rank law schools, the American Bar Association and the Law School Admissions Council, have elected not to engage in the practice of ranking law schools. Therefore, this article will outline the best law schools according to U.S. News and World Reports, the leader in ranking law schools, by state in which the law school is located.
Alabama–University of Alabama
Arizona–Arizona State University
Arkansas–University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
California– Stanford University
Colorado–University of Colorado, Boulder
Connecticut–Yale University
Florida–University of Florida (Levin)
Georgia–Emory University
Hawaii–University of Hawaii, Manoa
Idaho–University of Idaho
Illinois–University of Chicago
Indiana–Indiana University, Bloomington
Iowa–University of Iowa
Kansas–University of Kansas
Kentucky–University of Kentucky
Louisiana–Tulane University
Maine–University of Maine
Maryland–University of Maryland
Massachusetts–Harvard University
Michigan–University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Minnesota–University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Mississippi–University of Mississippi
Missouri–Washington University
Montana–University of Montana
Nebraska–University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Nevada–University of Nevada, Las Vegas
New Hampshire–University of New Hampshire School of Law
New Jersey–Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Camden
New Mexico–University of New Mexico
New York–Columbia University
North Carolina–Duke University
Ohio–Ohio State University
Oklahoma–University of Oklahoma
Oregon–Lewis & Clark College
Pennsylvania–University of Pennsylvania
Tennessee-Vanderbilt University
Texas–University of Texas, Austin
Utah–Brigham Young University
Vermont–Vermont Law School
Virginia–University of Virginia
Washington–University of Washington
Washington, DC–Georgetown University
West Virgina–West Virgina University
Wisconsin–University of Wisconsin, Madison
**Rankings for law schools in the remaining states (not listed) were not published. This means that none of the law schools in those states were in the top 143 best law schools.
Perhaps you are wondering what makes these universities the best law schools. The criterion used for assessing the quality of each law school are as follows:
1. Quality assessment as measured by opinion surveys;
2. Selectivity, which is measured by incoming student profiles and the law school’s acceptance rate;
3. Placement success, which is measured by the bar passage rate and the employment rate of law school graduates; and
4. Faculty resources, which is measured by expenditures, library volumes and faculty to student ratios.
Whether this is the best method for judging what the best law schools are, is debatable and has been criticized and challenged by some. If you are not convinced that these are the best law schools, the American Bar Association has assembled The Official Guide to ABA Approved Law Schools to provide you with relevant information so that you can determine for yourself which schools are the best law schools.