2023 Best Legal Research Master's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Legal Research Master's Degree School for You
Legal Research is the #107 most popular major in the country with 6,874 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Legal Research Master's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 112 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best master's degree programs for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Legal Research Master's Degree Colleges.
Top 15% Best Legal Research Master's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named University of Chicago the best school in the United States for legal research students working on their master’s degree. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
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Out of the 112 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Pennsylvania landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Virginia - Main Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools list. University of Virginia is a very large public school located in the suburb of Charlottesville.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Georgetown University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best legal research schools in the United States. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Washington.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Stanford University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best legal research schools in the United States. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.
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Harvard University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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New York University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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Columbia University in the City of New York did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for legal research students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.
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University of Michigan - Ann Arbor came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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With a ranking of #10, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal research students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a very large student population.
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Vanderbilt University ranked #11 on this year’s Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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With a ranking of #12, University of Florida did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal research students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Gainesville, UF is a public college with a very large student population.
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University of Notre Dame did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for legal research students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #13 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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Northwestern University ranked #14 on this year’s Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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Boston University ranked #15 on this year’s Best Legal Research Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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Loyola University Chicago landed the #16 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree legal research programs. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
Request InformationAdditional 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 Research Master's Degree Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | University of San Diego | San Diego, CA |
| 18 | George Washington University | Washington, DC |
| 19 | Fordham University | Bronx, NY |
| 20 | The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX |
| 21 | University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA |
| 22 | Hamline University | Saint Paul, MN |
Legal Research by Region
View the Best Legal Research Master'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 |
More Legal Research Rankings
Legal Research Related Rankings by Major
One of 4 majors within the area of study, legal research has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Majors Related to Legal Research
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Law | 36,216 |
| Legal Support Services | 11,545 |
| Non-Professional General Legal Studies | 4,407 |
| Legal Professions (Other) | 2,013 |
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).
More about our data sources and methodologies.