2023 Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree School for You
Legal Professions is the #16 most popular major in the country with 61,055 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor 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.
2023 Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Legal Professions Doctor's Degree Colleges.
Top 25 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Legal Professions
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 very large public school located in the small suburb of Charlottesville.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Northwestern University is a great place for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Chicago helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best legal professions schools in the United States. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Pennsylvania helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best legal professions schools in the United States. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Stanford University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best legal professions schools in the United States. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.
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Harvard University 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 #6 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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Georgetown University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Washington.
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With a ranking of #8, New York 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 New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
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University of Michigan - Ann Arbor came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’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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Vanderbilt University 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 #10 on the list. Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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With a ranking of #11, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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Columbia University in the City of New York ranked #12 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.
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University of Notre Dame landed the #13 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. 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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South Texas 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 #14 on the list. South Texas College of Law is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Houston.
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University of Southern California came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.
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The University of Texas at Austin ranked #16 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a very large student population.
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Washington and Lee University 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 #17 on the list. Washington and Lee is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Lexington.
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Boston University came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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University of California - Los Angeles 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 #19 on the list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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Fordham University landed the #20 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the large city of Bronx, Fordham U is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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With a ranking of #21, University of California - Hastings College of Law did quite well on this year’s best schools for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of San Francisco, UC Hastings is a public school with a small student population.
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Washington University in St Louis ranked #22 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Saint Louis.
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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.
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Emory University landed the #24 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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Mitchell Hamline School of Law came in at #25 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Saint Paul, Mitchell Hamline is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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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 |
Legal Professions by Region
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 |
More Legal Professions Rankings
Rankings in Majors Related to Legal Professions
Legal Professions Majors to Study
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Law | 36,216 |
| Legal Support Services | 11,545 |
| Legal Research | 6,874 |
| Non-Professional General Legal Studies | 4,407 |
| Legal Professions (Other) | 2,013 |
Most Popular Majors Related to Legal Professions
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting | 142,610 |
| Public Administration & Social Service | 98,583 |
| Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies | 73,813 |
| Military Technologies & Applied Sciences | 4,477 |
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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