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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

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.

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

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

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of Virginia - Main Campus

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Northwestern University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best legal professions schools in the United States. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Full Legal Professions at Northwestern University Report

#3

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Chicago. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

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#4

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of Pennsylvania is a great place for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

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#5

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Stanford University is a great place for legal professions students working on their doctor’s degree. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

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#6

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

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 midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

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#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 large city of Washington.

Full Legal Professions at Georgetown University Report

#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.

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

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#10

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

With a ranking of #10, Vanderbilt 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 Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit college 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 medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college 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 professions students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #12 on the list. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.

Full Legal Professions at Columbia University in the City of New York Report

#13

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

University of Notre Dame ranked #13 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Full Legal Professions at University of Notre Dame Report

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 large city of Houston.

Read full report on Legal Professions at South Texas College of Law

University of Southern California 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 #15 on the list. 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 college with a fairly large student population.

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

Washington and Lee University ranked #17 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Washington and Lee is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Lexington.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Washington and Lee University

#18

Boston University

Boston, MA

Boston University landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Full Legal Professions at Boston University Report

University of California - Los Angeles came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a very large student population.

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#20

Fordham University

Bronx, NY

Fordham University ranked #20 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the 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 landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree legal professions programs. 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 came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. 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 large city of Brooklyn.

Full Legal Professions at Brooklyn Law School Report

#24

Emory University

Atlanta, GA

Emory 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 #24 on the list. Located in the city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

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Mitchell Hamline School of Law ranked #25 on this year’s Best Legal Professions Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, Mitchell Hamline is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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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 Support Services 11,545
Legal Research 6,874
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 4,407
Legal Professions (Other) 2,013

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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