Justia Free Resources: U.S. Law School Profiles

Applying to law school can be both exciting and daunting. Prospective students should take time to think through their options. To make the process easier, Justia has recently upgraded the law school profiles in our U.S. Law Schools Center.

A journey in the legal profession starts with getting a degree from a law school. Prospective law students can consider a broad range of programs across the country, each with its own strengths. The choice can make a big difference to the trajectory of a future lawyer’s career. In an effort to help prospective law students compare their options, Justia has significantly enhanced the law school profiles in our U.S. Law Schools Center. These now provide a wealth of information about aspects such as admissions, academics, costs, extracurriculars, and the careers of graduates. Meanwhile, a crisp new design presents the data more clearly and makes the profiles easier to navigate.

Here’s a general overview of the information that the enhanced profiles provide and how they’re laid out.

Person reading and focused on a book.

Admissions & Academics

Most law school applicants want to know roughly how likely it is that they’ll get admitted to a particular school. The first main section in the law school profiles thus contains data related to acceptance rate, as well as the GPAs and LSAT scores of successful applicants. It also provides information on the size of the first-year class, total enrollment, and how the student body is distributed according to race (or ethnicity) and gender.

This section isn’t all numbers, though. It also lists the degrees, certificates, and concentrations offered by the law school. In addition, it lists some joint degrees offered either within the school or in conjunction with other graduate or professional schools at its parent university. Below this information are the application deadlines for various degree programs, often distinguishing among early, regular, and other stages of admission.

Cost & Financial Aid

A legal education usually requires a significant expense, and prospective students will want to know what to expect. Each profile offers data on tuition and fees, including how those have changed over the last several years. If a school charges different rates to in-state and out-of-state students, its profile provides both rates for the most recent year. It also describes “living expenses,” which are items outside tuition and fees like housing, food, books, and transportation. (Adding tuition and fees to living expenses provides the total cost of attending a law school.) Living expenses may vary depending on whether a student is living on campus, off campus, or with their family. A graph accounts for these distinctions.

Fortunately, some law students receive grants that partly or fully cover tuition. The section on cost and financial aid in each profile describes how many students get grants and the median grant amount. A graph of the students who get grants further shows how many students get grants that account for less than half of their tuition, how many get grants that cover at least half but not all of their tuition, and how many get grants that fully cover their tuition.

Extracurriculars

Some of the most memorable and formative parts of the law school experience happen outside traditional instruction in the classroom. Each profile lists extracurricular opportunities like journals and clinics. Journals are student-run publications that present articles by professors, judges, or other scholars, usually involving a certain legal issue or field. Clinics generally offer students a chance to get practical experience providing a certain type of legal services under the supervision of a professor.

The Extracurriculars section also lists student associations. These provide ways for students with certain backgrounds or interests to interact with others who share them. Meanwhile, legal skills competitions like moot court or mock trial allow students to hone these skills before using them in the real world. This section of the profile concludes by listing a selection of other opportunities at the school, such as externships and foreign exchange programs.

Female lawyer smiling and working on a laptop.

Careers

People attending law school usually see it as a launchpad for the career that they envision. This starts with passing the bar exam in their state of choice. The Careers section of each law school profile provides statistics on the bar passage rate for graduates, as well as charts describing the career paths that recent graduates have taken. For example, a prospective student can see how many of these graduates now work in jobs that require bar passage, or for which a JD is an advantage. They can also see how many graduates have gone into law firms, compared to those who work for public interest organizations or the government. Each profile also displays information on how many graduates have received clerkships to work with judges.

In some cases, a prospective law student wants to work in a certain state. At the end of the Careers section, a map of the U.S. shows the top three states where recent graduates of that law school have found employment.

Data Guide

Most of the statistical data in the law school profiles come from disclosures by law schools to the American Bar Association, which requires them to complete an annual questionnaire. Some of the labels used by the ABA or us may not be intuitive at a glance. To make their meaning clearer, we’ve created a data guide with definitions of certain terms in each section of a profile. We’ve also noted which statistics relate to an academic year before the most recent year. As the data guide explains, the ABA statistics generally describe only the JD program at a school. They’re only available for law schools that hold a current ABA accreditation.

Further U.S. Law Schools Resources

The U.S. Law Schools Center offers resources beyond the enhanced law school profiles. We provide case law outlines on more than 30 course topics, ranging from the first-year core to upper-level electives. We also describe the process of paying for law school, including the types of student loans that may be available, options for repaying them, and alternatives to loans. Current law students may want to explore tips on writing a law school outline and studying for a law school exam, also available for free through the U.S. Law Schools Center.

Final Thoughts

Hundreds of law schools offer a gateway to a legal career. It’s not always easy for an applicant to decide which schools would be the best fits for their personal needs and goals. The enhanced law school profiles in the U.S. Law Schools Center help streamline the process by providing comprehensive yet clearly organized information. Together with the rest of the U.S. Law Schools Center, they further our goal of helping current and prospective legal professionals build strong, fulfilling careers.