List Of Law Schools In The United States - Best Law Schools

Law schools in this list are categorized by whether they are currently active, proposed, or closed; within each section they are listed in alphabetical order by state, then name. Most of these law schools grant the Juris Doctor degree, which is the typical first professional degree in law in the United States.

Law schools are nationally accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), and graduates of these schools may generally sit for the bar exam in any state. There are 203 ABA accredited law schools, divided between 200 with full accreditation and 3 with provisional accreditation.

In addition, individual state legislatures or bar examiners, like the State Bar of California, may maintain a separate accreditation system which is open to non-ABA accredited schools. The California State Bar also accredits law schools, which the California Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) recognizes. Also, the CBE allows registered "Unaccredited" schools to operate and students of those schools are eligible to take the California Bar Examination upon graduation.

No correspondence or online law schools are accredited by the ABA or by state bar examiners. However, twelve correspondence and online law schools, although not accredited, are registered by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California. This means that the graduates of these distance learning law schools can sit for the California Bar Examination and, under varying circumstances, the bar exams in many other states.