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 206 ABA accredited law schools, divided between 202 with full accreditation and with provisional accreditation. However, Whittier Law School will no longer be taking students and the legal program will be discontinued.
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.
Non-Profit Schools
1 - Provisional ABA accreditation expired in June 2011
2 - Provisional accreditation via the Puerto Rico Supreme Court
For-Profit Schools
Proposed
Former
See also
- Lists of law schools
- Law school in the United States
- Legal education in the United States
- Law school rankings in the United States
- Online law school
- List of law school GPA curves
- List of law schools attended by United States Supreme Court Justices
Notes
External links
- List of ABA approved law schools
- Law Schools, State Bar of California
- NALP (National Association for Law Placement) Directory of Law Schoolsâ€"a non-profit educational association listing of law schools
- List of Top Law Schools - U.S. News University Directory
