Home to fifteen American Bar Association accredited law schools, New York state is widely known for its top-ranked universities.
The schools listed below continually top the rankings based on criteria such as selectivity/average LSAT scores, bar passage rates, academic offerings, job placement rates, and opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience through simulations and clinics.
Here’s a look at the top 10 law schools in New York
10. University at Buffalo School of Law
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 46.80% |
| Median LSAT Score | 154 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.49 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
While most of the law schools included in this list are located in the New York City metropolitan area, the University at Buffalo School of Law’s location offers a different set of opportunities. Located on an international border, the UB School of Law has created a cross-border legal studies concentration and offers numerous cross-border learning opportunities. The school has also created short courses in January to allow students to gain experiences to complement their legal educations. Options include travel to New Zealand, France, and Thailand to study alongside lawyers practicing their craft.
9. CUNY School of Law
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 37.72% |
| Median LSAT Score | 154 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.49 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
The City University of New York welcomes over a quarter of a million students through its eleven senior colleges, seven graduate schools, and six community colleges. Located in Queens, CUNY School of Law is ranked #1 in the nation for public interest law. The school’s commitment to public service was praised by Carnegie Foundation and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. CUNY tuition is just a fraction of what other schools on this list charge. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 Law Schools in clinical training, CUNY students must complete three years of rigorous work; this includes a minimum of 89 credit hours of coursework, clinics, and Lawyering Seminars to earn a JD.
8. Syracuse University College of Law
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 46.16% |
| Median LSAT Score | 154 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.33 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
Opened in 2014, Syracuse Law is housed in Dineen Hall, a 200,000 square foot, five-story facility-designed to support the needs of 21st-century legal education and encourage student-faculty interactions. Like all top law programs, Syracuse Law provides loads of experiential learning to less than 200 students each year. Students can choose from nine clinics including the Veterans Legal Clinic, Community Development Law Clinic, and Elder Law Clinic, and develop their skills through trial advocacy courses and moot court. Students who want to gain experience away from New York can take advantage of externship programs in Washington and D.C London.
7. Brooklyn Law School
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 47.19% |
| Median LSAT Score | 157 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.44 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
Home to over 1,000 J.D. students from 163 undergraduate colleges and universities, Brooklyn Law School, takes pride in the diverse collegial community. The school’s convenient location places it close to various legal services organizations, government agencies, state and federal courthouses, and business incubators. Brooklyn Law students have a vast network of clinic and externship opportunities. The faculty are supportive, and students are engaged with over 40 organizations focused on both cultural groups and legal areas and interested students can take advantage of Brooklyn Law’s 4-year extended J.D. option.
6. St. John’s University School of Law
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 48.11% |
| Median LSAT Score | 159 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.62 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
The St. John’s University School of Law is located on the university’s main campus in Queens, and each year enrolls around 230 students. The location enables the school to offer a number of externship and internship placements in the New York City area. Students can choose between nine clinics, including the Child Advocacy Clinic, Domestic Violence Litigation Clinic, and Securities Arbitration Clinic. Home to seven student-run legal journals, St. John’s University School of Law is proud of its innovative education.
5. Cardozo School of Law
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 42.18% |
| Median LSAT Score | 162 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.60 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
A part of Yeshiva University, Cardozo School of Law, has its own campus located in Greenwich Village. Unlike its parent institution, Cardozo has no specific religious mission other than its focus on social justice and welcomes students of diverse backgrounds. The school takes advantage of its location to engage students with New York City’s active areas of law connected to business, entertainment, fashion, media, criminal justice, and public service. The school’s programs in intellectual property and conflict resolution rank highly in U.S. News & World Report. Cardozo is well known for being the host of the Innocence Project, an initiative that has helped free over 350 wrongly-convicted prisoners.
4. Fordham University School of Law
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 27.25% |
| Median LSAT Score | 164 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.64 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
Located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Fordham University’s School of Law enrolls around 400 students each year and is one of the bigger programs in the nation. Many of the school’s areas of specialty have been ranked high by U.S. News & World Report, and International Law, Clinical Training, and Trial Advocacy are all ranked in the top 20 nationally.
Five of Fordham’s student journals are among the most cited in judicial opinions- These include Fordham International Law Journal Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law and Fordham Law Review.
Other points of pride for Fordham include the 152,000 hours of public interest work performed by the class of 2018 during their time at the law school. Fordham takes pride in its graduate outcomes as 52% of the Class of 2018 had as federal clerks jobs or in big law firms.
3. Cornell University Law School
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 21.33% |
| Median LSAT Score | 168 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.81 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
Located in one of the country’s best college towns, the small city of Ithaca, Cornell Law is a top-ranked law school with highly selective admission and impressive graduate outcomes.
Cornell’s law school curriculum begins with the Lawyering Program, designed to help students develop the professional skills they’ll need as practicing attorneys. The course focuses on skills including legal writing, research, legal analysis, oral presentation, and client counseling and interviewing.
Cornell Law highly values experiential learning, and the school has enough seats available in clinics for all students to participate. The options are wide-ranging: Farmworker Legal Assistance, Campus Mediation Practicum, LGBT Clinic, Protest, and Civil Disobedience Defense Practicum, Juvenile Life Without Parole Clinic Labor Law Clinic, and many more.
2. New York University Law School
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 21.60% |
| Median LSAT Score | 170 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.80 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
Located in New York City’s Greenwich Village, New York University Law School offers legal education in the heart of a major global financial center. NYU Law students can take classes at NYU’s highly regarded Stern School of Business. For students with international ambitions, NYU’s Guarini Institute for Global Legal Studies focuses on international law, and NYU administers programs in Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai. NYU offers summer funding for students who aspire to work in government or public interest positions.
1. Columbia Law School
| Admissions Statistics (2019 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 15.86% |
| Median LSAT Score | 171 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.82 |
Source: American Bar Association Standard 509 Disclosure
Consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States, Columbia Law School held its first law class in 1858 and is the alma mater of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The school’s location in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan provides students with a network of opportunities for hands-on learning experiences.
Columbia Law School, with its 30 research centers, offer students real-world legal training in areas varying from corporate governance to human rights.
A Columbia legal education begins with its Foundation Year Moot Court program, which allows students to prepare legal briefs and present oral arguments to judges in the first year. Students gain further experiential learning through a range of simulation classes, clinics, and policy labs. Clinic students become members of Morningside Heights Legal Services, Inc., Columbia’s very own law firm focused on public interest issues.
Columbia Law Review is the second-most cited law journal in the world.