Home to eleven American Bar Association accredited law schools, Florida houses a wide variety of esteemed law programs with promising educational opportunities.
The five schools listed here tend to top the state rankings based on factors like faculty research expertise, academic offerings, selectivity, job placement, and bar passage rates.
Unlike many states, Florida’s public universities are well known for their significantly low tuition for in-state students. Residents of Florida who attend a public law school typically pay less than half of what students pay at private institutions.
5. Stetson University
| Admissions Statistics (2018 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 50.42% |
| Median LSAT Score | 155 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.36 |
Established in 1900, the Stetson University College of Law was the first law school in Florida and is the oldest in the state. Stetson Law is ranked #104 best law school in America by the US News & World Report, and it has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1931
Ranked among the best law schools in trial advocacy and legal writing and in the nation, the school provides students with a massive opportunity for their legal careers. Clinics include an in-house Veteran’s Advocacy Clinic, Civil Elder Law Clinic, Immigration Law Clinic, the Child Advocacy Clinic, and Public Defender Clinic.
The school has a bar passage rate of 72.3%, and employment-wise, 77.2% of Stetson University’s graduates landed jobs within ten months of graduating.
4. Florida International University
| Admissions Statistics (2018 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 28.59% |
| Median LSAT Score | 156 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.53 |
Located in Miami, on Florida International University’s main campus, FIU College of Law is one of the fastest improving law schools in the nation.
Despite being a relatively new school that received ABA accreditation in 2006, the FIU College of Law is ranked as the #91 best law school in the country by the US News & World Report.
FIU College of Law enrolls a diverse population of around 500 students each year.
Some of the specialty programs offered by the school include Intellectual Property Certificate, Trial Advocacy Program, Internal Law and Comparative Law, Legal Skills, and Values Board. It also provides students with notable law clinics like the Death Penalty Clinic, Immigration, and Human Rights Clinic, Immigrant children and minors Justice Clinic, among others.
FIU College of Law registers impressive bar passage statistics, as 87.5% of its students pass the bar exams.
3. University of Miami
| Admissions Statistics (2018 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 54.66% |
| Median LSAT Score | 158 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.44 |
Located in Coral Gables, Florida, the University of Miami School of Law takes pride in its diverse population with 50%of students identifying as a member of a diverse group and 58% speaking at least one foreign language. Miami Law’s alumni span all 50 states and 91 countries.
Ranked #67 by the US News & World Report and widely known as one of Florida’s leading law schools, Miami Law offers over 300 distinct courses and several programs ranging from JD to joint degrees and LL. M.
The university also provides international courses such as LLM-International Arbitration and LLM-International Law.
The class sizes are small and the student/faculty ratio is 7 to 1. Law students can gain hands-on experience at ten different clinics, including the Health Rights Clinic, Environmental Justice Clinic, Tenants’ Rights Clinic, and Innocence Clinic.
Miami Law is home to a rigorous Litigation Skills Program and two prestigious Moot Courts. Students interested in a particular area of law can choose from concentrations such as Business of Innovation, Immigration, Asylum and Citizenship Law, and Law and Technology.
University statistics for 2018 assert that 75% of graduates obtained employment within nine months.
2. Florida State University
| Admissions Statistics (2018 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 32.67% |
| Median LSAT Score | 158 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.68 |
Among the leading law schools in the state, the Florida State University College of Law is located in Tallahassee, Florida, and recently added a 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art advocacy center, including five courtrooms.
The campus is located in close vicinity to the Florida Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and the Florida Capitol, which offers students opportunities to obtain real-world experience through internships and clerking. FSU Law students can also gain hands-on experiences through the school’s Business Law Clinic and Public Interest Law Center.
The law school is ranked #48 best ABA-accredited law schools in the nation by the US News & World Report.
The Florida State University of Law is well known for the diversity of its students as in its 2019 admissions there were 33.3% of the enrolled students are minorities, 54% are women, while 23% are non-Florida residents.
The school has a bar passage of 81.1%, one of the highest passage rates in Florida.
1. University of Florida
| Admissions Statistics (2018 Entering Class) | |
| Acceptance Rate | 20.65% |
| Median LSAT Score | 162 |
| Median Undergraduate GPA | 3.68 |
The UF Levin College of Law is one of the most selective law schools in the state, and with approximately 1,000 students, it is also the largest.
Consistently ranked as one of the best public law schools in Florida, UF Law has over 80-full time faculty members, 50 adjunct professors, and the largest law library in the Southeast.
Located on the UF’s main campus in Gainesville, students have access to all of the cultural, social, and academic opportunities.
UF Law focuses mainly on experiential learning on and off campus through a courtroom-classroom, on-campus clinical work, summer externships, among others. Students can choose to concentrate in one of the following specialty programs: Estate Planning, Environmental and Land Use Law, Family Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Criminal Justice.