UNC School of Law ranks No. 39 out of 197 law schools listed in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” released on March 14.
In the specialty areas ranking, the law school’s Research, Reasoning, Writing and Advocacy (RRWA) program, now in its sixth year as a full-year, six-credit program, ranks No. 18 in legal writing.
“We are thrilled our writing program moved up a spot in the rankings this year,” says Dean Martin H. Brinkley ’92. “Our students gain so much from this writing program. We are always proud to garner national recognition for the excellent work produced by our faculty, students and staff.”
According to U.S. News, UNC continues to maintain a strong reputation among legal professionals. This year Carolina Law ranks No. 20 in reputation among lawyers and judges and moves up two spots to No. 19 among peers and scholars.
“We recognize that rankings are important not just to the school and alumni but to prospective students as well,” says Brinkley. “We also know that they are just one measure of our success as a law school. While we appreciate being well-regarded by our legal colleagues, we know we have work to do to increase our rankings. Moving forward, we are looking at all the data so we can see the areas we need to improve while still being committed to our mission and serving our students and the legal community.”
Of the 26 public law schools listed in the top 50 law schools in the U.S. News rankings, UNC School of Law is No. 17.
In other rankings news, The National Law Journal recently ranked the top 50 Go-To Law Schools according to the percentage of the schools’ 2016 graduates who took associate jobs at the largest 100 firms. Carolina Law ranked No. 27. Of the 50 schools ranked, Carolina Law had the third lowest tuition rate further confirming that a law school can charge an affordable tuition and have its graduates land associate positions at big law firms. The National Law Journal also noted that Carolina Law tied for 27 for the number of alumni promoted to law firm partnership during 2016.
“Although Carolina Law is known for its public service and its service to the state of North Carolina, over 2/3 of our graduates transition into private sector jobs all over the country,” says Brinkley. “Carolina Law does an excellent job preparing students to work at private law firms, in business and industry positions, as well as in clerkships, non-profits, public interest, and government jobs.”
-March 14, 2017