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'John Marshall Law' now refers to two different schools. The former John Marshall Law School in Chicago merged into the University of Illinois Chicago in 2019 and is now UIC School of Law, ranked 167th by U.S. News for 2026-27. A separate, independent John Marshall Law School operates in Atlanta, whose current standing is published in the U.S. News ranking and its ABA 509 report.
By Ali Unar, JD candidate at Georgetown Law and founder of Lovare Institut. Last updated August 2026. Every figure on this page was verified in August 2026 against the sources listed below.
The name John Marshall Law now points to two different schools. The former John Marshall Law School in Chicago merged into the University of Illinois Chicago in 2019 and is now UIC School of Law, a public law school. A separate, independent John Marshall Law School operates in Atlanta, Georgia. The table shows both so you can confirm which one you mean.
SchoolLocationStatusCurrent U.S. News standingUIC School of Law (formerly John Marshall Law School)Chicago, IllinoisMerged into the University of Illinois Chicago in 2019167th (U.S. News 2026-27)Atlanta's John Marshall Law SchoolAtlanta, GeorgiaIndependent, ABA-approvedSee the U.S. News law school ranking
UIC School of Law is ranked 167th in the U.S. News 2026-27 Best Law Schools ranking; Atlanta's John Marshall Law School is not among the schools captured in Lovare's verified 2026-27 reference, so read its standing from the U.S. News ranking and its medians from its ABA Standard 509 report.
In 2019 the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, previously an independent institution, combined with the University of Illinois Chicago to form UIC School of Law. The move made it the only public law school in Chicago, and the standalone John Marshall name in that city was retired. Its current rank is 167th in the U.S. News 2026-27 ranking, and its median LSAT and GPA are reported in its ABA Standard 509 report.
Both UIC Law and Atlanta's John Marshall are ranked through the same U.S. News formula that weights reputation, selectivity such as median LSAT and GPA, and outcomes such as bar passage and employment. Because the two are separate institutions in different states, they carry different ranks, medians, and bar-passage rates, and U.S. News publishes and periodically revises the exact category weights in its methodology.
Decide which John Marshall you mean, then compare your LSAT and GPA to that school's published medians to label it reach, target, or likely. UIC Law sits in the Chicago market, while Atlanta's John Marshall serves the Georgia market, so weigh each against where you want to practice and the scholarship each may offer.
The T14 refers to fourteen law schools that have effectively always held the top U.S. News spots: Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Michigan, Berkeley, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, and Georgetown. Because elite firms, clerkships, and national markets recruit heavily from this group, the boundary matters more than a school's exact position within it.
The schools most often called best are the T14, led by Stanford, Chicago, and Yale at the top of U.S. News. Beyond raw rank, the best law school for any applicant is the one whose employment outcomes, cost after scholarships, and location match that person's goals. Current leaders are Stanford (1st), Chicago and Yale (tied 2nd), and Penn and Virginia (tied 4th) in the U.S. News 2026-27 ranking.
Most rankings weight three things: what peers think of a school, how selective it is on LSAT and GPA, and what happens to graduates in bar passage and employment. U.S. News sets the standard, but its weights shift over time, so small rank changes rarely reflect real quality differences.
No. The John Marshall Law School that was in Chicago is now UIC School of Law after a 2019 merger with the University of Illinois Chicago, and it is ranked 167th by U.S. News for 2026-27. Atlanta's John Marshall Law School is a separate, independent, ABA-approved school in Georgia whose rank and medians appear in the U.S. News ranking and its ABA 509 report. They share a historical namesake but have no institutional connection today.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026