.png)
Stanford Law School, in Stanford, California, is one of the T14 and has ranked at or near the very top of the U.S. News list for years, and is ranked 1st in U.S. News 2026-27. Admission is extremely selective, with medians of a 173 LSAT and 3.96 GPA, per U.S. News 2026-27 (via LSD.law) and Stanford's 2025 ABA Standard 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.
Stanford Law School is one of the T14 and has sat at or near the top of the U.S. News ranking for many years, frequently trading the No. 1 and No. 2 positions with Yale. Its current position is 1st in the U.S. News 2026-27 ranking, per U.S. News 2026-27. As a national school, Stanford places graduates at elite firms, clerkships, and public-interest roles across the country, not just in California.
Stanford Law is among the most selective law schools in the United States. The table lists the figures that define admission and outcomes; the LSAT, GPA, and acceptance figures come from Stanford's 2025 ABA Standard 509 report.
MetricFigure (2025 cycle)SourceU.S. News rank1U.S. NewsMedian LSAT173ABA 509Median GPA3.96ABA 509Acceptance rate6.1%ABA 509Employed at 10 months, bar-passage-requiredSee ABA employment reportABA
The rank is from the U.S. News 2026-27 Best Law Schools list (via LSD.law); median LSAT, median GPA, and acceptance are from Stanford's 2025 ABA Standard 509 report. The employment rate is not in the verified data used here and is published in Stanford's ABA employment summary.
Stanford's rank, like every U.S. News position, blends peer and lawyer-judge reputation surveys, incoming LSAT and GPA medians, graduate employment, bar passage, and per-student spending. The exact weighting changes each cycle and is published in the U.S. News Best Law Schools methodology rather than captured in the verified data used here. Stanford scores near the ceiling on reputation and outcomes, which keeps it consistently at the top of the list.
Stanford Law is a reach for almost every applicant, with one of the lowest acceptance rates in legal education at 6.1%, per its 2025 ABA Standard 509 report. Competitive applicants generally sit at or above its LSAT and GPA medians of a 173 LSAT and 3.96 GPA and add strong essays, recommendations, and experience. Even highly qualified candidates should treat admission as uncertain and apply broadly.
Stanford Law admits from among the highest LSAT scorers in the country, so a competitive application usually sits at or above its median (a median LSAT of 173 and a 25th-percentile LSAT of 171 in its 2025 ABA Standard 509 report). There is no fixed cutoff, and a strong GPA, essays, and experience matter, but scoring below the 25th percentile makes admission a long shot without exceptional softs.
Yes. Stanford Law School is one of the T14, the fourteen schools that have effectively always ranked in the U.S. News top 14. Stanford in particular has spent years at or near No. 1, alongside Yale, and it places graduates nationally in elite firms, federal clerkships, and academia. Its exact current rank is 1st in U.S. News 2026-27.
The schools usually called the best are the T14; in the U.S. News 2026-27 list the top five are Stanford 1st, Chicago and Yale tied 2nd, and Penn and Virginia tied 4th, per U.S. News 2026-27. Stanford is consistently in that leading group. The best school for you, though, is the one where your numbers are competitive and that serves your target career.
Law school rankings are compiled by private publishers, mainly U.S. News, not by the ABA or any government body. U.S. News scores each school on reputation surveys, incoming LSAT and GPA medians, graduate employment and bar-passage rates, and per-student spending to produce the rank. The exact weights change periodically and are published in the U.S. News Best Law Schools methodology.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026