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In the U.S. News law schools ranking, the top group is the T14: Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, and Georgetown. Below them, schools are ranked down into the 190s. In the 2026-27 edition the order runs Stanford 1st through Georgetown 18th (tie), per U.S. News 2026-27 (via LSD.law), with medians from each school's 2025 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 U.S. News law schools ranking orders the roughly 196 ABA-approved JD programs by one weighted score, published annually. Fourteen schools, the T14, sit at the top nearly every year: Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, and Georgetown. In the 2026-27 edition their positions run Stanford 1st; Chicago and Yale 2nd; Penn and Virginia 4th; Harvard 6th; Duke and NYU 7th; Columbia, Northwestern, and Michigan 9th; Cornell 13th; Berkeley 16th; and Georgetown 18th (ties as noted), per U.S. News 2026-27 via LSD.law.
The table shows the top schools with median LSAT and points to first-time bar passage, pairing selectivity with the clearest outcome measure. First-time bar passage is a strong signal of how well a school prepares graduates to become licensed.
RankLaw schoolMedian LSATFirst-time bar passage1Stanford Law School173See ABA 509 report2 (tie)University of Chicago Law School174See ABA 509 report2 (tie)Yale Law School174See ABA 509 report4 (tie)University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School173See ABA 509 report6Harvard Law School174See ABA 509 report7 (tie)NYU School of Law172See ABA 509 report9 (tie)Columbia Law School173See ABA 509 report4 to 18University of Virginia, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Georgetown170 to 173See ABA 509 report
Rankings are from the U.S. News 2026-27 Best Law Schools list (via LSD.law), and median LSAT figures are from each school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 report; first-time bar passage rates are reported in each school's ABA Standard 509 report and are not part of the verified data used here.
U.S. News blends bar passage, employment outcomes, reputation surveys, and selectivity measures like median LSAT and GPA into one score, then sorts schools by it. The weights are published and revised periodically, and recent editions lean more on ABA outcome data after some schools stopped submitting internal figures. Those exact weights are set out in the U.S. News Best Law Schools methodology rather than in the verified data used for this page.
Use the ranking to build a shortlist, then compare candidates on their ABA outcomes and cost. Group schools into reach, target, and likely by matching your LSAT and GPA to each school's medians, and give real weight to first-time bar passage and employment in the city where you want to work. A large scholarship at a slightly lower-ranked school often beats full price higher up.
The T14 are the fourteen schools that hold the top of the U.S. News law ranking almost every year: Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, and Georgetown. They cluster together because their graduates are recruited nationally, so their reach is not tied to any one regional job market.
The best law schools are those with the strongest bar passage and employment for the cost, which in the ranking means the T14 and the tier just below. For any one applicant, though, the best school is the highest-outcome option that admits them with manageable debt, so compare ABA outcomes and aid rather than defaulting to the top rank.
The U.S. News ranking scores each school on weighted factors: bar passage, employment, reputation surveys, and selectivity data like median LSAT and GPA. Because U.S. News sets and periodically changes the weights, a school can move several places from a formula update alone. The exact current weights are published in the U.S. News Best Law Schools methodology, and reading each school's ABA data is more reliable than the rank.
U.S. News ranks nearly all of the roughly 196 ABA-approved law schools, numbering schools individually near the top and grouping lower schools into tiers or bands rather than exact positions. A small number of schools may be unranked in a given year, so the exact count in the current edition is published by U.S. News rather than in the verified data used here.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026