Law Schools in Florida + LSAT Prep (2026 Guide)

Florida has 11 ABA accredited law schools, from the University of Florida (Levin) at the top to Barry University at the most accessible end, and their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures span median LSAT scores from 150 to 169. That wide range means Florida offers a realistic option at nearly every score level, so what you need depends on which Florida school you target.

By Ali Unar, Georgetown Law, Founder of Lovare Institut. Ali Unar is a Georgetown Law student and the founder of Lovare Institut, an admissions and LSAT-prep practice built on primary-source law school data. Verified August 2026.

What law schools are in Florida?

Florida has 11 ABA accredited law schools, one of the largest counts of any state, spread across public flagships, private research universities, and access-focused private schools. The result is a Florida market with real depth at every LSAT level, from a 169 median at the top to a 150 median at the most accessible end. The table below lists every ABA law school in Florida with the median LSAT, acceptance rate, and full-time tuition reported in each school's 2025 ABA 509 disclosure.

SchoolMedian LSATAcceptance rateFull-time tuitionUniversity of Florida (Levin)16916.5%$19,139Florida State University16616.0%$24,240University of Miami16424.7%$66,720Florida International University16118.8%$21,129Stetson University15936.4%$56,521Jacksonville University15635.1%$36,820Ave Maria School of Law15547.0%$49,500Nova Southeastern University (Broad)15547.3%$49,350St. Thomas University (Florida)15260.3%$44,730Florida A&M University15234.7%$13,855Barry University15055.9%$42,000

Every median LSAT, acceptance rate, and full-time tuition figure in the table above comes from that school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure for the fall 2025 entering class. At the top of the Florida table, the University of Florida (Levin) posts the state's highest median LSAT at 169 alongside the lowest full-time tuition of any research-level option at $19,139, a combination that makes it the standout value in Florida. Florida State University follows at a 166 median and the state's most selective acceptance rate at 16.0 percent. The University of Miami sits at a 164 median but carries by far the highest full-time tuition in Florida at $66,720, reflecting its status as a private university.

The middle and lower reaches of the Florida table show how much range the state covers. Florida International University posts a 161 median at a low $21,129 in full-time tuition, another strong public value. Stetson University sits at 159, then Jacksonville University at 156, Ave Maria School of Law and Nova Southeastern University (Broad) both at 155, St. Thomas University (Florida) and Florida A&M University both at 152, and Barry University at 150. Florida A&M University reports the lowest full-time tuition in the state at $13,855, according to its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, making it the most affordable ABA option in Florida on that measure.

One pattern stands out across the Florida table: the state's public law schools cluster at the low end of tuition while its private schools sit at the high end. The University of Florida (Levin) at $19,139, Florida International University at $21,129, Florida State University at $24,240, and Florida A&M University at $13,855 are all public and all well under $25,000 in full-time tuition, per their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. The private options, including the University of Miami at $66,720, Stetson University at $56,521, Ave Maria School of Law at $49,500, and Nova Southeastern University (Broad) at $49,350, run substantially higher. For a cost-conscious Florida applicant, that split makes the state's public schools the natural first look, especially since three of the four public options also post the state's higher median LSATs.

What LSAT and GPA do you need for law school in Florida?

Median LSAT scores across Florida's law schools run from 150 to 169, per their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. The University of Florida (Levin) sits at the top at 169, and Barry University is the most accessible by median at 150, with St. Thomas University (Florida) posting the state's highest acceptance rate at 60.3 percent. Because Florida spans nearly twenty LSAT points, almost every score has a realistic home somewhere in the state.

Walk the Florida ladder and the score targets become concrete. A 169 places an applicant at the University of Florida (Levin)'s median, and a 166 matches Florida State University, so the high 160s is the range for Florida's two most selective schools. The mid 160s, around 164, is competitive at the University of Miami, and the low 160s, around 161, matches Florida International University. A score in the high 150s, near 159, sits at Stetson University's median and clears the medians at the schools below it, per the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures.

Lower scores still open doors in Florida, which is the point of a market this deep. A 156 matches Jacksonville University, a 155 matches both Ave Maria School of Law and Nova Southeastern University (Broad), and a 152 matches St. Thomas University (Florida) and Florida A&M University. Even at 150, Barry University sits at its median, and St. Thomas University (Florida) admits 60.3 percent of applicants, so an applicant in the low 150s or even at 150 has more than one realistic Florida option. The honest read for Florida is that the state does not have a single cutoff, and a lower LSAT changes which Florida schools are in reach rather than removing the state from consideration.

On GPA, this Florida data set is built around each school's LSAT median rather than a published GPA median, so this guide does not quote a GPA median it was not given. What the disclosures reveal is how individual Florida schools weight GPA against the LSAT, which is the splitter question covered next. The practical approach for a Florida applicant is to anchor on the LSAT medians above, then use the splitter reads to judge whether a strong GPA or a strong LSAT is the number more likely to carry a borderline application at a given Florida school.

Which Florida law schools are splitter friendly?

Florida has a healthy set of splitter-friendly and reverse-splitter-friendly schools, computed from the 2025 ABA 509 spreads. Splitter friendly, meaning a strong LSAT can offset a below-median GPA, are the University of Florida (Levin) with a GPA 25th-to-median spread of 0.21, the University of Miami at 0.21, Stetson University at 0.21, Nova Southeastern University (Broad) at 0.18, and St. Thomas University (Florida) at 0.26. Reverse-splitter friendly, meaning a strong GPA can offset a below-median LSAT, are Florida State University and Florida A&M University, each with an LSAT 25th-to-median spread of 8 points.

The terms are simple once separated. A splitter carries a high LSAT with a lower GPA, and a reverse-splitter carries a high GPA with a lower LSAT. In Florida, a splitter whose LSAT is the strong number has an unusually broad menu: the University of Florida (Levin), the University of Miami, Stetson University, Nova Southeastern University (Broad), and St. Thomas University (Florida) all show GPA spreads wide enough to reward a strong LSAT, per their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. St. Thomas University (Florida) is the most splitter friendly of the group at a 0.26 GPA spread, so a high-LSAT applicant with a weaker transcript should look there closely.

Reverse-splitters have a narrower but clear set of Florida targets. Florida State University and Florida A&M University each show an 8-point LSAT spread from the 25th percentile to the median, which means both will go well below their LSAT medians for an applicant whose GPA is strong. Florida State University is notable here because it pairs that reverse-splitter friendliness with a 166 median, so a high-GPA applicant with an LSAT that dips into the high 150s is not automatically out of contention there. Among the remaining Florida schools, the 2025 ABA 509 spreads for Jacksonville University, Ave Maria School of Law, and Barry University are not wide enough to flag them clearly as either splitter or reverse-splitter friendly, so this guide does not label them.

What is the legal job market like in Florida?

Florida's legal market is anchored by Miami, the state's largest metropolitan area and its dominant legal center, with Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and the capital of Tallahassee rounding out the major markets. Florida law schools keep an unusually high share of their graduates in the state. According to ABA Class of 2024 employment data, Florida International University keeps 84 percent of its class in Florida, Florida State University and Stetson University each keep 78 percent, Nova Southeastern University (Broad) keeps 73 percent, the University of Miami keeps 70 percent, and the University of Florida (Levin) keeps 62 percent.

Those retention figures tell you that a Florida law degree is, for most graduates, a Florida credential. Florida International University's 84 percent in-state retention in the ABA Class of 2024 employment data is among the highest anywhere and reflects its deep roots in the Miami market. Florida State University and Stetson University at 78 percent, and Nova Southeastern University (Broad) at 73 percent, show the same pattern of graduates concentrating in Florida. Even the University of Florida (Levin), the state's most nationally recognized program, keeps 62 percent of its class in Florida, meaning a majority stays even at the school with the broadest reach.

This guide does not quote salary figures for Florida, because none are in the underlying data. It is also worth stating plainly where the data stops: the ABA Class of 2024 employment figures in this Florida data set cover the schools named above, and do not include an in-state retention figure for Jacksonville University, Ave Maria School of Law, St. Thomas University (Florida), Florida A&M University, or Barry University, so this guide does not report one for those schools. What the available Florida numbers support is a clear conclusion: the state's law schools feed heavily into the Florida market led by Miami, and an applicant who wants to practice in Florida is well served by nearly any of the state's programs.

Does Florida use the NextGen bar exam?

Florida is a distinctive case. According to the NCBE, Florida does not currently administer the Uniform Bar Exam. Instead, Florida gives its own state bar exam, and it has adopted the NextGen bar exam with a first NextGen administration scheduled for July 2028. The legacy UBE and the MBE end after the February 2028 administration, per the NCBE, so the national transition and Florida's own timeline both point toward NextGen by 2028.

The important nuance for Florida is that it is not, and has not been, a UBE jurisdiction in the way many states are. Florida administers its own bar examination rather than the Uniform Bar Exam, which means a Florida bar result has not been portable to other UBE states the way a UBE score is. That independence is why Florida's move to the NextGen exam, dated to July 2028 in the NCBE data, is the key milestone to watch: it marks when Florida aligns its testing with the NCBE's new national format.

For planning, the takeaway is that students entering a Florida law school now should expect the NextGen exam to be the format in place by the time they graduate and sit for the Florida bar, given the July 2028 adoption date and the wind-down of the legacy UBE and MBE after February 2028. This section reflects NCBE status as of this guide's August 2026 verification. Because Florida runs its own exam and sets its own admission rules, anyone planning to be admitted in Florida should confirm the current format and requirements with the Florida Board of Bar Examiners before relying on them.

Where can you take the LSAT in Florida?

LSAT test centers are available across Florida's major metros, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and the Tallahassee area. Because the specific list of test centers and the mix of in-person and remotely proctored options change every testing cycle, the reliable move is to check LSAC's official test-center list at lsac.org rather than to rely on any fixed address in Florida.

Florida's size works in test-takers' favor here. With large population centers spread down both coasts and across the interior, from Miami and Fort Lauderdale in the southeast to Tampa and Orlando in the center to Jacksonville in the northeast and Tallahassee in the panhandle, most Florida applicants live within reach of at least one testing option. LSAC administers the LSAT on a set schedule of dates each cycle in both test-center and remote-proctored formats, but the availability of any given Florida center can shift between administrations, which is why this guide points to LSAC's current list rather than printing an address.

The practical plan for a Florida test-taker is to register early through LSAC for the administration that fits their application timeline, confirm the current Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, or Tallahassee options at the time of registration, and pick the format that suits them. Registering early matters in Florida because popular dates and nearby seats fill, and a late registrant can be pushed to a less convenient date or a remote sitting. LSAC's official test-center list at lsac.org is the authoritative source for what is available in Florida in any given cycle.

Which Florida universities feed law school?

Florida's large public and private universities are common starting points for students headed to law school. The University of Florida and Florida State University, the state's two public flagships, are prominent pre-law feeders, along with the University of Central Florida, one of the largest universities in the country by enrollment, the University of South Florida, Florida International University, and the University of Miami. These institutions channel undergraduates into law programs in Florida and nationally, drawing on political science, history, business, and other pre-law-friendly fields.

Several of these universities also house Florida's law schools, so the pipeline is direct in places. The University of Florida (Levin), Florida State University, the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Florida A&M University are law colleges within institutions that also enroll large undergraduate populations, which makes it natural for strong undergraduates at those schools to consider staying within the same university for law school. That said, a large share of any Florida pre-law class applies nationally rather than staying in state, and admission to any Florida law school still turns on the LSAT and GPA numbers rather than the undergraduate institution's name.

This guide names these Florida universities as common feeders based on their scale and prominence as general knowledge, and it does not attribute a specific placement statistic to any of them, because no such figure is in the underlying Florida data set. The useful point for a Florida pre-law student is that the state's large universities offer the standard pre-law infrastructure, advising, LSAT preparation, and a community of applicants, but that where you land among Florida's 11 law schools is determined by your numbers and your fit with each school's profile.

Frequently asked questions about law school in Florida

How many law schools are in Florida?

Florida has 11 ABA accredited law schools, one of the highest totals of any state. They range from the University of Florida (Levin) at a 169 median LSAT to Barry University at a 150 median, according to their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. The group includes public flagships, private research universities, and access-focused private schools, giving Florida applicants options across nearly the full LSAT spectrum.

What is the easiest law school to get into in Florida?

By acceptance rate, St. Thomas University (Florida) is the most accessible law school in Florida, admitting 60.3 percent of applicants, followed by Barry University at 55.9 percent, according to their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. Barry University also posts the state's lowest median LSAT at 150. So an applicant with a lower LSAT will generally find the most realistic Florida paths at St. Thomas University (Florida) and Barry University.

What is the best law school in Florida?

Best depends on your goals, but by the 2025 ABA 509 numbers, the University of Florida (Levin) posts the state's highest median LSAT at 169 and the lowest full-time tuition among Florida research programs at $19,139, a strong value combination. Florida State University follows at a 166 median with the state's most selective acceptance rate at 16.0 percent, making the two public flagships the top of the Florida field.

What LSAT score do you need for law school in Florida?

Median LSAT scores in Florida run from 150 to 169, per the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures, so the score you need depends on the school. The high 160s target the University of Florida (Levin) and Florida State University, the mid 160s the University of Miami, the low 160s Florida International University, and the 150s a range of schools down to Barry University at 150. Almost every Florida score has a home.

How much does law school cost in Florida?

Full-time tuition in Florida ranges widely, from $13,855 at Florida A&M University and $19,139 at the University of Florida (Levin) to $66,720 at the University of Miami, according to the 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. Public schools such as Florida A&M University, the University of Florida (Levin), and Florida International University at $21,129 sit at the low end, while private schools such as the University of Miami sit at the high end of the Florida range.

Does Florida use the NextGen bar exam?

Florida does not currently administer the Uniform Bar Exam; it gives its own state bar exam, and it has adopted the NextGen bar exam with a first administration set for July 2028, according to the NCBE. The legacy UBE and MBE end after the February 2028 administration. Students entering a Florida law school now should expect the NextGen format by the time they graduate and sit for the Florida bar.

Can you take the bar in Florida with an out-of-state degree?

Generally yes. A degree from any ABA accredited law school, whether in Florida or another state, ordinarily qualifies a graduate to sit for the Florida bar, so you do not have to attend a Florida law school to practice in Florida. Note that Florida administers its own bar exam rather than the Uniform Bar Exam, per the NCBE, so confirm current requirements with the Florida Board of Bar Examiners.

Which Florida law school has the best bar passage?

This Florida data set does not include school-level bar passage rates for the state's law schools, so this guide does not report one for Florida. What the data does cover is median LSAT, acceptance rate, full-time tuition, in-state retention, and Florida's NextGen bar timeline. For current bar passage figures, consult each Florida school's ABA disclosures directly rather than relying on an estimate.

Are there part-time or evening law programs in Florida?

The Florida figures in this guide cover full-time tuition and median LSAT and do not specify part-time or evening tracks, so this guide does not claim which Florida schools offer them. Several of Florida's 11 schools are the kind of urban and access-focused programs that often run part-time options, but you should confirm program format directly with the specific Florida school rather than assuming from the full-time data shown here.

Where can you take the LSAT in Florida?

LSAT test centers in Florida are located across the state's major metros, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee. Because specific centers and remote options change each testing cycle, check LSAC's official test-center list at lsac.org for what is available in Florida when you register. With population centers spread across the state, most Florida applicants can find a reasonably nearby testing option.

Which Florida law schools are splitter friendly?

In Florida, the University of Florida (Levin), the University of Miami, Stetson University, Nova Southeastern University (Broad), and St. Thomas University (Florida) are splitter friendly, so a strong LSAT can offset a lower GPA. Florida State University and Florida A&M University are reverse-splitter friendly, so a strong GPA can offset a lower LSAT. These reads come from the schools' 2025 ABA 509 spreads.

Is law school cheaper at public schools in Florida?

Yes, by a wide margin in Florida. The public schools, Florida A&M University at $13,855, the University of Florida (Levin) at $19,139, Florida International University at $21,129, and Florida State University at $24,240, all report full-time tuition under $25,000 in their 2025 ABA 509 disclosures. Private Florida schools such as the University of Miami at $66,720 run far higher, so cost-conscious Florida applicants often start with the public options.

Do you have to go to law school in Florida to practice there?

No. You can practice in Florida with a degree from an ABA accredited law school anywhere, not only from a Florida school, provided you meet Florida's bar admission requirements. That said, Florida law schools keep a high share of graduates in the state, up to 84 percent at Florida International University in ABA Class of 2024 employment data, so a Florida degree ties closely to the Florida market led by Miami.

Sources

The median LSAT, acceptance rate, and full-time tuition figures for every law school in Florida come from each school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, published through the ABA disclosure portal at https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/. The NextGen and bar-exam status for Florida comes from the NCBE at ncbex.org. In-state retention figures reflect ABA Class of 2024 employment data. Verified August 2026.

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