Law Schools in Rhode Island + LSAT Prep (2026 Guide)

Rhode Island has one ABA accredited law school, Roger Williams University, so the state is small for legal education. Its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports a median LSAT of 150, so the practical target for law schools in Rhode Island sits right at the midpoint of the LSAT scale, and admission is relatively open.

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 Rhode Island?

Rhode Island has exactly one ABA accredited law school: Roger Williams University, located in Bristol. Because a single institution serves the entire state, Rhode Island is one of the smallest legal-education markets in the country, which is fitting for the smallest state by area. The table below lists the median LSAT, acceptance rate, and full-time tuition for that school, each figure taken from its 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure for the fall 2025 entering class.

SchoolMedian LSATAcceptance rateFull-time tuitionRoger Williams University15061.3%$47,400

Each figure in the table above is drawn from Roger Williams University's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure. The 509 disclosure is the annual, standardized report every ABA accredited school files, which is why it is the cleanest single source for comparing medians, acceptance rates, and tuition across law schools in Rhode Island and beyond.

Two things stand out about the one law school in Rhode Island. First, its median LSAT of 150 sits exactly at the midpoint of the 120 to 180 LSAT scale, which makes Roger Williams University one of the more attainable ABA law schools in the country on the numbers, and its 61.3% acceptance rate from the same disclosure confirms that admission is relatively open. Second, as a private university, Roger Williams University reports full-time tuition of $47,400 in that disclosure, a substantial figure that makes scholarship strategy central to any decision about law schools in Rhode Island rather than an afterthought.

Being honest about scale matters here. With one ABA law school, Rhode Island does not offer the menu of price points, specializations, and admissions profiles that a large state like California or New York provides. What it does offer is a clear, single in-state target set within one of the densest legal regions in the country, since the wider New England corridor around Rhode Island holds many additional schools that in-state applicants often consider alongside Roger Williams University. The practical effect for an applicant is that the in-state decision is a single yes or no rather than a ranking exercise, and the rest of this guide treats that single school in depth and explains how to plan an application, a budget, and a bar-admission timeline around it.

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

In-state median LSATs run from 150 to 150 across law schools in Rhode Island, because Roger Williams University is the only ABA school and its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports a median of 150. That single number is the anchor for everything below. Roger Williams University is by definition both the top-median and the most accessible school in the state, since it is the only one, and its 61.3% acceptance rate from the same disclosure tells you this is a school that admits roughly three in five of the people who apply.

A median is the 50th percentile: half of the enrolled class in Rhode Island scored at or above 150, and half scored at or below it. On the 120 to 180 scale, 150 is the exact midpoint, so the target here is squarely in the middle of the score range rather than at the top of it. If your LSAT is at or above 150, you are competitive at Roger Williams University and you sit in the stronger half of the applicant pool, which also improves your standing for merit scholarship consideration, and at a private school with $47,400 tuition that scholarship leverage is worth real money.

If your LSAT is below 150, do not assume you are out of contention for law schools in Rhode Island. An acceptance rate of 61.3% means Roger Williams University routinely admits applicants below its median, and high-140s scorers are exactly the group the numbers say the school works with. Where a below-median score costs you is scholarship dollars and margin for error, not necessarily the admission itself. The practical read is that scores in the high 140s keep you firmly in the conversation in Rhode Island, 150 puts you at the median, and mid 150s or better make you a strong candidate and a strong scholarship applicant.

On GPA, honesty requires a caveat. The disclosures cited in this guide give the LSAT median for Roger Williams University but do not publish an absolute undergraduate GPA median, so this guide does not print a GPA number it cannot source. What the data does give is the shape of the GPA distribution through the gap between the 25th percentile and the median, which for Roger Williams University is 0.41 grade points. That is an unusually wide band, and it signals that the school does not treat undergraduate GPA as a hard cutoff and will consider applicants whose grades sit well below the class median when the rest of the file is strong. Treat GPA as a factor that flexes around your LSAT rather than a fixed threshold, and read the splitter section below for what that 0.41 spread means in practice.

Because there is only one ABA school in the state, your LSAT strategy for Rhode Island is unusually clear. You are not calibrating across a dozen medians. You are aiming to clear or beat 150, and every additional point above that median improves both your admission odds and your scholarship leverage at Roger Williams University. Given the high private-school tuition, that leverage is the whole game: if a diagnostic puts you near or below 150, a focused retake is often the single highest-return move, because a few points above the median can translate into scholarship dollars that reshape the real cost of law school in Rhode Island.

Which Rhode Island law schools are splitter friendly?

A splitter is an applicant with a high LSAT and a lower GPA; a reverse splitter has the opposite, a strong GPA paired with a lower LSAT. Schools that admit these profiles are called splitter friendly, and they are worth identifying because they reward applicants whose numbers are lopsided. Among law schools in Rhode Island, Roger Williams University reads as clearly splitter friendly based on its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure.

The signal comes from the school's GPA spread. Roger Williams University's 25th-to-median GPA gap is 0.41, computed from its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, which is a wide band by any measure and indicates the school regularly enrolls students whose GPA sits well below the class median. That is the classic splitter pattern: a candidate brings a competitive LSAT and leans on it to offset a softer GPA. If your undergraduate record dipped but your LSAT is at or above 150, Rhode Island's only law school is a genuinely realistic target, and the width of that 0.41 band is the clearest data point in this guide for why.

Because Rhode Island has a single ABA school, there is no in-state reverse-splitter alternative to compare against, and this guide will not invent a second school to make the comparison. If your profile is a high GPA with a lower LSAT, the same advice from the score section applies: with a 61.3% acceptance rate you have room, but investing in the LSAT is still the surest way to strengthen an application and unlock scholarship money at Roger Williams University. The narrow reality of a one-school state is that your splitter or reverse-splitter status is measured against one admissions committee, which makes Roger Williams University's forgiving 0.41 GPA band especially valuable to know before you apply to law schools in Rhode Island.

What is the legal job market like in Rhode Island?

The legal job market in Rhode Island is compact and concentrated, which follows from its being the smallest state in the country by area. The dominant legal market in Rhode Island is Providence, the state capital and largest city, where state government, the courts, the financial and health-care sectors, and the agencies that come with a capital create the bulk of the demand for lawyers. Warwick, Cranston, and Pawtucket add to the greater Providence market, and beyond that the state's legal work is closely tied to the wider southern New England economy.

On retention, Roger Williams University's ABA Class of 2024 employment data shows that the school keeps 44% of its graduating class in Rhode Island. That is a moderate retention rate, and it reflects Rhode Island's geography as much as anything else. Because the state is tiny and sits inside the dense Boston-to-New York corridor, a large share of Roger Williams University graduates cross into the neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut markets, while a little under half stay to practice in Rhode Island itself. For a one-school state, a 44% in-state figure means the school is a meaningful pipeline into the local bar without being the sole destination for its graduates.

Be realistic about scale. A single-school state with a small population supports a smaller bar than a large metropolitan market, so the number of the largest-firm and most specialized positions inside Rhode Island is limited, and competition for the most sought-after clerkships and government roles is real. The upside is that a compact bar means relationships built in law school carry directly into practice, and Roger Williams University's location places its students within easy reach of the broader New England legal economy. This guide does not provide salary figures for Rhode Island because the disclosures cited here do not include them, and it will not estimate earnings it cannot source.

The strategic takeaway is that Rhode Island rewards flexibility. Because 44% of Roger Williams University's class stays in-state and much of the rest practices nearby, the school works both for students committed to Rhode Island and for those aiming at the surrounding corridor. If your goal is to practice in Rhode Island itself, Roger Williams University is the natural training ground and the school with the deepest in-state alumni network, and the density of the region means a Rhode Island degree does not lock you out of nearby markets the way a remote-state degree might.

Does Rhode Island use the NextGen bar exam?

Yes. According to the NCBE, Rhode Island has adopted the NextGen bar exam, with its first NextGen administration scheduled for July 2028. Rhode Island is currently a Uniform Bar Examination jurisdiction, so until that transition it administers the UBE, and it will move to the NextGen exam at the July 2028 sitting. The NCBE has confirmed that the legacy UBE and its Multistate Bar Examination component end after the February 2028 administration nationwide, so Rhode Island's last legacy UBE would fall in February 2028 and its first NextGen sitting follows at the very next administration in July 2028.

For applicants planning a timeline, the practical implication is straightforward. If you sit for the Rhode Island bar before July 2028, you take the current UBE that Rhode Island administers. If your bar sitting falls in July 2028 or later, you should plan for the NextGen exam, which is the NCBE's redesigned test built around integrated legal skills rather than the older format's separation of multiple choice and essays. Either way, the bar you take is set by when you sit it in Rhode Island, not by when you enrolled, so a student starting at Roger Williams University now should expect to sit the NextGen version.

Rhode Island's current status as a UBE jurisdiction carries a portability benefit worth understanding, and it is especially relevant here. A UBE score earned in Rhode Island can, subject to each jurisdiction's own rules and score requirements, be transferred to other UBE states, which matters a great deal in a small state whose graduates frequently practice across the borders into Massachusetts and Connecticut. As the country moves to NextGen, the NCBE is coordinating how scores and admissions will work across jurisdictions, so anyone sitting the exam around the 2028 transition in Rhode Island should confirm the current rules with the Rhode Island bar authorities before committing to a test date.

The bottom line for law schools in Rhode Island is that bar planning is a scheduling exercise. Know your expected graduation date, check it against the July 2028 NextGen start the NCBE has set for Rhode Island and the February 2028 nationwide end of the legacy exam, and prepare for whichever exam your sitting falls under. Because Rhode Island has one law school, Roger Williams University's own bar-preparation resources and pass-rate history are the most relevant benchmarks, and you should request those figures directly, since the disclosures cited in this guide do not include Rhode Island bar passage rates.

Where can you take the LSAT in Rhode Island?

LSAT test centers are available in Rhode Island's major metros, but the specific locations offered change from cycle to cycle, so the reliable move is to consult LSAC's official test-center list at lsac.org when you register rather than relying on any fixed address. LSAC also administers the LSAT in a remotely proctored online format, which is a convenient option for candidates anywhere in Rhode Island and removes any question of travel entirely.

Rhode Island's largest metros, and therefore the areas where in-person testing and study resources cluster, include Providence, the state capital and largest city, along with Warwick, Cranston, and Pawtucket. Because Rhode Island is geographically tiny and densely populated, nearly every in-state candidate lives within a short drive of the greater Providence area, and candidates near the state's borders sometimes also find it convenient to sit at centers in neighboring Massachusetts or Connecticut. Applicants across law schools in Rhode Island can check the current LSAC list for the seats nearest them and register early, since popular administrations fill.

Whichever format you choose, treat the logistics of the LSAT in Rhode Island as part of your preparation. Confirm the test date against your application timeline, secure your seat or online slot as soon as registration opens, and build your study calendar backward from the sitting. Because your target in Rhode Island is a single median of 150, a well-timed, well-prepared LSAT is the most controllable variable in your entire application, and this guide will not print exact street addresses that change each cycle when LSAC's official list is always current.

Which Rhode Island universities feed law school?

Rhode Island's pre-law pipeline draws on a compact but strong set of universities. The University of Rhode Island in Kingston is the state's public flagship and a common in-state feeder into law school, with undergraduate programs in political science, history, and the humanities that serve as traditional pre-law tracks. Brown University in Providence, a member of the Ivy League, is the state's most selective research university and sends students into law schools across the country, and Providence College and Bryant University add further to the state's pre-law output.

Smaller and specialized institutions contribute as well. Salve Regina University in Newport and Roger Williams University itself in Bristol round out the state's notable four-year options, and Roger Williams undergraduates who continue into its own law program keep some of that pipeline entirely in-state. Students from all of these universities apply to law schools in Rhode Island and out of state, and none guarantees admission; a strong LSAT and a coherent application remain the decisive factors regardless of where you did your undergraduate work.

It is worth noting the general nature of this section: naming the University of Rhode Island, Brown University, and the state's other major universities as common pre-law feeders reflects the state's higher-education landscape, not a specific placement statistic. The disclosures cited in this guide do not attribute a placement rate to any Rhode Island university, and neither does this guide. What matters for an applicant is that a pre-law path in Rhode Island can begin at any accredited undergraduate program, and that Roger Williams University evaluates candidates on their LSAT, GPA, and application rather than on which Rhode Island college they attended.

Frequently asked questions about law school in Rhode Island

How many law schools are in Rhode Island?

Rhode Island has one ABA accredited law school, Roger Williams University in Bristol. That single institution makes Rhode Island one of the smallest legal-education markets in the country. Any list of law schools in Rhode Island begins and ends with Roger Williams University, which is why applicants to the state face one clear admissions target, though the dense New England region nearby gives them many additional options to consider.

What is the easiest law school to get into in Rhode Island?

Because Rhode Island has only one ABA law school, Roger Williams University is by definition both the easiest and the most selective law school to get into in Rhode Island. Its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports an acceptance rate of 61.3% and a median LSAT of 150, which is relatively open, so applicants at, near, or somewhat below that median have a genuine path when the rest of the file is solid.

What is the best law school in Rhode Island?

Roger Williams University is the best law school in Rhode Island in the practical sense that it is the state's only ABA accredited option. Its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure reports a median LSAT of 150 and full-time tuition of $47,400. For anyone committed to practicing in Rhode Island, it is both the strongest and the sole in-state choice, with the deepest local alumni network in the state.

What LSAT score do you need for law school in Rhode Island?

Roger Williams University reports a median LSAT of 150 in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, so 150 is the number to aim for at law schools in Rhode Island. A score at or above 150 makes you competitive and strengthens your scholarship case. Given the 61.3% acceptance rate, applicants in the high 140s remain firmly in contention, though a higher score improves both admission odds and aid in Rhode Island.

How much does law school cost in Rhode Island?

Roger Williams University reports full-time tuition of $47,400 in its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure, a substantial private-school figure, which is why scholarship strategy is central to any decision about law school in Rhode Island. That figure is tuition alone and does not include living expenses, fees, or books. Because the school is relatively open and rewards strong LSAT scores with aid, the real cost can fall well below the sticker price.

Does Rhode Island use the NextGen bar exam?

According to the NCBE, Rhode Island has adopted the NextGen bar exam and will first administer it in July 2028. Until then Rhode Island remains a Uniform Bar Examination jurisdiction, so it currently administers the UBE. The legacy UBE and MBE end after the February 2028 administration nationwide, so Rhode Island's first NextGen sitting in July 2028 follows immediately after that national sunset of the older format.

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

Yes. Rhode Island generally admits graduates of ABA accredited law schools from any state to sit its bar exam, so an out-of-state degree does not keep you from practicing in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is currently a UBE jurisdiction and moves to NextGen in July 2028 per the NCBE, so confirm the current exam, application deadlines, character requirements, and admission rules with the Rhode Island bar authorities before you plan a sitting.

Which Rhode Island law school has the best bar passage?

Rhode Island has only one ABA law school, Roger Williams University, so it is the sole in-state bar-passage benchmark by default. The disclosures cited in this guide cover medians, acceptance, and tuition but not Rhode Island bar passage rates, so this guide does not state a figure. Request Roger Williams University's current first-time and ultimate bar passage numbers directly from the school or its ABA 509 report.

Are there part-time or evening law programs in Rhode Island?

The disclosures cited in this guide do not specify whether Roger Williams University offers a part-time or evening program, so this guide does not claim one exists. Program format is an important detail for working applicants, so anyone needing a part-time or evening option in Rhode Island should confirm directly with Roger Williams University whether such a track is available for the entering class they are targeting.

Where can you take the LSAT in Rhode Island?

LSAT test centers are available in Rhode Island's major metros, principally the greater Providence area including Warwick, Cranston, and Pawtucket, but the exact centers change each cycle. Check LSAC's official test-center list at lsac.org when you register. Many Rhode Island candidates use the remotely proctored online LSAT, and because the state is small, a nearby center is rarely far away in any case.

Which Rhode Island law schools are splitter friendly?

Roger Williams University reads as clearly splitter friendly among law schools in Rhode Island, based on its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure. Its 25th-to-median GPA spread of 0.41 is unusually wide, indicating the school will reach well below its GPA midpoint for applicants whose LSAT is strong. If you have a competitive LSAT and a softer GPA, Rhode Island's only law school is a realistic target.

Do you have to go to law school in Rhode Island to practice there?

No. You do not have to attend law schools in Rhode Island to practice in Rhode Island; graduates of any ABA accredited school may sit the Rhode Island bar. That said, Roger Williams University keeps 44% of its class in the state per ABA Class of 2024 data, so the in-state school offers a strong local network. Studying elsewhere in the region is fully compatible with a Rhode Island career if you plan for it.

Are scholarships available at Roger Williams University?

The disclosures cited in this guide do not publish a scholarship grid, so this guide will not quote award amounts. What the data does support is the logic behind scholarships in Rhode Island: with a 150 median, a relatively open 61.3% acceptance rate, and a private-school tuition of $47,400, an applicant who scores above the median gives Roger Williams University a strong reason to compete on merit aid. Confirm current awards with the school.

How competitive is admission to law school in Rhode Island?

Admission to Roger Williams University, the only ABA law school in Rhode Island, is relatively accessible. Its 2025 ABA 509 disclosure shows a 61.3% acceptance rate and a 150 median LSAT that sits at the scale midpoint, so roughly three in five applicants are admitted. Meeting or beating the median makes you a strong candidate; the wide 0.41 GPA band gives applicants with uneven records a real path in Rhode Island.

Sources

Medians, acceptance rates, and tuition for law schools in Rhode Island come from each school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 disclosure, published on the ABA Required Disclosures portal at https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/. Bar exam status for Rhode Island, including its NextGen adoption and July 2028 first administration, comes from the National Conference of Bar Examiners at https://www.ncbex.org/. LSAT test-center information is maintained by LSAC at https://www.lsac.org/.

Plan your Rhode Island application with a data-backed evaluation

Because Rhode Island comes down to one clear target, and because scholarship dollars turn on your LSAT, a focused plan goes a long way. If you want a read on how your LSAT and GPA stack up against Roger Williams University's numbers, and a concrete strategy for beating the 150 median to earn aid, start here. Get your free Rhode Island law school profile evaluation and turn the data in this guide into a personalized plan for law schools in Rhode Island.