Law Schools

The Best Law Schools For Practical Training (2024)

Which law schools are offering students the best training opportunities?

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Business seminar trainingA common complaint practicing lawyers have is that while law schools cost a fortune, they simply don’t teach the most essential skill needed for professional competency. What skill might that be? “How to be a lawyer,” of course. Some law schools, however, are trying to change that by offering skills-based opportunities so that their soon-to-be graduates will have already dipped a toe into practicing law before even taking the bar exam. But which law schools are offering the best training opportunities?

The National Jurist’s preLaw Magazine recently released its ranking of the best law schools for practical training, highlighting the schools that are really doing their homework when it comes to readying their students for their future careers as lawyers. Here’s the methodology that was used:

To determine our ranking, we look at the number of students involved in clinics, externships, simulation courses, moot court and other special programs. We give the largest weight — 32% — to clinics. We ask schools for the number of students who completed a clinic in the prior year. If a student was enrolled in two semesters, that counts as two. We give extra credit to schools that require clinic work

We look at externships next. They account for 25% of the ranking. We ask schools how many students completed an externship in the prior year. Again, if a student had two externships, that counts as two.

Simulation courses account for 20% of the ranking. We asked for the total enrollment in such courses. If the schools did not provide data, we relied on American Bar Association data, which shows the number of available positions in simulation courses.

Moot court and pro bono hours account for 10% of our ranking. If a school requires pro bono hours, it gets extra credit.

Finally, 10% of the ranking goes to other outstanding practical training offerings.

Without further ado, according to preLaw Magazine, these are the top 10 best law schools for practical training:

  1. Baylor
  2. St. Thomas (MN)
  3. Northeastern
  4. Elon
  5. Minnesota
  6. Drake
  7. Denver
  8. Cornell
  9. Pepperdine
  10. Case Western Reserve

Click here to see the rest of the ranking.

Congratulations to each of the law schools that made the cut.

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Best law schools for practical training [preLaw Magazine]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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