It’s important to consider how much help a university can provide to help students find work experience, professional networks and their eventual career path.
Harvard University in the US takes first place, followed by Stanford University. A fifth of the universities in the law ranking are located in the US.
The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford are the only UK universities in the top 10. There are 53 UK universities in the ranking in total.
The University of Toronto, in joint 21st place, is the highest-ranked Canadian university. Sixteen other Canadian universities feature in the ranking.
Subject rankings are based on the same 18 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2024. However, the methodology is carefully recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields. The full methodology for law can be found.
Scroll down for a comprehensive guide to what you can do with a law degree, and the top universities in the subject.
Top 5 universities for law degrees
5. New York University
New York University’s School of Law was established in 1835.
There are a number of graduate programmers available, as well as LLM dual degrees with other schools, including the National University of Singapore.
The School of Law offers the JD for undergraduate students. Also offered are dual JD degrees in various fields such as taxation, international law, economics, history, philosophy or politics and French studies.
4. Columbia University
Columbia Law School was founded in 1858.
The school offers a range of programmes include the JD degree, the LLM programme, and the JSD programme. It also offers dual and joint degrees.
The programmers at the university cover a range of study areas including criminal justice, environment and energy, law and philosophy and constitutional law, among many others.
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3. University of Cambridge
The Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge offers six-degree options at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Master’s courses include an MPhil in criminology, an MPhil in criminological research, a diploma in legal studies and a diploma in international law.
The Squire Law Library at the University of Cambridge is one of the three largest legal collections in the UK, with almost 180,000 volumes. The collection is strongest in British law, but it contains collections on legal systems across the world including the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. There are also smaller collections relating to other countries.
2. Stanford University
Stanford Law School is known for having one of the lowest student-to-staff ratios in the US, at 7.3:1. Students can choose from 280 different courses to specialise in the area that interests them.
Law courses at Stanford begin with an overview in the first year covering criminal law, contracts, tort, and legal research and writing.
The Robert Crown Law Library at Stanford holds about 500,000 books.
Stanford law students run more than 50 student organisations, including the law and wine society, Stanford Law Students for Gender Violence Prevention, Women in Politics, and the Black Law Students Association. There are also 12 legal journals affiliated with the law school.
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1. Harvard University
Harvard Law School offers wide range of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
The school has a range of resources and workshops to help students plan their careers in the legal field and experience various aspects of the profession while still studying. These include a spotlight on judicial clerkships, networking opportunities and career advising for both the private and public sector.
The school also hosts the visiting scholar/visiting researcher programmer, which accommodates a small number of legal scholars and researchers from around the world who are engaged in major research projects.