List of law schools in the United States

Law schools in this list are categorized by whether they are currently active, proposed, or closed; within each section they are listed in alphabetical order by state, then name. Most of these law schools grant the Juris Doctor degree, which is the typical first professional degree in law in the United States.

Law schools are nationally accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA),[1] and graduates of these schools may generally sit for the bar exam in any state. There are 204 ABA accredited law schools, divided between 203 with full accreditation and one with provisional accreditation.[2] Whittier Law School, Arizona Summit Law School and Concordia University School of Law are the most recent law school closures. The latter two having discontinued their legal programs in 2019, while the former closed in the summer of 2020. [3]

The ABA revoked the accreditation of Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2019.

In addition, individual state legislatures or bar examiners, like the State Bar of California, may maintain a separate accreditation system which is open to non-ABA accredited schools. The California State Bar also accredits law schools, which the California Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) recognizes. Also, the CBE allows registered "Unaccredited" schools to operate and students of those schools are eligible to take the California Bar Examination upon graduation.

No correspondence or online law schools are accredited by the ABA[4] or by state bar examiners.[5] However, twelve correspondence and online law schools, although not accredited, are registered by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California. This means that the graduates of these distance learning law schools can sit for the California Bar Examination and, under varying circumstances, the bar exams in many other states.