Maine Law has improved slightly in the law school rankings to reach 122nd in the United States, out of the 147 law schools place-ranked for 2021.
Yale’s law school in Connecticut is both the best in the country (and obviously in New England too), with Harvard’s law school in Boston, Massachusetts, third nationally, after Columbia in California.
Of the 14 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) in New England, Maine Law is eighth out of the ten actually given a place ranking. The improvement in its national ranking is four places up from the list published for 2020. It puts Maine Law in the bottom third of those given a place rank.
The annual list is produced by U.S. News and World Report, and many law school deans’ careers depend on their school's placement. They are also a factor for law students in which law schools to apply to.
In total there are 14 accredited law schools in New England. Across the United States, a total of 194 were on the list, of which 147 were given a place ranking. Ten law schools in New England were among that 147. They were (with their national rank):
1. Yale University, Connecticut (unchanged from 2020 rank)
3. Harvard University, Massachusetts (unchanged)
20. Boston University (up three)
31. Boston College (down four)
50. University of Connecticut (up two)
67. Northeastern University, Massachusetts (down three)*
88. University of New Hampshire (down one)
122. University of Maine (up four)
136. Suffolk University, Massachusetts (up seven)
141. Vermont Law School (down five)
The other ABA accredited schools on the list from New England were in the ignominious group of not even having a published rank – but lumped together among the last 148 to 194 law schools on the list. They were:
New England Law, Massachusetts
Roger Williams University, Rhode Island
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
Western New England University, Massachusetts
For law students expecting to find a job or pass the bar, good luck if you go to a school like Massachusetts School of Law, which is not on the list (because it is not accredited by the ABA, and won’t be recognized by most states for admission to practice as an attorney). About half the students who attend pass the bar in Massachusetts, which has a lower minimum score than is required to pass in Maine.
*Attorney Marcus Wraight attended Northeastern University School of Law.
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