LSU Law surged to No. 84 in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Law Schools in America rankings, rising seven spots from the year previous and marking an impressive ascent of 25 places from its No. 109 ranking in 2022.
LSU Law’s rise reflects its strength in the outcome-focused metrics that have carried greater weight in the rankings since 2024. Nearly 60% of the formula now evaluates law schools on bar passage rates and successful job placement of recent graduates. LSU Law consistently leads Louisiana law schools in bar passage rates, and an impressive 90% of graduates find jobs within 10 months of earning their degree each year, on average.
“Providing our students with a world-class legal education that prepares them to pass the bar on their first try and immediately launch a successful legal career is among our highest priorities,” said LSU Law Dean Alena M. Allen, who began her tenure on July 1, 2023. “Our steady advancement in the U.S. News rankings is further testament to the outstanding legal education and exceptional value we offer students at LSU Law.”
Another key contributor to LSU Law’s upward momentum is its dramatically improved student-to-faculty ratio. Under the leadership of Dean Allen, LSU Law recently completed its most ambitious and successful faculty recruitment campaign in recent history, welcoming nearly one dozen new faculty members to the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center during a single academic year.
“Over the past decade, the Law Center celebrated the retirement of many longtime faculty members, which unfortunately led to a persistent situation in which our remaining faculty were often stretched thin,” Dean Allen explained. “My first priority after becoming dean two years ago was to significantly build our faculty capacity. By rebuilding the faculty, we not only restored academic breadth and depth, but we also signaled to prospective students that LSU Law is on the rise—and we have the rankings to prove it.”
Indeed, enrollment of first-year students increased by 11% at the outset of the 2024-25 academic year. The incoming class was academically strong, with a median LSAT score of 156 and a median GPA of 3.71, and 67% of the students are Louisiana residents.
Nearly 200 law schools across America were surveyed last fall and early this year by U.S. News & World Report for its 2025 Best Law Schools in America rankings, with 154 schools responding. The rankings reflect the data available as of March 7, 2025.
