The LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center has been ranked the #11 Best Value Law School in the nation by the National Jurist, a legal education publication. The 2013 rankings are a factor of tuition, cost of living expenses, bar passage rates, debt accumulation, and — importantly, employment success.
“The LSU Law has again been named one of the top law schools in the nation for value—the results our students’ get for their investment in a legal education,” said Chancellor Jack Weiss. “All law school rankings are far from perfect, but this one provides a strong sign once again that LSU Law is providing an excellent legal education at a reasonable cost.”
The Law Center also received a # 3 ranking in October 2012. In 2012, LSU Law moved up three spots from the previous year’s rank of #6.
“They may not be the high-glitz law schools in the nation’s largest cities, but they do something else: get graduates jobs and don’t saddle them with big debt,” according to the magazine.
The Best Value rankings are designed to identify the law schools where graduates have the best chance of passing the bar exam and securing a legal job, without taking on an inordinate amount of debt. The magazine considers the following when ranking the law schools: (1) percent of graduates who pass the bar exam; (2) percent of graduates who are employed; (3) tuition; (4) cost of living; and (5) average indebtedness upon graduation.
Last year, for the first time, the National Jurist Best Value rankings weighted full-time, long-term employment of graduates more heavily than part-time and short-term employment.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of full-time, long-term employment data for 2011 law school graduates placed LSU Law 11th nationally among approximately 200 law schools for which data were available. Some 92% of the LSU Law Class of 2012 were employed as of nine months after graduation (99.1% reporting), with 84% of graduates employed in positions where bar passage was required or an advantage. The National Jurist also recognized LSU Law in February 2012 as the #1 school in the nation in terms of first-time bar passage ratios in a predictive statistical model based on LSAT scores.
For more information on the LSU Law Center, visit law.lsu.edu
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