The LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center is ranked in the top 50 in law schools across the nation by a pair of listings based on employment data.
LSU Law is No. 43 by Above the Law and is No. 42 by National Law Journal, both rankings released in May 2016. These organizations primarily use law schools’ employment data to determine their respective rankings.
The National Law Journal rankings “show the 50 law schools with the highest percentage of new graduates in law jobs.” LSU had 130 of 187 (69.52 percent) class of 2015 graduates employed in full-time law jobs 10 months after graduation. According to National Law Journal, the national average is 59.3 percent.
Above the Law bases its scores on employment data, tuition and cost, job placement and student debt.
Above the Law weighs eight factors in its rankings: Employment score and quality jobs score each make up 30 percent of a school’s score; education cost is 15 percent; and active federal judges, U.S. Supreme Court clerks, alumni rating, debt per job and salary-to-debt ratio each make up 5 percent of the score.
These factors “align nicely with the spirit of the ATL Top 50 Law School Rankings, which keeps an exclusive focus on the only thing that really matters: outcomes,” an Above the Law release said. An Above the Law survey shows that LSU Law students exceeded the median score of other ranked schools in categories of academics, practical/clinical training, financial aid advising and social life. LSU was ranked No. 41 on the Above the Law listings last year.
LSU’s top-50 showings follow its 12-spot jump to No. 82 in the latest U.S. News and World Report law school rankings. LSU Law has been consistently ranked within the top 10 Best Value Law Schools in the country by National Jurist/Prelaw Magazine, whose rankings are designed to identify law schools where graduates have excellent chances of passing the state bar examination and obtaining legal employment without taking on large debt. In 2015, LSU Law was the only Louisiana law school, public or private, included in the top 10 Best Value rankings.
From its founding in 1906, the LSU Law Center has offered its students a legal education recognized for its high standards of academic excellence, an outstanding teaching and research facility, and integrated programs in Louisiana civil law and Anglo-American common law. Students at LSU Law are trained rigorously in the same common law and federal law subjects that are taught at other leading American law schools. The curriculum also reflects the Law Center’s unique role as a curator of the civil law.
