U.S. News & World Report and the National Law Journal Release Rankings

March 12, 2019

Of the 26 public law schools listed in the top 50 law schools in the U.S. News rankings, UNC School of Law is No. 14.

In the specialty areas ranking, the law school’s Research, Reasoning, Writing and Advocacy (RRWA) program, now in its eighth year as a full-year, six-credit program, ranks No. 8 in legal writing, an increase of 10 spots from two years ago.

Carolina Law also ranks No. 25 in tax law and No. 27 in health law. The school continues to be in the top 50 law schools for clinical training, environmental law, intellectual property law, international law and trial advocacy.

“We are in a time of real momentum for Carolina Law,” says Dean Martin H. Brinkley ’92. “We are proud of our trajectory and pleased to receive national recognition for the excellent work our faculty, students and staff do year-in, year-out.”

According to U.S. News, UNC continues to maintain a strong reputation among legal professionals. This year Carolina Law held steady in reputation among law school peers and moved up a spot to No. 19 among lawyers and judges.

“The rankings increase is the product of hard work by everyone at Carolina Law,” says Brinkley. “We had financial support from the N.C. General Assembly, UNC-Chapel Hill’s leadership and our generous donors. We also benefited from the efforts of our loyal alumni and employers who worked closely with our career development office to assist with increasing student employment.”

“We recognize that rankings are important not just to the school and alumni but to prospective students as well,” says Andy Hessick, professor of law and associate dean for strategy. “Moving forward, we plan to build on the momentum of this year, continue to look at the data and identify additional areas where we need to improve.”

In other rankings news, The National Law Journal recently ranked the top “50 Go-To Law Schools” according to the percentage of the schools’ 2018 graduates who took associate jobs at the largest 100 firms in the country. Carolina Law ranked No. 31. Of the 50 schools ranked, Carolina Law had the third lowest tuition rate, further confirming that a law school can charge an affordable tuition and have its graduates land associate positions at big law firms. The National Law Journal also noted that Carolina Law tied for 27 for the number of alumni promoted to law firm partnership during 2018.

“Carolina Law does an excellent job preparing students to work at private law firms, in business and industry, as well as in judicial clerkships, non-profits, public interest organizations, and government legal positions,” says Brinkley. “We provide a superb legal education at an affordable cost, while remaining committed to our mission of producing the next generation of lawyer-leaders serving North Carolina and beyond.”

-March 12, 2019