The Ivy League is your best bet for a world-class legal education. In Top GRE's ranking of America's law colleges, Yale and Harvard took the top two positions. Not only do both universities offer unparalleled quality, resources and marketability following graduation, they also offer post-J.D. specialist programs for those who want to teach, practice, judge or become politicians.
These two states seem to have cornered the market on excellent law schools, each with two law schools in U.S. News & World Report's top 10 list. Stanford University and Berkeley in California and Columbia University and NYU in the Big Apple take positions three, seven, four, and six, respectively. With an average annual price tag of $45,000 to $50,000, these high-quality educations cost big bucks, but considering the prestige and caliber of instruction, they may be well worth it.
Also in the Ivy League, but a little further down the list on Law School 100's ranking, Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., is perhaps the most well-rounded law school in America. Its students have access to over 120 courses, myriad degree programs, and even degree options that allow them to join the bar (or just study abroad in) in Germany or France. It is well known that Cornell's law library is one of the best in the world, offering students virtually unrivaled legal resources, some of which date from centuries ago.
The School of Law at Duke University in Durham, N.C., boasts more dual-degree graduates than any other law school in America. It offers a range of dual degree programs in addition to offerings in business, comparative and international law, intellectual property and many others. Global-minded Duke has also recently initiated the LLM Program, which invites foreign law graduates to become acquainted with the ins and outs of the American legal system. For graduates wishing to pursue an academic career in law, Duke offers the SJD doctorate program.