Yale Law School is in the upper echelon of top-tier law schools in the United States. According to U.S. News & World Report's rankings for 2009, Yale Law School is the top American law program, period. U.S. News rankings are compiled based on faculty surveys, selectivity of the program, LSAT scores and other factors. Yale emerged as the top program on their list.
Yale Law School is small in size but large in stature. The schools boasts a student to faculty ratio of just 6.8 to 1, providing Yale law students with greater access to their professors, who are world-class scholars in their areas of expertise. This fact alone makes Yale an extremely inviting choice for potential law students whose resumes and test scores make this competitive for admission to such a prestigious program. Yale offers students the opportunity to pursue the traditional J.D. program track but encourages students to pursue interdisciplinary research by offering a joint J.D./Ph.D. or a joint J.D./MBA . Yale students also work with other less obvious outside department choices, such as the divinity school or the the medical school, to pursue joint degrees.
Yale Law School
P.O. Box 208215
New Haven, CT 06520-8215
203-432--4992
law.yale.edu
Harvard Law School is widely recognized as top-tier U.S. The U.S. News & World Report ranks it second in its 2009 law school rankings. Harvard Law School has a larger body, but the greater number of faculty members makes the student to faculty ratio a reasonable 8 to 1. Like Yale, Harvard offers the J.D. degree but highly encourages the student body to move beyond the traditional study of law to pursue interdisciplinary joint-degree programs whenever possible. Some joint-degrees include the J.D. in conjunction with the Master of Public Health, Master of Business Administration, Master of Urban Planning and the Master of Public Policy. Harvard also offers the law school equivalent of a Ph.D., the Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.).
Harvard Law School
1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-3109
law.harvard.edu
Students on the West Coast can rest assured that they have access to an elite top-tier law program as well. Stanford Law School was ranked third according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Stanford's student to faculty ratio is similar to Harvard's, at 8.6 to 1, and it, too, offers the S.J.D. degree. Stanford, like Yale and Harvard, has a long tradition of interdisciplinary study throughout the university as a whole. In the law school there are 27 established joint-degree programs that have received faculty approval. Students are also invited, however, to submit their own proposals for joint-degree programs in areas that are of interest to them. Stanford students also have the advantage of working closely with faculty members who have recently worked on important Supreme Court cases.
Stanford Law School
Crown Quadrangle
559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
650-723-4985
law.stanford.edu