For a profession built on the idea of justice, law schools sometimes spend an awful lot of time preparing students for things that look more like billing than advocacy. But social justice initiatives — from clinics to fellowships to public interest support — can play a critical role in shaping how future lawyers think about the law and their place in it. When schools prioritize that work, they help ensure that the next generation of attorneys is equipped not just to practice law, but to challenge the systems behind it.
The National Jurist’s preLaw magazine recently released its specialty ranking of the best law schools for social justice on its Social Justice Honor Roll, highlighting schools for the strength of their programs. Here’s the methodology that was used:
Schools were scored using a weighted formula that considered academic and experiential offerings, including centers (20%), clinics (20%), journals (10%), courses (20%) and other related programs (10%), based on Social Justice/Public Interest specialty updates. Student body diversity accounted for 20% of the total score and was drawn from ABA J.D. enrollment and ethnicity data.
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Without further ado, according to preLaw magazine, these are the law schools that earned A+ grades for their social justice programs:
1. Howard University
2. CUNY School of Law
3. Southern University Law Center
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4. University of Miami
5. LMU Loyola Law School
6. UC Davis School of Law
7. University of Houston
8. University of Maryland
9. Georgetown University
10. Santa Clara Law
10. Northeastern University
Click here to see the rest of the Honor Roll.
Congratulations to all of the law schools that made the cut for this important ranking.
Top law schools for social justice [preLaw magazine / National Jurist]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.