U.S. News Ranks Best Legal Writing Programs

U.S. News & World Report released its list of best legal writing programs for 2020.

Each year, U.S. News ranks the best law schools based on admission scores, grade point averages, and other factors. But law school is not just about test scores.

Good writing is the bread-and-butter of law practice, and some schools do it better than others. It may surprise you, but the best writing programs are not at the best law schools.

Top Ten

Yale, Stanford, and Harvard typically rank as the best law schools in the country. But they do not have the best writing programs, according to U.S. News.

The top ten writing programs belong to:

• University of Nevada - Las Vegas (No. 1)
• Seattle University (No. 2)
• Stetson University (No. 3)
• Suffolk University (No. 3)
• Arizona State University (O'Connor) (No. 5)
• University of Oregon (No. 5)
• Wake Forest University (No. 5)
• John Marshall Law School (No. 8)
• University of Denver (No. 8)
• University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (No. 8)

According to the TaxProfBlog, a faculty survey determines the ranking among 163 law schools.

Sweet Sixteen

By comparison, none of the top ten law schools made it into the top ten for legal writing programs. If this were March Madness, they would not even make the Sweet Sixteen.

Georgetown University is a standout law school in both categories, however. It ranked No. 14 among the top law schools and No. 12 for its legal writing program.

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