How the University of Alabama Got Ranked 'Best' Law School

By Andrew Lu on September 04, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A list of the best law schools for bargain hunters was released by the The National Jurist and it looks nothing like the U.S. News and World Report list.

Instead, the National Jurist list looks more like the college football rankings with the University of Alabama topping the list of the best deals for law schools, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Also placing high on the list were Georgia, LSU, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. For basketball fans, Kentucky made it into the top ten.

The law school bargain rankings were measured by how likely graduates were to pass the bar exam, obtain a legal position, and not incur a lot of debt, reports the Journal. For bar passage, the magazine used a school's two-year average, raw score and compared it to the two-year state average. For employment numbers, the American Bar Association's official employment statistics were used.

So what is the significance of the National Jurist list? Should you rush out and apply to Alabama or any of these other schools?

The answer is "no." Frankly, there are a million different law school rankings starting off with the US News list. There are rankings for law student quality of life, career prospects, law faculty, practical training, and every other category you can possibly imagine. In fact, there are probably 50 different "top" law schools in this country.

Still, this doesn't mean you should ignore the various rankings. In fact, if you're trying to decide what law schools to apply to, you should take a look at all the lists -- including the best law schools for bargain hunters. With several different rankings in front of you, you can form some type of an unbiased opinion on which school is best for you when considering your grades, financial situation, where you want to live, etc.

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