Law schools in the United States

In the United States, a law school is an institution where students obtain a professional education in law after first obtaining an undergraduate degree.

Law schools in the U.S. confer the Juris Doctor degree (J.D.), which is a professional doctorate, and is the highest degree necessary to practice law in the United States, and the final degree obtained by most practitioners in the field. Although most law schools only offer the traditional three-year program, several U.S. law schools offer an Accelerated JD program.

Other degrees that are awarded include the Master of Laws (LL.M.) and the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D.) degrees, which can be more international in scope. Most law schools are colleges, schools, or other units within a larger post-secondary institution, such as a university. Legal education is very different in the United States from that in many other parts of the world.

In the United States, most law schools require a bachelor's degree, a satisfactory undergraduate grade point average (GPA), and a satisfactory score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) as prerequisites for admission. Some states that have non-ABA-approved schools or state-accredited schools have equivalency requirements that usually equal 90 credits toward a bachelor's degree. Additional personal factors are evaluated through essays, short-answer questions, letters of recommendation, and other application materials. The standards for grades and LSAT scores vary from school to school.

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