In order to help you find leading law schools around the world, we bring you the 2015 law school rankings, part of the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015. Based on a methodology which draws on employer and academic reputation combined with research citations data, the ranking highlights top-performing universities in the field of legal studies, across the globe.
See below for an overview of all the world’s regions’ top law schools, or to view the full list of 200, click here.
Top 10 Law Schools in the World
Based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015
Rank
Name of Institution
Location
1
Harvard University
United States
2
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
3
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
4
Yale University
United States
5
New York University (NYU)
United States
6
Stanford University
United States
7
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
United Kingdom
8
The University of Melbourne
Australia
9
University of California, Berkeley
United States
10
Columbia University
United States
The ranking features 36 top law schools in the US and a further 10 in Canada. Of Canada’s 10 leading law schools, three are within the top 50 worldwide: theUniversity of Toronto (20th in the QS World University Rankings® 2014/15), McGill University (21st in the world rankings) and the University of British Colombia(43rd in the world rankings).
Top law schools in North America
As well as taking six of the top 10 spots, the US has a total of 15 law schools within the world’s top 50. Outside of the top 10, these are the University of Chicago (11th in the overall world rankings),Georgetown University (200th in the world rankings), the University of Michigan (23rd in the world rankings), the University of Pennsylvania (13th in the world rankings), Cornell University (19th in the world rankings), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA,37th in the world rankings), Duke University (25th in the world rankings) and the University of Virginia (141st in the world rankings).
Top law schools in Europe
Another region with a strong representation in the law school rankings is Europe, with 27 entrants from the UK alone. Of this number, eight UK universities rank in the world’s top 50 for law, with a further five in the top 100. Close behind those featured in the top 10 are UCL(University College London, 5th in the overall world rankings), King’s College London (16th in the world rankings), the University of Edinburgh (17th in the world rankings), the University of Nottingham (77th in the world rankings) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, 98th in the world rankings).
Germany follows the UK in terms of numbers, home to 12 of the world’s top universities for law. Of these, six are within the top 100, led by two within the top 50: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg(49th in the world rankings) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (52nd in the world rankings).
Nine top law schools are claimed by the Netherlands, with Leiden University (75th in the world rankings) and Utrecht University (80th in the world rankings) both within the top 50. Italy, meanwhile, has eight representatives, including Sapienza - Università di Roma (202nd in the world rankings) andUniversità di Bologna (UNIBO, 182nd in the world rankings) both ranked in the top 100 for law.
Both with six offerings are Belgium and Spain. The latter offers three schools within the top 100, while Belgium has six, including KU Leuven in 30th place (82nd in the world rankings). France and Switzerlandfollow, each with five top law schools. While theUniversity of Zurich (57th in the world rankings) is Switzerland’s top offering at 51-100, the FrenchUniversité Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (228th in the world rankings) ranks 25th among the world’s leading law schools.
Three more top universities for law are found in Ireland, two of which, including Trinity College Dublin (TCD, 71st in the world rankings), are within the top 100.
Heading north into Scandinavia, Sweden offers three top universities for law, Denmark two, andFinland and Norway bring one each to the table. Of these, Finland’s University of Helsinki (67th in the world rankings) and Sweden’s Lund University (60th in the world rankings) and Stockholm University(182nd in the world rankings) are ranked within the world’s top 100 universities for law.
And lastly, Austria, Greece, Hungary and Portugal all have one institution ranked among the world’s best for law, including Austria’s University of Vienna (156th in the world rankings) in the top 150.
Top law schools in Asia
Of the eight universities in China included among the world’s top universities for law, two are within the world’s top 50: Peking University (57th in the world rankings) and Tsinghua University (47th in the world rankings). There are a further six top law schools inSouth Korea, four of which are ranked within the world’s top 100. Seoul National University (SNU, 31stin the world rankings) is Korea’s top offering at 41st.
Hong Kong and Singapore boast three entries apiece, the highest of which are the University of Hong Kong (HKU, 28th in the world rankings), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK, 46th in the world rankings) and the National University of Singapore(NUS, 22nd in the world rankings). Also claiming three top law schools is Japan, with the University of Tokyo (31st in the world rankings) and Kyoto University (36th in the world rankings) both ranked within the top 50 worldwide.
With two schools featured, Taiwan is next, with its highest offering National Taiwan University (NTU, 76th in the world rankings) at joint 43rd for law. Malaysia has just one entrant among the world’s top 200 for law – Universiti Malaya (UM, 151st in the world rankings).
Top law schools in Latin America
Home to five top law schools, Chile appears to be the top country in Latin America to study law. Its top offering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (167thin the world rankings) is ranked 37th in the law ranking. Following closely behind is Mexico’s sole entrant, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, 175th in the world rankings) at 38th.
Brazil features twice in the law school rankings, with the Universidade de São Paulo (USP, 132nd in the world rankings) in the top 100. Home to one top law school each are Argentina and Colombia, with the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA; 198th in the world rankings) in the top 100 and theUniversidad de Los Andes Colombia (262nd in the world rankings) in the top 150.
Top law schools in Australia & New Zealand
Australia features 17 times within the law school rankings, with nine representatives among the world’s top 100. The leader of these is the University of Melbourne in 8th place, and also within the top 50 are the University of Sydney (37th in the world rankings), the University of New South Wales (48th in the world rankings), Australian National University (ANU, 25th in the world rankings), Monash University (70th in the world rankings) and the University of Queensland (UQ, 43rd in the world rankings).
New Zealand has a total of five leading law schools, four of which are among the world’s top 100. These include the University of Auckland (92nd in the world rankings) and the Victoria University of Wellington (275th in the world rankings) in the top 50.
