Innovation in legal education isn’t just a buzzword, it’s fast becoming a benchmark. With rapid shifts in technology, including the lightning-fast rise of artificial intelligence, the practice of law demands more than black-letter doctrine; it demands tools, ethics, and adaptability. That’s why the National Jurist preLaw Magazine’s most recent ranking of the most innovative law schools holds real weight: it highlights those institutions that are doing more than just talking — they’re actually doing what needs to be done for law students to learn in new ways and to succeed in their future practice of law.
At its core, the preLaw ranking asks which law schools are breaking outside of traditional molds to integrate technology and real-world skills into the fabric of their curricula. With a real emphasis on relevant tech skills, this ranking brings attention to the law schools that are preparing graduates to do good and do well in a legal environment that’s evolving on a daily basis.
“[F]rom AI labs and interdisciplinary centers to data-driven reform and bold new approaches to design and client service,” according to National Jurist’s preLaw Magazine, these are the law schools that “exemplify innovation in action.”
- North Carolina Central University School of Law
- Suffolk University Law School
- UC Berkeley School of Law
- Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law
- Northeastern University School of Law
- Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
- Seattle University School of Law
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- University of Miami School of Law
- Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University
- Vanderbilt University Law School
- Southwestern Law School
Click here to read short summaries of why each school made this year’s list of top innovators.
The law isn’t moving backwards, and all sectors of the legal industry are being reshaped by digital tools, AI, remote practice, and societal demands for access and fairness. Schools that ignore these forces risk graduating students who are less prepared for what the profession is now and what it will be in the future. Institutions that lean into innovation — like the schools listed above — can help drive even more changes to benefit the public good
If you’re weighing law school options, pay close attention to how schools define innovation. Are they integrating it structurally or just marketing it? The schools found on this ranking are reshaping legal education so that graduating means being ready — not just academically, but technically and practically — for the world lawyers actually live in.
Suffolk, NCCU lead list of this year’s most innovative law schools [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.
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