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Best schools for public service

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The National Jurist is recognizing 63 law schools in five different categories as the best in preparing students for public service, the magazine announced December 5th. The categories are government, prosecutor/public defender, state judicial clerks, Federal clerks and public interest.

“Public service is a broad category and there are law schools that excel in one part, but not in another,” said Jack Crittenden, Editor In Chief of The National Jurist. “It would be unfair and unwise to lump Federal clerkships in with government opportunities.”

Penn State University was the only law school to make three of the five lists — government, prosecutor/public defender, and state judicial clerks.

The magazine looked at employment data, curricula and standard of living to determine three of the categories. Standard of living is a calculation that includes debt, loan forgiveness options, salary and regional cost of living. For state and Federal judicial clerkships, the magazine relied solely on employment placement data.

“Our goal was to identify the law schools that have a proven track record of producing graduates for the different segments of public service,” Crittenden said. “Other rankings may focus on prestige. This study focuses on results.”

The magazine recognizes 15 law schools in each category with 20 in government, but does not rank the schools. The complete lists will be published in the January issue of National Jurist and the Winter issue of preLaw magazine.

The honored schools include:

Top schools for government jobs:
Albany Law School
American University
Ave Maria School of Law
Brooklyn Law School
Capital University
Catholic University
Faulkner University
Florida A&M University
Howard University
Liberty University
Northeastern University
Northern Illinois University
Pennsylvania State University
Southern University Law Center
Stetson University
University of Arkansas – Little Rock
University of Denver
University of Missouri
University of the Pacific
Washburn University


Top schools for prosecutorial/public defender jobs:
Brooklyn Law School
Capital University
Florida State University
Indiana Univ. – Bloomington
North Carolina Central Univ.
Northeastern University
University of Akron
University of Arizona
University of Baltimore
University of Cincinnati
University of Denver
University of Florida
University of New Mexico
University of Oregon
University of the Pacific
University of Toledo
University of Utah
University of Wisconsin
Valparaiso University
Washburn University

Top schools for public interest

American University
Case Western Reserve
CUNY
Florida Coastal School of Law
Georgetown University
Golden Gate University
Lewis & Clark College
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
New York Law School
New York University
North Carolina Central Univ.
Northeastern University
Tulane University
University of Denver
University of Minnesota
University of North Carolina
University of Oregon
University of the District of Columbia
University of Wyoming
Yale University 

Jack Crittenden

Jack Crittenden

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