South Florida, also the southernmost point of the nation, is the only continental United States area with some areas with a tropical climate.
Due to the state’s diversified population and variety of legal specialties, prospective law students prefer attending law schools in South Florida. South Florida is home to several well-regarded law schools. It is an excellent place to get a top-notch legal education.
This article makes your research on selecting the best law school in South Florida easier. It shades enough light on the requirements and how to apply to the best law schools in South Florida 2024.
Below is a list of the Top Law Schools in South Florida
- Florida International University College of Law
- University of Miami School of Law
- Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law)
- Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
- Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law)
- South Florida (USF)
- Florida State University College of Law
- Florida International University College of Law
- St. Thomas University School of Law
- Florida A&M University College of Law
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Other Law Schools Close TO South Florida
- University of Alabama School of Law
- Miles Law School
- University of Georgia
- Mercer University School of Law
How Long is a Law School in South Florida?
To practice law in South Florida, a student must enroll in an American Bar Association-accredited law program. Most full-time law students complete their J.D. degree in around three years, whereas part-time students typically need four to five years.
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What are the Requirements of Law Schools in South Florida 2024?
Step 1: Register with the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) to start the law school admission process. (LSAC accounts are valid for five years.)
Step 2: Almost all law schools accepted by the ABA require applicants to register for the Credential Assembly Service offered by LSAC (CAS).
CAS combines the following to create your law school report:
- A curriculum vitae
- Scores on the LSAT Writing sample (s)
- Transcripts (from all colleges and universities, as well as law and professional institutions)
- Included should be letters of recommendation, evaluations, and any other relevant information, such as the previous matriculation.
Step 3: The websites of each law school as well as the LSAC include a complete list of all prerequisites in addition to the CAS report. Additionally, each law school has unique requirements that set them apart from one another. You can send a mail-in or online application to a specific school by following the instructions on their websites.
Step 4: While some institutions prefer or require that you send your letters through LSAC’s Letters of Recommendation and Evaluation Services, others accept them directly from you. Guidelines for letter submission are available on the LSAC website.
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How Much is the Tuition of Law Schools in South Florida?
To study law in the 11 law schools in south Florida for the academic year 2022–2023. Our data shows that the average tuition and fees for Florida law schools are $32,556 for in-state students and $38,505 for out-of-state students.
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15 Best Law Schools in South Florida
#1. Florida International University College of Law
The law school of Florida International University is called the Florida International University College of Law, and it is situated in Miami, Florida in the United States. The only public law school in South Florida, the school is accredited by the American Bar Association. According to the “Best Law School Rankings” published by U.S. News & World Report in 2020, the FIU College of Law was placed 9 in the country.
#2. University of Miami School of Law
The University of Miami School of Law (often known as Miami Law or UM Law) is a private research university located in Coral Gables, Florida.
The University of Miami School of Law, which was established in 1926 and graduated its first class of 13 students in 1929, is the oldest law school in South Florida. The institution provides over two dozen multidisciplinary and collaborative degree programs, 300 courses across 18 different subject areas, and 17 legal clinics and practicums. The University of Miami School of Law is a member of the Association of American Law Schools and has earned accreditation from the American Bar Association.
#3. Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law)
The law department of the University of Florida is located in Gainesville, Florida, at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law). It was established in 1909, making it the second-oldest public law school in Florida overall and the oldest one still in operation.
The law school has about 200 students in each of its three-year J.D. programs for each entering class.
Three sections of the first-year class, each with between 50 and 70 students, take the majority of the first-year courses together. The institution has produced several well-known alumni who have held key positions in Florida’s state judiciary, government, media, and commerce, as well as throughout the rest of the country, thanks to its reputation and prominence in the state of Florida.
#4. Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
The private Cooley Law School of Western Michigan University has campuses in Riverview, Florida, and Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1972. By enrollment, Cooley was the largest law school in the US at its height in 2010, when it had over 3,900 students. By the spring of 2022, there were roughly 500 students enrolled at Cooley’s two surviving campuses. According to U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the top law schools in America for 2023, Cooley is between 147 and 192 overall and between 53 and 69 for part-time programs.
#5. Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law)
Florida’s first law school was established in 1900 and is a division of Stetson University, Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law). The law school relocated to Gulfport, Florida, in 1954 from its original location close to the university’s main campus in DeLand, Florida. The Rolyat Hotel, a famous resort hotel built in the 1920s and designed by Richard Kiehnel, now houses the law school. [7] The College of Law has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1931 and is accredited by the American Bar Association. The college also has a campus in Tampa, Florida, where it coexists with the Second District Court of Appeal of Florida, a functioning court.
#6. South Florida (USF)
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with campuses in Sarasota and St. Petersburg and its main campus in Tampa, Florida. More than 200 undergraduate majors and graduate, specialty, and doctoral degree programs are available across USF’s 14 colleges. [2][4] The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has accredited USF and placed it in the category of “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity.” The Florida Board of Governors has named USF as one of the three Preeminent State Research Universities.
As of the 2021–2022 academic year, USF, established in 1956, has 48,008 students from more than 145 countries, all 50 states, all five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia.
#7. Florida State University College of Law
The Florida State University College of Law is the university’s law school, and it is situated in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Donald L. Tucker Center, an arena and a portion of the Tallahassee civic center area, is close to the law school, located on the university’s campus in the southeast quadrant. By Florida State University’s 2016 ABA-required disclosures, ten months after graduation, 72.6% of the Class of 2015 found full-time, long-term employment that was necessary for passing the bar. [4] These disclosures show that within ten months of graduation, 81.7% of the Class of 2015 secured full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar passage or JD preference.
#8. Florida International University College of Law
The law school of Florida International University is called the Florida International University College of Law, and it is situated in Miami, Florida in the United States. The only public law school in South Florida, the school is accredited by the American Bar Association. The FIU College of Law was ranked 91[6] in the nation in the 2020 U.S. News & World Report “Best Law School Rankings”
#9. St. Thomas University School of Law
One of St. Thomas University’s graduate programs is the school of law, which is situated in Miami Gardens, Florida. In 1984, the School of Law was established. 54.7% of the Class of 2017, excluding solo practitioners, acquired full-time, long-term employment requiring bar clearance nine months after graduation, according to its 2017 ABA-required disclosures. Five joint degree programs are offered by the faculties of the law school and the graduate school: the J.D./M.S. in Sports Administration, the J.D./M.B.A. in Sports Administration, the J.D./M.S. in Marriage and Family Counseling, the J.D./M.B.A. in International Business, and the J.D./M.B.A. in Accounting.
#10. Shepard Broad College of Law
The law school of Nova Southeastern University is called Shepard Broad College of Law and is situated on the main campus in Davie, Florida. It is also referred to as NSU Law and Nova Law. Both full-time day and part-time evening programs are available at the school. For the 2018 first-year cohort, 45.7% of applicants were accepted by NSU Law. 32.9% of them went on to graduate. The median LSAT score and GPA for the institution are 150 and 3.11 respectively. Attrition for 1L J.D.s in 2017–2018 was 15.1%.
#11. Florida A&M University College of Law
The ABA has accredited Florida A&M University College of Law, also known as FAMU College of Law, located in the United States of Orlando, Florida. It is a facility of Florida A&M. 34.7% of the Class of 2015, excluding solo practitioners, obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage necessary employment ten months following graduation, according to Florida A&M’s 2016 ABA-mandated disclosures. [10] [Required update] Alumni of Florida A&M Law who took the Florida bar test for the first time in July 2019 passed with a passing score of 61.1%.
Law Schools close to South Florida
#12. University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law(formerly known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at The University of Alabama[4][5]) is the best law school in the nation and the only public law school in Alabama. It is located in Tuscaloosa. It is one of three ABA-accredited law schools out of the five in the state. The Class of 2017 in Alabama obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment in 84% of cases nine months after graduation, according to the state’s 2017 ABA-required disclosures. 8.4% more members of the class of 2017 were hired with a JD advantage.
During the 2018–2019 academic year, 383 JD students attended Alabama Law. The class of 2021 is made up of students from 62 undergraduate institutions and 25 different states, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 6.3 to 1.
#13. Miles Law School
In Birmingham, Alabama, there is a law school called Miles Law School. It is not associated with Miles College.
August 26, 1974, saw the founding of Miles Law School. Bishop C. A. Kirkendoll of the C.M.E. Church, Dr. W. Clyde Williams, a former Miles College president, J. Richmond Pearson, a former Alabama judge, and state senator, and Morris Dees, the man behind the Southern Poverty Law Center, were among the group’s founders.
#14. University of Georgia
The law department of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia, is known as the Georgia Law School (Georgia Law)[3]. It was among the first American university law schools to open its doors, having been founded in 1859. The university consistently ranks among the Top Tier Law Schools in the U.S. News & World Report.
Eleven governors, more than 110 state and federal lawmakers, around 70 federal judges, several state practitioners, government employees, ambassadors, trial court judges, professors, and firm owners are among the most recent Georgia Law alumni. Georgia Law was ranked #19 in the 2019 Top 50 Law School Rankings out of 199 ABA-approved law schools.
#15. Mercer University School of Law
The professional law school of Mercer University is called Mercer University School of Law (formerly Walter F. George School of Law). It is one of the earliest law schools in Georgia to get bar accreditation, one of the oldest law schools in the country, and the second-oldest among Mercer’s 12 colleges and schools. It was founded in 1873. About 440 students attend the School of Law, which has a site of its own in Macon, Georgia, a mile (1.6 km) from Mercer’s main campus. One of Macon’s most distinctive structures, the law school building is a three-story partial duplicate of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and is perched on Coleman Hill above the heart of the city.
Nine months after graduation, 72% of the 2020 graduating class found full-time, long-term, JD-required employment, according to Mercer’s official 2020 ABA-required disclosures.
How to Apply to a Law school in South Florida 2024
Complete the application process
Use the school’s website to complete this.
Personal Statement Writing
Using many sheets of paper, this should outline your background and qualifications, your reasons for seeking an LLM degree, and the academic path you want to follow.
Two recommendation letters
There must be two letters of recommendation, but most schools prefer that at least one of them come from a current or former law professor.
Fee for Applications
The payment of a certain application fee is required by the university. The payment must be made by international money order or a U.S. bank.
Curriculum vitae, or CV (Optional)
Along with the other required documents, the application form can be printed out and mailed to the law school’s website or sent as an email attachment.
Conclusion
South Florida’s law schools are worthwhile. Study hard, do well on the LSAT, and submit an application to the top law school in South Florida.
Frequently Asked Questions
UF Law has a 27.9% acceptance rate of applicants, which places it at number 27 in terms of student selection. Among those who were UF Law had the #28 highest median undergraduate GPA (3.72) among those who were admitted and enrolled full-time
Students have a decent chance of being admitted to the University of Florida because of its 62% admission rate. Students from a wide range of backgrounds are admitted to the institution. Anyone can apply, and they stand a good chance of being accepted into the program, thanks to this.
The first consideration for admission to law school is your LSAT score. A 180 on the LSAT is the maximum score. The average LSAT result is around 152. The law schools you are considering will determine a “good” LSAT score and a “good” LSAT score.
A score of 140 is the minimum acceptable score. Only take the GRE if you think you’ll perform better on it than the LSAT, percentile-wise. Have a strong GPA since you can enter law school even with a low LSAT.
In a single testing year, three times (the next testing cycle begins with the August 2022 test). Five times throughout the current and five before testing (the period in which LSAC reports scores to law schools). seven times over one’s lifetime.
References
- Wikipedia.org– best law schools in South Florida
- Wikipedia.org– Other law schools close to South Florida