preLaw magazine has recognized 22 law schools as best practical training schools for part-time students.
Schools include schools with large part-time enrollment, including Cooley Law School with the largest part-time enrollment in the nation, Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University. It also includes two schools with fewer than 50 part-time students — Hofstra University and University of Louisville.
preLaw magazine, which ranked the best schools for practical training in its Spring 2014 issue, used the same criteria to assess part-time programs. It compiled data from the American Bar Association including the number of simulation positions filled for part-time students, the number of faculty-supervised clinical positions for part-time students and the number of field placement positions filled for part-time students. It calculated a ratio to part-time enrollment for each, and then assigned a weight to each category favoring real client-based practical training such as clinics and externships over simulations or mock trials.
“It is great to see that some schools are taking practical training seriously even for their part-time students,” said Jack Crittenden, Editor In Chief of preLaw and National Jurist magazines. “But only 22 of the 97 schools with 20 or more part-time students earned honors.”
preLaw grades schools on a traditional academic scale. Honored schools receive an A, A-, B+, B or B-.
The magazine will grade and rank the schools in its Back to School edition, due out in August. Nine of the 22 schools received better grade than they did for their full-time program, and nine received a worse grade.
Best practical training schools for part-time students
California Western School of Law
Cooley Law School
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Hofstra University
Lewis & Clark Law School
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Loyola University Chicago
Marquette University
Pace University
Quinnipiac University
Saint Louis University
Seton Hall University
University of Connecticut
University of Detroit
University of Hawaii
University of Louisville
University of Maryland
University of the Pacific McGeorge
Whittier Law School
William Mitchell College of Law
