{"id":149248,"date":"2026-04-20T14:51:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/20\/the-best-law-schools-for-practical-training-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T22:51:30","slug":"the-best-law-schools-for-practical-training-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/20\/the-best-law-schools-for-practical-training-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Law Schools For Practical Training (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A common complaint practicing lawyers have is that while law schools cost a fortune, they simply don\u2019t teach the most essential skill needed for professional competency. What skill might that be? \u201cHow to be a lawyer,\u201d of course. Some law schools, however, are trying to change that by offering skills-based opportunities so that their soon-to-be graduates will have already dipped a toe into practicing law before even taking the bar exam. But which law schools are offering the best training opportunities?<\/p>\n

The National Jurist\u2019s\u00a0preLaw Magazine<\/a>\u00a0recently released its ranking of the best law schools for practical training, highlighting the schools that are really doing their homework when it comes to readying their students for their future careers as lawyers. Here\u2019s the methodology that was used:<\/p>\n

\n

The largest weight (32%) went to clinics. We asked schools for the number of students who completed a clinic in 2024-25. If a student was enrolled in two semesters, that counted as two. Extra credit was given for guaranteed or required clinic work. Externships accounted for 25%. If a student had two externships, that counted as two. Simulation courses accounted for 20%. We asked for the total enrollment in such courses. Moot court and pro bono hours accounted for 10%. Required pro bono hours got extra credit. We gave 10% to additional practical training offerings, such as required legal writing. If schools did not reply, we used ABA data.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Without further ado, according to preLaw Magazine, these are the top 10 best law schools for practical training:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Northeastern<\/li>\n
  2. St. Thomas (MN)<\/li>\n
  3. Baylor<\/li>\n
  4. Minnesota<\/li>\n
  5. Denver<\/li>\n
  6. Quinnipiac<\/li>\n
  7. Arizona<\/li>\n
  8. Pepperdine<\/li>\n
  9. UC Irvine<\/li>\n
  10. San Diego<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to see the rest of the ranking.<\/p>\n

    Congratulations to all of the law schools that made the cut for this important ranking.<\/p>\n

    Best law schools for practical training<\/a> [preLaw Magazine \/ National Jurist]<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"\"
    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    The post The Best Law Schools For Practical Training (2026)<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    A common complaint practicing lawyers have is that while law schools cost a fortune, they simply don\u2019t teach the most essential skill needed for professional competency. What skill might that be? \u201cHow to be a lawyer,\u201d of course. Some law schools, however, are trying to change that by offering skills-based opportunities so that their soon-to-be graduates will have already dipped a toe into practicing law before even taking the bar exam. But which law schools are offering the best training opportunities?<\/p>\n

    The National Jurist\u2019s\u00a0preLaw Magazine<\/a>\u00a0recently released its ranking of the best law schools for practical training, highlighting the schools that are really doing their homework when it comes to readying their students for their future careers as lawyers. Here\u2019s the methodology that was used:<\/p>\n

    \n

    The largest weight (32%) went to clinics. We asked schools for the number of students who completed a clinic in 2024-25. If a student was enrolled in two semesters, that counted as two. Extra credit was given for guaranteed or required clinic work. Externships accounted for 25%. If a student had two externships, that counted as two. Simulation courses accounted for 20%. We asked for the total enrollment in such courses. Moot court and pro bono hours accounted for 10%. Required pro bono hours got extra credit. We gave 10% to additional practical training offerings, such as required legal writing. If schools did not reply, we used ABA data.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Without further ado, according to preLaw Magazine, these are the top 10 best law schools for practical training:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Northeastern<\/li>\n
    2. St. Thomas (MN)<\/li>\n
    3. Baylor<\/li>\n
    4. Minnesota<\/li>\n
    5. Denver<\/li>\n
    6. Quinnipiac<\/li>\n
    7. Arizona<\/li>\n
    8. Pepperdine<\/li>\n
    9. UC Irvine<\/li>\n
    10. San Diego<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to see the rest of the ranking.<\/p>\n

      Congratulations to all of the law schools that made the cut for this important ranking.<\/p>\n

      Best law schools for practical training<\/a> [preLaw Magazine \/ National Jurist]<\/p>\n

      \n
      \"\"
      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

      Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

      The post The Best Law Schools For Practical Training (2026)<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A common complaint practicing lawyers have is that while law schools cost a fortune, they simply don\u2019t teach the most essential skill needed for professional competency. What skill might that be? \u201cHow to be a lawyer,\u201d of course. Some law schools, however, are trying to change that by offering skills-based opportunities so that their soon-to-be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Staci-Zaretsky-BGwOtn.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}