Key UC Law SF Strengths
96%
Class of 2025 grads employed within 10 months
86%
First-time California bar pass rate for Class of 2025
#1
In nation for graduates admitted to the California bar
#1
More California judges than any other law school
#8
in U.S. for alumni who are GCs at S&P 500 firms
#10
in U.S. for graduates working in public interest law
U.S. News named UC Law San Francisco as the 85th-ranked law school for 2026, but that number fails to portray the excellence of UC Law SF or measure the school by many of the standards most important to our mission. Graduate employment, bar pass rates, and the GPA and LSAT scores of our incoming students are central measures of our success and key components of the U.S. News methodology. All of these metrics have improved at UC Law SF over the last decade. Yet there are several important considerations the rankings do not measure. These include strength of curriculum, breadth of clinics and experiential opportunities, diversity of the student community and faculty commitment to innovative teaching. The rankings also do not consider the difficulty of the California bar exam.
The most significant change to UC Law SF’s ranking occurred in 1995, when a major shift in U.S. News methodology – not College operations or outcomes – caused the school’s ranking to drop. Later, as a result of what law school leaders around the country cited as a consistent failure to capture educational quality or institutional mission, many top law schools, including UC Law SF, stopped submitting proprietary data to U.S. News.
Heather Gerken, dean of Yale Law School at the time, observed that the rankings “disincentivize programs that support public interest careers, champion need-based aid, and welcome working-class students into the profession” and use “a misguided formula that discourages law schools from doing what is best for legal education.” Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier noted the “misleading metrics” of the rankings. Moreover, frequent changes in methodology have shown that the rankings, especially for those schools outside the top 20, are arbitrary and subject to widespread fluctuations.
U.S. News nevertheless continues to rank ABA-accredited law schools using publicly available data and information from those schools that continue to participate.
While law school rankings receive significant public attention, no single metric captures the full strength or impact of UC Law SF.
The College’s strong graduate outcomes, nationally recognized programs, accomplished alumni, and deep influence across the California bench, bar, business, government, and public interest sectors offer a more complete picture of the institution and the value of a UC Law SF degree.
UC Law SF remains focused on the measures that matter most to its mission: educating talented and diverse students, preparing graduates for successful careers, and serving California and the broader legal profession.
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