BEST LAW SCHOOL BUILDING IN U.S.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law has once again been ranked #1 on PreLaw magazine’s list of BEST Law School Buildings in the nation in their Winter 2024 issue (found online here). This is the FIFTH consecutive time that Memphis Law has taken the top spot, with additional honors bestowed upon them in every single applicable award year (2014, 2018, 2020, 2022, and now 2024).

Memphis Law took top honors (again) in the rankings of best law school buildings in a comprehensive report that listed the top 69 law school buildings in the country. PreLaw magazine conducted a review of all of the country’s law schools (over 200), looking at various sources such as staff visits, Princeton Review reports and publications, and objective data from those schools’ libraries to examine square footage per student, library hours, and seats per library. PreLaw researchers also looked at various amenities available to law students at each school and aesthetic factors as well as student feedback.

The prestigious “five-peat” comes almost 15 years after the law school relocated from the main University of Memphis campus to the historic former U.S. Custom House/Courthouse/Post Office, which underwent at $42 million renovation and upgrade before the law school moved in in 2010. The historical austerity of the building, coupled with modern charms and new technology proved to be a winning combination, as Memphis Law has consistently beat out many historic and modern law school facilities across the nation time after time.

“Our continued dominance in this award category in PreLaw magazine confirms the importance of the many factors that make our law school uniquely special to our students legal education” said Dean Katharine T. Schaffzin. And that’s important, she emphasizes, given how students have come to rely on many of the law school's technological and facility upgrades and advances for their learning. “It’s an inspiring place to go to law school,” Schaffzin notes. “But even more than that, it’s a place that helps our students excel. This particular building in this specific location and community is a combination that gives our students so many advantages they can’t find anywhere else.”

In addition to the FIFTH “Best Building” award, Memphis Law was also named as one of the Most Diverse Law Schools, with a specific designation as a “Best Law School for Black Law Students,” Top 10 ranking (10^th). Even more, the law school was listed as a “Best Law School for Trial Advocacy,” with an A- rating amongst all law schools and placing in the Top 35.

You can view the complete Winter 2024 issue of PreLaw Magazine HERE.

Memphis Law is the only law school in this region to place in the top 20, and the only law school in the history of the rankings to take home the top spot every single applicable year.