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Massachusetts is well known as being a top state for colleges and universities, and its law schools help it to earn that reputation. There are programs for traditional, full-time students, and others for part-time students that enable them to continue working while studying as well as programs for international students. All offer the J.D. degree, the main legal degree, and some offer advanced law degrees, too. Three of its law schools rank among the top 30 schools nationally. - Harvard Universityharvard university image by Stephen Orsillo from Fotolia.com
Harvard Law is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States, open since 1817. It has students from every state and more than 70 countries. It is one of America's premier law schools and offers the J.D. degree, as well advanced LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees. Its illustrious list of alumni includes Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Barack Obama as well as a long list of Supreme Court Justices, members of the U.S. Congress, state and local officials, and leaders in business and industry.
Harvard Law School
1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-3100
law.harvard.edu/index.html - Boston College (main campus)king's college front image by Mograph from Fotolia.com
Though the Boston College Law School is a rigorous secular program, it does not dismiss its ties with its historic Jesuit Catholic tradition, and consequently the school is recognized for a strong commitment to ethics and a friendly atmosphere among its students. Its enrollment is somewhat smaller than similarly ranked programs, which encourages the convivial atmosphere. Located a few miles from the main campus, BC Law consistently ranks in the top tier of national law schools.
Boston College Law School
885 Centre Street
Newton Centre, MA 02459
(617) 552-4350
bc.edu/schools/law/home.html - boston image by Stephen Orsillo from Fotolia.com
Boston University School of Law occupies a high-rise building in the heart of the main campus with views overlooking the Charles River. It is a large and diverse school and offers both the basic J.D. degree as well as several LL.M. programs in American Law (designed for foreign-trained lawyers), intellectual property and taxation and also a graduate program in banking and financial aw, the first program of its kind in the United States. The school consistently ranks in the top tier of national law schools.
Boston University School of Law
765 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 353-3115
bu.edu/law/ - New England Law/Boston has a full-time division, a part-time day division, and a part-time evening division, enabling its diverse student body the opportunity to find a program of study that will suit individual schedules and situations. Its downtown Boston location facilitates the possibility of working while attending school. It also has a highly selective Special Part-time (SPT) program designed for parents who require a flexible schedule to allow them to pursue their child care responsibilities. The school also offers an LL.M. degree designed for foreign-trained lawyers.
New England Law/Boston
154 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 451-0010
nesl.edu/ - It seems unlikely, in a state known for education, that its public university system did not have a law school on any of its campuses until a decade into the 21st century. In 2010, the decision was made to convert the private Southern New England School of Law, which donated its campus and assets to the state, into the UMass Law School with its first incoming class in the fall of that year. Its tuition is somewhat lower than the state's private law schools.
UMass Dartmouth Law
333 Faunce Corner Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747
(508) 998-9600
umassd.edu/law/ - Massachusetts State Housemassachusetts state house in boston on beacon street image by Stephen Orsillo from Fotolia.com
Suffolk Law has both a day program for full-time students in a traditional 3-year program and also a 4-year evening program for working professionals and nontraditional students who wish to study part-time. The school's location in downtown Boston facilitates the possibility of part-time study since many of its students already have jobs near the campus. Suffolk offers an International LL.M. that enables students to study abroad with its partner universities in Hungary and Sweden, and it also offers regular LL.M. programs in several other disciplines.
Suffolk University School of Law
120 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 573-8000
law.suffolk.edu/
