4 of 5 modern lawyer presidents graduated from T-14 law schools; Harris wouldn't be in that group if elected
Vice President Kamala Harris would be the second modern president with a law degree from a school outside the top 14 if she is elected in November. (Photo from the White House’s official biography page of Harris)
Updated: Vice President Kamala Harris would be the second modern president with a law degree from a school outside the top 14 if she is elected in November.
Harris is a 1989 graduate of the University of California Hastings College of the Law, which is now known as the University of California College of the Law in San Francisco, Law.com reports.
The school has a 2024 ranking of No. 82 by U.S. News & World Report.
Among the five modern presidents with law degrees, four are from law schools ranked among the top 14 schools by U.S. News & World Report, Law.com reports. The fifth, President Joe Biden, is a 1968 graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law, which has a current ranking of No. 120.
The other modern presidents with law degrees from T-14 schools are:
• Barack Obama, Harvard Law School (1991)
• Bill Clinton, Yale Law School (1973)
• Gerald Ford, Yale Law School (1941)
• Richard Nixon, the Duke University School of Law (1937)
Twenty-seven of the past 46 presidents were lawyers, but most didn’t earn law degrees because apprenticeships were the norm before modern bar requirements took hold, according to Law.com. The ABA has listed the lawyer presidents through Obama here.
David Faigman, dean of the University of California College of the Law, told Law.com that a law degree from “a very strong regional school” can be just as useful as a T-14 law degree. Like other schools, the University of California College of the Law provides problem-solving and crisis-management skills, along with a deeper understanding of issues, Faigman said.
The University of California College of the Law had a 33% increase in admissions in 2021 after Biden tapped Harris as his running mate, Faigman told Law.com.
Faigman told Reuters that he expected that Harris will provide “a greater bump” to the school’s reputation because of her presidential candidacy.
Updated Aug. 27 at 3:40 p.m. to restrict the T-14 list to modern-era presidents.
