Last updated: October 5, 2026

University of California College of the Law, San Francisco

The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco ("UC Law SF", formerly UC Hastings College of the Law) is a public law school at 200 McAllister Street in San Francisco, California, that enrolled a first-year class of 380 students in Fall 2025 from 4,593 completed applications, with a median LSAT of 161 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.71; the Fall 2026 entering class (Class of 2029) is considerably larger at 460 students, with median LSAT 162 and median GPA 3.73. It is ranked #85 (tie) of 194 in the 2026 U.S. News rankings, and 86% of the Class of 2025 passed the California bar examination on their first attempt — six percentage points above the California average for ABA-accredited schools and a continuation of a decade-long climb. The central decision issue for admitted applicants is that UC Law SF pairs a nationally ranked clinical and tax program and the deepest alumni network in Bay Area practice with San Francisco's extraordinary cost of living, at a 2026–27 cost of attendance of approximately $97,283 for California residents and $106,838 for non-residents, against a median scholarship award of $20,000.

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UC Law SF at a Glance

Category	Latest information
Founded	1878 (the first law school in California and the oldest law school west of the Mississippi)
Type	Public (University of California College of the Law, San Francisco)
ABA approval or accreditation	ABA approved (Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar)
Location	200 McAllister Street, San Francisco, California
Latest U.S. News rank	#85 tie (2026 edition); #88 in the 2025–26 edition, per the school
Latest completed applications	4,593 (Fall 2025, 2025 509 report); 5,224 for the Fall 2026 class
Latest acceptance rate	27.48% (Fall 2025, 2025 509 report)
Latest LSAT median	161 (Fall 2025); 162 for the Fall 2026 entering class
Latest GPA median	3.71 (Fall 2025); 3.73 for the Fall 2026 entering class
Latest entering class	380 (Fall 2025, 2025 509 report; 374 enrolled from the applicant pool); 460 for the Fall 2026 class
Current tuition	$54,680 tuition plus $1,242 in mandatory fees = $55,922 California residents; $65,477 non-residents (2026–27)
Current estimated cost of attendance	approximately $97,283 resident; $106,838 non-resident (2026–27, computed)
Latest first-time bar passage	86% (Class of 2025, California bar first attempt); 83.8% all-jurisdiction first-time with a two-year ultimate rate of 91.8% (U.S. News)
Latest bar-required employment	93% of the Class of 2024 employed in bar-admission-required or J.D.-advantage positions; 92% employed in the legal profession within 10 months
Current dean	David L. Faigman (Chancellor & Dean since 2016; term ends June 2027, successor search under way)

The admissions figures are drawn from UC Law SF's 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report (4,593 completed applications, 1,262 offers, a 27.48% acceptance rate, 374 enrollees from the applicant pool; 380 total first-year seats) and the school's own J.D. Class of 2029 profile (5,224 applications, 460 first-year students, 58 LEOP students, 131 undergraduate institutions represented, 23 states represented, median scholarship awarded $20,000). The two class sizes differ because they describe different entering years: the 509 report covers the Fall 2025 class, while the class profile describes the Fall 2026 class. Tuition and cost data are from the school's published 2026–27 tuition schedule and cost-of-attendance page. David L. Faigman, the John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law, has served as Chancellor & Dean since 2016 and has announced that he is not seeking reappointment when his term ends in June 2027; the Board of Directors launched a successor search in December 2025.

Introduction

The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, founded in 1878, is the oldest law school in California and the first law school established west of the Mississippi River. Long known as Hastings College of the Law — named for Serranus Clinton Hastings, the state's first chief justice, who endowed it — the school was renamed in 2023 after the University of California's governing board and the college's own board concluded that its namesake's role in the massacre of the Yuki people in the 1850s made retaining the name untenable. It sits at 200 McAllister Street in San Francisco's Civic Center, a short walk from the California Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, the federal district court, and the offices of the San Francisco District Attorney and Public Defender.

UC Law SF's identity rests on three pillars: a Bay Area franchise that makes it one of the largest single pipelines into Northern California law firms and government legal offices, evidenced by its No. 25 placement on Law.com's "Go-To Law Schools" list of schools sending the highest share of graduates into the largest national firms; a nationally ranked clinical program that U.S. News places at #24 in the country and that the school notes is one of only two in the nation whose faculty have received the AALS Clinical Education Section's three major awards; and an alumni network of federal and state judges, elected officials, and practitioners, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who graduated in 1989 and taught at the school through the 2010s. Its public-interest commitment is institutionalized through the LEOP (Legal Education Opportunity Program) for students from educationally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, which enrolled 58 of the 460 members of the Fall 2026 entering class.

Rankings and Reputation

UC Law SF is ranked #85 (tie) of 194 in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools rankings. Its reputation is stronger in specialty tables than in the overall rank: the clinical training program sits at #24 nationally and the tax program at #20, and the school's large-firm placement record places it in the top 25 nationally on Law.com's Go-To Law Schools analysis.

Overall ranking

U.S. News edition	UC Law SF rank
2026	85 (tie) of 194
2025–26	88 (as cited by the school)
2024–25	82 (as cited by the school)
2023–24	60 (as cited by the school)

The overall rank is the weakest element of the school's profile and must be read against its trajectory: the school cites ranks of 60, 82, and 88 across the three editions preceding the current one, a decline it attributes to changes in the U.S. News methodology rather than to changes in outcomes. Applicants should treat movement within this band as immaterial to UC Law SF's practical position, which is driven by Bay Area placement, bar passage, and specialty reputation rather than by overall rank position. Note that some third-party trackers list #88 for the 2026 edition while others list #85; this page uses #85 as the record, with the school's own figure noted.

Specialty rankings

Specialty	2026 rank
Tax Law	#20 (tie)
Clinical Training	#24 (tie)
Business/Corporate Law	#41 (tie)
Constitutional Law	#47 (tie)
Legal Writing	Ranked (number not confirmed in the sources reviewed)

The school's earlier announcements also describe top-30 placements for Dispute Resolution, Health Care Law, and Environmental Law, and list ten programs in the national top 30. Those specific numbers correspond to earlier editions and are not reproduced here as current-year ranks. The school notes that it has been ranked #1 in the nation by number of graduates admitted to the California bar, and 7Sage's composite ranking places UC Law SF at #85 for 2026, factoring placement success, bar passage, and ultimate bar passage. Independent rankings by the Internet Legal Research Group list UC Law SF's acceptance rate at 27% with a median LSAT of 161, median GPA of 3.71, and tuition of $61,773 — the last figure corresponding to an earlier cycle than the published 2026–27 schedule.

Admissions: What It Takes to Get In

Entering class (Fall 2025)

Admissions metric	Fall 2025
Completed applications	4,593
Offers of admission	1,262
Acceptance rate	27.48%
Enrollees from applicant pool	374
First-year class size	380
Enrollment rate from completed applications	8.1% (school-reported)

The Fall 2026 entering class (the J.D. Class of 2029, per the school's own profile) is larger: 460 first-year students drawn from 5,224 applications, including 58 LEOP students, from 131 colleges and universities — led by UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine — and 23 states. The class has an average age of 25, an age range of 20 to 56, 63% graduating from college within the prior three years, 45% students of color, 17% first-generation college students, 8 veterans, 74 different undergraduate majors, 6% STEM majors, and 9% holding advanced degrees. Six students were admitted with the GRE. The class includes 281 women, 175 men, and 4 non-binary students.

LSAT and GPA

Statistic	25th percentile	Median	75th percentile
LSAT (Fall 2025)	158	161	163
Undergraduate GPA (Fall 2025)	3.55	3.71	3.83
LSAT (Fall 2026 class)	159	162	164
Undergraduate GPA (Fall 2026 class)	3.54	3.73	3.85

UC Law SF also accepts the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT, and six students in the Fall 2026 entering class enrolled with a GRE score.

Interpreting the numbers

A 27.48% acceptance rate makes UC Law SF more selective than most schools in its overall rank band, and its Fall 2026 credentials — a 162 LSAT median and 3.73 GPA median — place it close to the top of the large California public and private middle tier. The practical reading is that UC Law SF competes as the highest-volume Bay Area option: it receives more than 5,000 applications, admits roughly one in four, and enrolls classes of 380 to 460, which gives it the scale to sustain a large alumni network and deep employer relationships in Northern California. That scale also means the credential band is wide — the middle 50% spans five LSAT points and 0.28 GPA points — and the school draws heavily from the University of California system. No score guarantees admission.

Application timing and transfer

UC Law SF operates rolling admissions; specific deadline figures for the current cycle were not retrieved in machine-readable form in the sources reviewed and remain unconfirmed for this page. Applicants should confirm deadlines and the application fee directly with the admissions office. The school is notably open to transfer and visiting students, and career materials note that a substantial share of each class arrives through transfer, which is worth understanding before committing: students admitted as 1Ls compete on the same curve as transfer applicants who arrive with completed first-year records, a dynamic that has attracted criticism in student reviews of the school's scholarship retention policies.

Cost, Scholarships, and Debt

Tuition

Tuition and mandatory fees for the 2026–27 academic year are $55,922 for California residents and $65,477 for non-residents — among the highest public law school prices in the country, reflecting California's professional-degree supplemental tuition and San Francisco's cost structure. Because UC Law SF is a California public institution, non-Californian residents pay an additional $9,555 in non-resident tuition, which the school states is reversed once a California residency petition is approved. U.S. News reports slightly different figures ($54,329 in-state and $63,015 out-of-state) corresponding to an earlier cycle.

Cost of attendance

Expense	California resident	Non-resident
Enrollment fee (tuition)	$54,680	$54,680
Activity fee	$157	$157
MBE support fee	$120	$120
Health services fee	$965	$965
Non-Californian resident tuition	—	$9,555
Subtotal, tuition and fees	$55,922	$65,477
Books and supplies	$1,698	$1,698
Housing and utilities	$21,600	$21,600
Food	$3,781	$3,781
UCSHIP insurance premium (waivable)	$6,895	$6,895
Personal expenses	$3,000	$3,000
Transportation	$1,989	$1,989
Loan fees	$2,398	$2,398
Total (nine-month academic year, computed)	$97,283	$106,838
Bar exam fees (3L year only, additional)	$2,271	$2,271

The totals above are computed from the school's published line items; UC Law SF does not publish a single combined cost-of-attendance figure for 2026–27. For comparison, LSAC reports an expected cost of attendance of $95,509 for residents and $104,195 for non-residents against tuition of $53,087 — figures from the preceding cycle. Housing and utilities of $21,600 ($2,400 per month) is the single largest line item after tuition and reflects the San Francisco rental market. The UCSHIP insurance premium may be waived with proof of alternative coverage.

Financial aid

UC Law SF states a median scholarship award of $20,000 for the entering class, and the school funds endowed scholarships through alumni giving. The school also cautions that it may reduce or deny institutional merit scholarships or need-based grants if a student has other financial aid resources. The number of students receiving grants and the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile grant amounts from the 2025 ABA 509 report were not retrieved in machine-readable form for this page (the school's 509 PDF did not render as text) and remain unconfirmed.

Conditional scholarships

UC Law SF awards conditional scholarships, and the school's own financial aid page and third-party analyses indicate that a meaningful share of awards are subject to reduction or elimination based on law school academic performance. The specific counts — how many students matriculated with conditional awards and how many were reduced or eliminated in each of the last three years — were not retrievable from the 2025 509 report in the sources reviewed and remain unconfirmed for this page. This is the single most important unverified item in the UC Law SF profile: applicants should request the conditional scholarship retention chart directly and read the retention thresholds against the school's first-year curve before accepting an award.

Debt perspective

Average indebtedness figures for 2025 graduates were not retrieved in machine-readable form for this page and remain unconfirmed. Given tuition above $54,000, a cost of attendance near $97,000 for residents, and a $20,000 median scholarship, a student paying close to full price faces a three-year all-in cost approaching $290,000. The school participates in PICAP (the Public Interest Career Assistance Program), its loan repayment assistance program for J.D. graduates entering public-interest and government work; eligibility thresholds and award amounts were not retrieved and should be confirmed with the school.

Employment Outcomes

Employment (Class of 2024 and Class of 2025)

UC Law SF reports that 92% of the Class of 2024 secured employment in the legal profession within 10 months of graduation, continuing a four-year trend in which roughly 90% or more of each class moves directly into legal roles, and that 93% of the Class of 2024 were employed in positions requiring bar admission or offering a J.D. advantage. The school publishes its Class of 2025 ABA Employment Summary, but the PDF did not render as readable text in the sources reviewed, so the Class of 2025 line items are not reproduced here.

Employment metric	Value
Employed in the legal profession within 10 months (Class of 2024)	92% (school-reported)
Employed in bar-required or J.D.-advantage positions (Class of 2024)	93% (school-reported)
Class of 2025 bar-required percentage, firm-size distribution, clerkships, unemployment	Not independently confirmed (Class of 2025 summary PDF not readable)
Median salaries by sector	Not independently confirmed

Class of 2024 employment by job type:

Sector	Share
Law firms	61%
Public interest	13%
Government	10%
Business and industry	9%
Judicial clerkships	3%
Education	2%

The school's published sample employer list for the Class of 2024 shows the breadth of its placement: large national firms (Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, Gibson Dunn, Morrison & Foerster, Orrick, Cooley, Fenwick & West, Wilson Sonsini, Arnold & Porter, Debevoise & Plimpton, O'Melveny & Myers, Baker McKenzie, Jones Day); Bay Area and California mid-size firms (Farella Braun + Martel, Hanson Bridgett, Hoge Fenton, Walkup Melodia); every major Bay Area public defender and district attorney office (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Marin, Fresno, Los Angeles County, Sacramento); legal aid and public-interest organizations (Legal Aid Society, Bay Area Legal Aid-adjacent groups, Disability Rights Advocates, Center for Biological Diversity, Transgender Law Center, Bet Tzedek); state and federal government (California Attorney General, California Public Utilities Commission, Federal Trade Commission, IRS Office of Chief Counsel, Employee Benefits Security Administration); the Supreme Court of California and the Supreme Court of North Carolina; and the accounting and consulting firms (Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Andersen Tax).

What these numbers mean

UC Law SF's employment profile is unusually balanced for a school of its rank. A 61% law-firm share, with a documented presence at the largest national firms, is the basis for its No. 25 ranking on Law.com's Go-To Law Schools analysis; a 13% public-interest share is high for a school with that much large-firm placement, reflecting both the school's civic mission and the density of Bay Area legal aid, public defender, and government employers; and 3% judicial clerkships, including the California Supreme Court, indicates that the most competitive clerkship routes are reachable. The caution is that the school publishes its headline percentages rather than the ABA line items in the sources reviewed: the bar-required rate specifically, the firm-size distribution, and median salaries by sector were not available for the Class of 2025 and should be verified against the ABA Employment Summary before an applicant relies on them.

Bar passage

Bar statistic	Value
Class of 2025, California bar, first attempt	86% (up from 84% for the prior class), six percentage points above the California average for ABA-accredited schools
2025 first-time bar passage (LawHub)	86.2%
Class of 2025, out-of-state exams	93% passed; 100% of graduates sitting the New York bar passed
First-time bar passage, all jurisdictions (U.S. News)	83.8%, against an average of 77.9% among the states where graduates sat (+5.9 points)
Ultimate bar passage (two-year average, U.S. News)	91.8%

The school attributes its bar results to an integrated curriculum strategy rather than a post-graduation cram: skills-focused orientation covering writing, test-taking, and analytical reasoning; the Sack Program, which embeds personalized skills training into first-year doctrinal courses; Advanced Sack classes for upper-division bar-tested subjects; Law & Process courses reinforcing analytical writing; Critical Studies courses devoted to essay writing, multiple-choice questions, and performance tests; and a Critical Studies 4 course that lets third-year students begin commercial bar review early. Post-graduation support includes faculty and alumni bar mentors, one-on-one coaching, the BEST Essay Program, a therapist-led bar support group, and disability accommodation guidance. Provost and Academic Dean Morris Ratner attributed the results to "a curriculum and a support structure that meet students where they are," noting that bar preparation is woven into the learning experience "from day one."

Where graduates go

Overwhelmingly to the Bay Area and California, with meaningful out-of-state reach. The Class of 2024 employer list is dominated by San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Marin County employers and by California state agencies and courts, alongside New York firms and the Supreme Court of North Carolina. The school's own framing is that its graduates are concentrated in the strongest legal market on the West Coast; the corollary is that a UC Law SF degree travels least well to markets where it lacks alumni density. Exact state-by-state counts for the Class of 2024 and Class of 2025 were not published in machine-readable form in the sources reviewed.

Academics and Programs

Curriculum and special strengths

The J.D. curriculum is grounded in required first-year fundamentals — research and writing, appellate advocacy, criminal law, torts, and practical lawyering skills — followed by broad upper-level election, with concentrations available across business and corporate law, constitutional law, criminal law, environmental law, health care law, intellectual property, international law, tax law, and litigation. UC Law SF's distinctive academic feature is its clinical and experiential program, ranked #24 nationally by U.S. News, which the school notes is one of only two in the country whose faculty have received the AALS Clinical Education Section's three major awards. The tax program, ranked #20 nationally, is the school's strongest traditional doctrinal specialty.

UC Law SF offers dual and concurrent degree programs — including concurrent J.D./master's pathways such as a J.D. with a master's in applied economics through the University of California Concurrent Degree Program — alongside its J.D. and LL.M. offerings. The school also runs the LEOP (Legal Education Opportunity Program), a long-standing academic and financial support program for students from educationally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds; 58 of the 460 members of the Fall 2026 entering class are LEOP students.

Clinics and experiential learning

UC Law SF operates one of the largest clinical programs in the country, placing students in live-client representation across civil, criminal, immigration, environmental, health, and transactional practice. In addition to its in-house clinics, the school offers field placements in courts, government agencies, and public-interest organizations across the Bay Area, which the school's clinical faculty integrate with seminar instruction. Its clinical faculty have won the AALS Clinical Education Section's three major awards — an honor shared with only one other school in the nation. The school describes its approach as building "experiential learning scholarship and impact" rather than treating clinics as an add-on to the doctrinal curriculum.

Student Life and Location

Living in San Francisco

UC Law SF occupies 200 McAllister Street in San Francisco's Civic Center, an unusual location for legal education because the courthouses are within walking distance: the California Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and San Francisco Superior Court are all nearby, as are the offices of the San Francisco District Attorney and Public Defender and a dense concentration of law firms. The school's newer campus includes the Academe housing complex, which houses law students alongside UCSF medical and dental students. The trade-off is cost and crowding: housing and utilities run $21,600 for the nine-month year ($2,400 per month), the city's rental market is among the most expensive in the country, and the total cost of attendance for a California resident approaches $97,000.

Student body

With a first-year class of 380 in Fall 2025 growing to 460 in Fall 2026, UC Law SF is a large law school by national standards — well above the median ABA-approved school — which supports its extensive course catalog and employer network but also means larger first-year sections. The Fall 2026 class is 45% students of color and 17% first-generation, with 8 veterans, 23 states represented, and 131 undergraduate institutions; the largest feeder schools are all University of California campuses. One student review of the school highlights the LEOP program as its most valuable institutional feature, while another raises concerns about scholarship retention thresholds against the grading curve and a high rate of transfers out — criticisms worth reading alongside the official data.

How UC Law SF Compares

Choose UC Law SF if

You want to practice in the Bay Area — the school is one of the largest single pipelines into San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa law firms, district attorney offices, public defender offices, and legal aid organizations, and placed No. 25 nationally on Law.com's Go-To Law Schools list.
You are committed to public-interest or public-defender work: 13% of the Class of 2024 entered public-interest positions in a market dense with such employers, and PICAP provides loan repayment assistance.
You want nationally ranked training in clinical practice (#24) or tax law (#20).
You want courthouse proximity: the California Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, and the federal district court are within walking distance of campus.
You want a large, deep alumni network in California practice, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

Consider alternatives if

You are price-sensitive and have no strong Bay Area ties: California resident tuition and fees of $55,922, non-resident costs of $65,477, and a computed cost of attendance of $97,283 to $106,838 represent one of the highest public law school prices in the country.
You need certainty about scholarship retention — UC Law SF awards conditional scholarships and the 2025 retention data was not verifiable in the sources reviewed.
You want a high overall U.S. News rank — the school sits at #85 (tie), well below its historical position of Top 20 in the 1980s, and its own materials cite a multi-edition decline from 60 to 88.
You are targeting national practice outside California — placement is concentrated in Bay Area firms, government offices, and courts.
You want a smaller, more intimate program — classes of 380 to 460 and 5,000-plus applications mean large sections and competitive internal dynamics.

The TLS Verdict

UC Law SF is the highest-volume and most broadly connected law school in the Bay Area, with a public institution's price structure and a private school's market access. Its bar results are genuinely strong and improving: 86% of the Class of 2025 passed the California bar on the first attempt, six points above the average for ABA-accredited California schools, with 93% passing out-of-state exams and every graduate who sat the New York bar passing. Behind that sits an outcome record that is unusually balanced — 92% of the Class of 2024 employed in the legal profession within ten months, 93% in bar-required or J.D.-advantage roles, 61% in law firms with documented placement at the largest national firms, and a striking 13% in public interest — plus a clinical program ranked #24 and a tax program ranked #20 nationally. The constraints are price and rank. At a computed $97,283 cost of attendance for residents and $106,838 for non-residents, with a $20,000 median scholarship, the debt math is severe; the overall U.S. News rank has slid to #85 from a historical Top-20 position; scholarship retention rules are a documented student complaint and the specific conditional-scholarship data was not verifiable; and the school's reach outside California is limited. For applicants who intend to build a career in the Bay Area and can manage the price, UC Law SF is one of the most effective choices available anywhere; for applicants without California ties or price flexibility, the cost of attendance is the number that should decide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How hard is it to get into UC Law SF?

Competitive within its band: for Fall 2025, UC Law SF received 4,593 completed applications and made 1,262 offers, a 27.48% acceptance rate, with 374 enrolling from the applicant pool and 380 first-year seats. The Fall 2026 class is larger, at 460 students from 5,224 applications.

What LSAT score is competitive for UC Law SF?

The median LSAT for the Fall 2025 entering class was 161, with a middle-50% range of 158 to 163. The Fall 2026 entering class median rose to 162, with a range of 159 to 164. The GRE is also accepted.

What GPA do UC Law SF applicants typically have?

The median undergraduate GPA was 3.71 for the Fall 2025 entering class (middle 50%: 3.55 to 3.83) and 3.73 for the Fall 2026 class (middle 50%: 3.54 to 3.85).

Does UC Law SF give scholarships?

Yes. The school reports a median scholarship award of $20,000 for the entering class and funds endowed scholarships through alumni giving. The number of grant recipients and the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile grant amounts from the 2025 ABA 509 report were not verifiable in the sources reviewed. The school also notes it may reduce or deny institutional aid if a student has other financial aid resources.

Are UC Law SF scholarships conditional?

Some are. The school awards conditional scholarships, but the specific retention counts for the last three years could not be confirmed from the 2025 509 report in the sources reviewed. Applicants should request the conditional scholarship retention chart directly and read the retention thresholds against the school's grading curve before accepting an award.

Is there a Loan Repayment Assistance Program?

Yes — PICAP (the Public Interest Career Assistance Program) provides loan repayment assistance to J.D. graduates entering public-interest and government positions. Eligibility thresholds and award amounts were not retrieved and should be confirmed with the school.

What is UC Law SF's bar passage rate?

86% of the Class of 2025 passed the California bar on the first attempt — up from 84% for the prior class and six percentage points above the California average for ABA-accredited schools. 93% passed exams outside California, and 100% of graduates who sat the New York bar passed. U.S. News reports a first-time rate of 83.8% across all jurisdictions and a two-year ultimate rate of 91.8%.

Is UC Law SF good for BigLaw?

Yes, regionally and increasingly nationally. 61% of the employed Class of 2024 entered law firms, with documented placements at Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, Gibson Dunn, Morrison & Foerster, Cooley, Fenwick & West, and Wilson Sonsini, and the school ranks No. 25 on Law.com's Go-To Law Schools list. That placement is concentrated in California; outside the Bay Area and California markets, the degree carries less weight.

What is UC Law SF best known for?

UC Law SF is best known for being the oldest law school in California and the first west of the Mississippi, for its Bay Area placement network and large-firm pipeline, for its clinical program (#24) and tax program (#20), for its LEOP program, and for its alumni including Vice President Kamala Harris.

What happened to the Hastings name?

The school was founded as Hastings College of the Law, named for Serranus Clinton Hastings, California's first chief justice. It was renamed the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco in 2023 after its board and the University of California concluded that retaining a name connected to the massacre of the Yuki people was untenable.

Who is the dean?

David L. Faigman, the John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law, has served as Chancellor & Dean since 2016. He has announced he is not seeking reappointment when his term ends in June 2027, and the Board of Directors launched a search for his successor in December 2025.

Contact and Key Links

University of California College of the Law, San Francisco
200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Chancellor & Dean's Office: (415) 565-4600

Office of Fiscal Services: (415) 565-4704, [email protected]

Student Health Services: (415) 565-4612

Official links

TLS Forum Links

Sources

University of California Hastings College of the Law

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