Last updated: August 28, 2026

UC Berkeley School of Law

UC Berkeley School of Law (commonly "Berkeley Law") is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1894, it has grown into a top-tier national law school known for intellectual property, environmental, constitutional and public-interest law, with the Bay Area's technology economy and the state capital a short distance away.

Berkeley Law at a Glance

Category	Latest information
Founded	1894
Type	Public (University of California)
ABA approval or accreditation	ABA approved; member, Association of American Law Schools
Location	Berkeley, California (San Francisco Bay Area)
Latest U.S. News rank	#16 (2026 edition; school does not submit data since 2022)
Latest completed applications	6,562 (Fall 2025)
Latest acceptance rate	14.84% (974 offers)
Latest LSAT median	170 (25th 167 – 75th 172)
Latest GPA median	3.92 (25th/75th not confirmed)
Latest entering class	348 (enrolled from applicant pool)
Current tuition	$66,374 (in-state) / $79,991 (out-of-state) — latest U.S. News-reported
Current estimated cost of attendance	Not published as a single J.D. figure; 2026–27 law budget reference: $59,114 (resident) / $73,580 (nonresident)
Latest first-time bar passage	92.8% (California, July 2025, first-time)
Latest bar-required employment	98.2% full-time, long-term (Class of 2025) — #1 nationally
Current dean	Erwin Chemerinsky (13th dean; tenure extended through June 30, 2029)

Introduction

Berkeley Law

Berkeley Law is the flagship law school of the University of California system and one of the highest-ranked public law schools in the country. It combines public-university tuition with outcomes rivaling elite private schools: the Class of 2025 posted the nation's highest bar-required employment rate, and the school is perennially ranked #1 in intellectual property law and environmental law. Located on the Berkeley campus in the San Francisco Bay Area, it feeds directly into Silicon Valley's technology, innovation and venture-capital economy while maintaining one of the strongest public-interest and clinical traditions anywhere.

Rankings and Reputation

Overall ranking

U.S. News (2026 edition) ranks Berkeley Law #16 — with UCLA (#13) passing it for the first time in recent memory. Berkeley ceased submitting data to U.S. News in 2022 (joining Yale, Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown in boycotting the survey), so the ranking is computed from publicly disclosed information. Official profile: U.S. News profile

Specialty rankings

Berkeley Law is ranked #1 nationally in intellectual property law and #1 in environmental law (U.S. News, 2020 edition, per the school) and is consistently top-tier in constitutional law, technology law, clinical training and public-interest law. Its faculty "excellence and impact" metrics are among the strongest in the country, and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is one of the most cited constitutional-law scholars in the nation.

Admissions: What It Takes to Get In

Entering class (Fall 2025)

Berkeley received 6,562 completed applications and extended 974 offers — a 14.84% acceptance rate. 348 applicants enrolled from the pool (a 35.73% yield from offers), producing an entering class that is 57% students of color (per the school, Class of 2026 statistics).

LSAT and GPA

Fall 2025 enrollees: LSAT median 170 (25th 167 / 75th 172). UGPA median 3.92 per the 2025 ABA Standard 509 Report; the 25th/75th GPA percentiles were not confirmed in the sources reviewed (marked not publicly reported).

Interpreting the numbers

Berkeley's acceptance rate (~15%) is friendlier than most T14 private peers', but the applicant pool is large and self-selecting: Bay Area tech/IP interest, public-interest commitments and California ties all move the needle. Yield is modest for the tier (~36%) because admitted students frequently choose Harvard, Stanford, NYU or Columbia; strong in-state applicants can often negotiate aid.

Application timing

Applications for the 2027 cycle open in September 2026. Regular Decision deadline: February 15, 2027 (official school page); review is rolling thereafter. Berkeley does not run a binding early-decision program for first-year applicants (only a binding Early Decision transfer round, March 15, 2027). Application fee: $80 non-refundable; fee-waiver requests are due by January 1 (5:00 pm PT). Official links: J.D. Admissions · Applying for the J.D. Degree

Cost, Scholarships, and Debt

Tuition

As a UC professional school, Berkeley charges tiered tuition: $66,374 in-state / $79,991 out-of-state (latest figures reported by U.S. News). Out-of-state students additionally pay UC Nonresident Supplemental Tuition (≈$39,270 per the campus financial-aid office); the UC Registrar publishes the underlying professional fee schedule.

Cost of attendance

Berkeley Law publishes a component budget rather than a single J.D. total in the sources reviewed. Its 2026–27 law-school budget reference (graduate law programs) totals $59,114 for California residents and $73,580 for nonresidents (tuition/fees plus $41,454 living expenses); the J.D.-specific single total is marked not publicly confirmed here.

Financial aid

Approximately 86% of students receive grant or scholarship funding (LSATLab, 2025 509 data); the median grant amount was not confirmed in sources reviewed. The Financial Aid Office (226 Law Building; (510) 642-1563; [email protected]) opens the Cost of Attendance Appeal (COAAR) on September 1, 2026, with the need-based aid appeal closing September 11, 2026.

Debt perspective

In-state tuition is roughly $10,000–$20,000 below equivalent private T14 schools, a meaningful debt advantage; out-of-state students pay closer to private-school levels. Berkeley's public-interest culture is supported by loan-repayment programming for graduates entering public service (program terms not verified in this review — marked not confirmed).

Employment Outcomes

Employment (Class of 2025)

The Class of 2025 numbered 283 graduates; 280 were employed ten months after graduation (98.94%), with 2 seeking work and fewer than 1% not seeking. 98.2% of the class landed full-time, long-term bar-required positions (98.21% per the school's announcement; 97.8% per ILRG) — the #1 rate nationally among ABA-approved law schools. The detailed category breakdown (law-firm sizes, clerkship counts, sector splits) was not machine-readable in sources reviewed and is marked not fully verified.

What these numbers mean

National contrast: across all 36,206 ABA graduates in the Class of 2025, 82.7% secured long-term, full-time legal jobs. Berkeley's 98.2% bar-required placement is roughly 15 points above the national bar-required average and, unusually, holds up even in a soft hiring year — a function of Bay Area demand, a smaller class and the school's dual strength in private (tech/IP/BigLaw) and public-interest placement.

Bar passage

92.8% first-time pass rate on the California bar (July 2025 administration) — second among California schools; ILRG computes 91.2% first-time across jurisdictions, a +11.3-point margin over the California state average. Nearly all Berkeley graduates sit for the California bar, so state figures approximate school figures.

Where graduates go

San Francisco and Silicon Valley law firms, technology companies, and IP boutiques lead private placement; Berkeley also places an unusually large share of its class into public-interest, government, and federal clerkship roles. A graduating class logs roughly 30,000 pro bono hours, reflecting the school's service culture. State-by-state detail was not retrieved in this review (marked not confirmed).

Academics and Programs

Curriculum and special strengths

Flagship strengths: intellectual property and technology law (#1), environmental law (#1), constitutional law, and public-interest law. The school houses 25+ research institutes and centers and offers 8 certificate programs. The Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and the law-and-economics tradition anchor the curriculum, with Dean Erwin Chemerinsky teaching constitutional law.

Clinics and experiential learning

One of the strongest clinical programs in the country, including 40+ student-initiated legal services projects open to first-years for hands-on community lawyering, plus formal clinics in environmental, technology, death-penalty, immigration, and community economic-development law. Pro bono participation is near-universal.

Student Life and Location

Living in Berkeley

The Law Building sits on the Berkeley campus in the hills above San Francisco Bay, with San Francisco's firms and courts 20–30 minutes away and Silicon Valley roughly an hour south — unmatched access to the tech economy. Berkeley itself is a dense, intellectual, politically engaged college town; the climate is Mediterranean and the Bay Area culture dominates student life.

Student body

The Class of 2026 was 57% students of color — among the most diverse top-tier law schools. The student culture is markedly public-interest-oriented and activist, balanced by a strong tech/IP contingent; roughly 96% of the Class of 2022 was employed nine months after graduation (per the school's JD page).

How Berkeley Compares

Choose Berkeley if

You want IP/technology, environmental or constitutional law at the highest level; you want public-school tuition with elite outcomes; you plan to practice in California (especially the Bay Area); you value public-interest and clinical depth; or you want a diverse, politically engaged student body with the nation's #1 bar-required employment rate.

Consider alternatives if

You want the highest-percentage BigLaw placement at 501+ attorney firms (NYU, Duke, Michigan post higher firm shares), a smaller more intimate class, a more portable New York/DC brand, or larger merit-aid packages — Berkeley's median grant was not confirmable and public schools typically offer less merit money than private T14 peers. UCLA is the in-state comparator now ranked ahead of Berkeley (#13 vs. #16). Also note: Berkeley is full-time only — no part-time or evening J.D.

The TLS Verdict

Berkeley Law is the rare school where "public" and "elite" both apply without asterisks: the #1 bar-required employment rate in the country, top-two specialty dominance in IP and environmental law, and California/Bay Area placement that no competitor matches. The trade-offs are real but specific — a large public-school bureaucracy, less merit aid than private peers, the difficulty of the California bar, and a U.S. News position (#16) that understates its true power in its core markets. For applicants committed to California, technology, or public interest, Berkeley belongs in the top group of any list; for applicants chasing pure East Coast BigLaw percentages, peer schools may fit better.

Frequently Asked Questions

How hard is it to get into Berkeley Law?

Selective but accessible at the margin: 14.84% of 6,562 applicants were offered admission for Fall 2025.

What LSAT score is competitive for Berkeley?

The Fall 2025 median was 170; the middle 50% ran from 167 to 172.

What GPA do Berkeley applicants typically have?

The Fall 2025 median UGPA was 3.92; the 25th/75th percentile range was not confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Does Berkeley give scholarships?

Yes — roughly 86% of students receive grant or scholarship funding per the 2025 509 data; the median grant amount was not confirmed in sources reviewed.

What is Berkeley's bar passage rate?

92.8% first-time on the California bar (July 2025); 91.2% first-time across all jurisdictions per ILRG.

Is Berkeley good for BigLaw?

Yes, though firm-size splits were not confirmed: the Class of 2025 placed at a #1 national rate in bar-required employment, with strong Bay Area and national firm hiring; IP/tech firms recruit heavily.

Does Berkeley offer a part-time J.D.?

No. Berkeley Law is full-time only; there is no part-time or evening program.

What is Berkeley Law best known for?

Intellectual property and technology law (#1), environmental law (#1), constitutional law, public-interest and clinical training, and unmatched Bay Area placement.

Contact and Key Links

Official links

TLS Forum Links

Sources

University of California Berkeley School of Law

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