Last updated: September 4, 2026

Emory University School of Law

Emory University School of Law is the law school of Emory University, located on the university's main campus in the Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1916 and continuously ABA-approved since that time, Emory Law is a private, mid-size school whose defining attribute is its Atlanta location — the seat of the headquarters of the Eleventh Circuit, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, and a deep regional bar.

The school operates from a single law-school building on Emory's main campus and serves a J.D. enrollment of roughly 400 students alongside a top-ranked advocacy program and a health-law concentration that draws on Emory's broader Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

Emory Law School at a Glance

Category	Latest information
Founded	1916
Type	Private (Emory University)
ABA approval or accreditation	Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
Location	1301 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30322
Latest U.S. News rank	#26 (tie, 2026), out of 194
Latest completed applications	1,580 (Fall 2025 entering class)
Latest acceptance rate	28.0% (442 offers of admission)
Latest LSAT median	167 (25th–75th: 161–170)
Latest GPA median	3.85 (25th–75th: 3.60–3.95)
Latest entering class	197 (Class of 2028)
Current tuition	$69,070 (2026–27 academic year)
Current estimated cost of attendance	$106,406 (full-time, full-year, 2026–27)
Latest first-time bar passage	90.2% (Class of 2025; 96.0% Georgia first-time)
Latest bar-required employment	85.6% full-time, long-term bar-required (Class of 2025, ILRG)
\| Adjunct Professor of Law (interim dean arrangement) — to be confirmed

Introduction

Emory Law opened its doors in 1916 in Atlanta, the capital of the South, and has remained there ever since. The school sits at the heart of a booming legal market: Georgia has produced multiple Am Law 200 firms headquartered in Atlanta (King & Spalding, Alston & Bird, Arnall Golden Gregory), together with a robust state-court and Eleventh Circuit bar.

Emory's defining facts are mid-size and Atlanta-tied. The school admits roughly 442 students each year from a pool of approximately 1,580 — an acceptance rate around 28.0% — and enrolls a first-year class of approximately 197 students. The school is large enough to provide curricular breadth in distinct areas (Emory's signature health-law concentration, an Atlanta-based litigation advocacy program), but small enough to maintain a tight, collegial community.

Rankings and Reputation

Overall ranking

Ranked #26 (tie) in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report law-school rankings, tied with George Washington, Georgia, USC, and Wisconsin. Emory's rank has hovered in the #22–28 range across recent cycles.

Specialty rankings

#4 nationally in Trial Advocacy (U.S. News, 2026)
#16 in Health Law (U.S. News, 2026)
#18 in Tax (U.S. News, 2026)
#22 in Business/Corporate Law (U.S. News, 2026)
#1 in the state of Georgia for largest-employer placement
Long-running #1 trial-advocacy ranking reflects Emory's investment in mock trial, moot court, and skills-based training

Admissions: What It Takes to Get In

Entering class (Fall 2025)

The 2025 ABA Standard 509 Information Report records the following for the Fall 2025 cycle (Oct 6, 2024 – Oct 5, 2025):

1,580 completed applications
442 offers of admission
28.0% acceptance rate
197 students in the first-year class total

The admit rate is middling by T14 standards but competitive with peer private schools ranked similarly.

LSAT and GPA

Median LSAT among enrolled students: 167 (25th percentile: 161; 75th percentile: 170). Median undergraduate GPA: 3.85 (25th percentile: 3.60; 75th percentile: 3.95). Both medians sit below the T14 but above the regional private-school median, reflecting Emory's position as a regional private flagship in a top-30 metropolitan legal market.

Interpreting the numbers

Emory's stats reflect a regional private school whose applicant pool tilts toward Georgia residents, fall-back applicants who narrowly missed T14 admission, and candidates targeting the Atlanta legal market specifically. Atlanta's legal market is large enough to support Emory's placement but selective enough that the school's employment outcomes differentiate between applicants who target Atlanta firms and those who do not.

Application timing

J.D. applications open late September for Fall 2027 entry. Priority deadline: February 15, 2027. Standard deadline: April 1, 2027. Application fee: $75 (fee waivers broadly available). Decisions are released on a rolling basis from December through April.

Cost, Scholarships, and Debt

Tuition

2026–27 tuition is $69,070. Emory's tuition has tracked the regional private-school median in recent years, with annual increases in the 3–5% range. There is no resident/non-resident distinction for the J.D.: every student is charged the same tuition regardless of state of residence.

Cost of attendance

Published 2026–27 cost of attendance for a full-time J.D. student totals $106,406, including tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, books, transportation, personal expenses, and loan fees. The breakdown is approximately:

Tuition and fees: $69,070
Room and board: $19,500
Books and supplies: $2,200
Personal/transportation: $7,636
Loan fees: $8,000 (estimated max)

Financial aid

The school discloses student grant receipt in the 2025 ABA Standard 509 reporting period, with a median grant of $18,000 (25th: $5,000; 75th: $30,000). Approximately 75–80% of the student body receives grant aid. Emory's grant aid is split between need-based and merit components; a small number of conditional scholarships are awarded each year (typically fewer than 5 reductions/eliminations).

Debt perspective

Emory's Debt figures for the Class of 2025 (estimated from past reports): average debt for borrowers $134,000; median debt for borrowers $135,000. Emory's LRAP and public-interest loan-forgiveness programs provide partial protection for graduates entering lower-paying public service or government careers.

Employment Outcomes

Employment (Class of 2025)

The Class of 2025 ABA employment summary discloses the following for graduates from the J.D. program (verified figures for the 2026 reporting cycle):

Employed – Bar Admission Required/Anticipated: ~85% (full-time long-term)
Employed – J.D. Advantage: ~6%
Federal Clerkships: ~3.5%
Other JD-required professional positions: ~5%

85.6% full-time, long-term bar-required employment ten months after graduation (ILRG), with 95% overall employment.

By employer category (Class of 2025):

Law firms, 501+ lawyers: ~25%
Law firms, 251–500 lawyers: ~10%
Law firms, 101–250 lawyers: ~7%
Law firms, 51–100 lawyers: ~7%
Law firms, 26–50 lawyers: ~6%
Law firms, 11–25 lawyers: ~7%
Law firms, 1–10 lawyers: ~10%
Business & Industry: ~7%
Government: ~7%
Public Interest: ~7%
Judicial Clerkships: ~7%

What these numbers mean

Emory's placement profile is Atlanta-weighted, with the largest employer partners in the Atlanta market (King & Spalding, Alston & Bird, Arnall Golden Gregory, McGuireWoods). Roughly one in three Emory graduates takes a position with an Am Law 200 firm. Federal clerkships run at the national average (3.5%); the bulk of clerkships are state and Georgia state-court clerkships. Public-interest and government employment track at the national average.

Bar passage

90.2% first-time pass rate for the Class of 2025 (joint jurisdictions). 96.0% first-time pass rate for the Class of 2025 in Georgia.

Where graduates go

The published employment-location breakdown for recent Emory graduates shows the top destinations as:

Georgia: ~63%
New York: ~6%
Florida: ~5%
Texas: ~4%
North Carolina: ~3%
California: ~3%
D.C.: ~2%

Atlanta's deep regional bar is the school's defining placement profile; roughly two-thirds of each class stays in Georgia.

Academics and Programs

Curriculum and special strengths

The J.D. is a six-semester, 90-credit course of study. Required first-year courses anchor the program in constitutional law, contracts, civil procedure, criminal law, property, torts, and legal writing. Upper-division concentrations include:

Health Law (signature concentration; #16 U.S. News)
Trial Advocacy (signature program; #4 U.S. News)
Tax Law (signature program; #18 U.S. News)
Business and Corporate Law
International Law
Intellectual Property
Environmental Law
Public Interest Law

Emory's law school also offers LL.M. and S.J.D. graduate programs, with concentrations in health law and human rights.

Joint degrees

Emory offers joint J.D. degrees with other Emory graduate divisions, including:

JD/MBA (Goizueta Business School)
JD/MPH (Rollins School of Public Health)
JD/MA in bioethics and other combined programs

Clinics and experiential learning

The clinical program includes several in-house clinics with regional and pro bono placement: the Turner Environmental Law Clinic, the Barton Child Law and Policy Center, Externship Program, and Criminal Justice Practicum. Each second- and third-year student is required to complete at least 6 credits of experiential learning.

The signature experiential offering is the Emory Trial Techniques program — a two-week intensive advocacy course that anchors the school's #4 trial-advocacy national ranking — together with the year-long Litigation Skills practicum.

Journals

Emory students publish on several student-edited journals, including:

Emory Law Journal
Emory International Law Review
Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal
Journal of Law and Religion

Journals feed the school's clerkship and academic pipeline through supervised student writing.

Centers and institutes

The major centers and institutes housed at Emory Law include:

Center for Law and Social Science
Center for the Study of Law and Religion
The Barton Child Law and Policy Center
Turner Environmental Law Clinic
Global Health Law and Policy program

Student Life and Location

Living in Atlanta

Atlanta is a major U.S. legal market and the cultural and economic capital of the South. Emory's law school is housed in Gambrell Hall on the Druid Hills campus, a few miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. The location offers easy access to midtown law-firm offices, the state and federal courthouses, and a vibrant metro Atlanta student community.

Student body

Emory's student body is moderate-sized: roughly 400 J.D. students in residence. The student body is collegial, with strong student-organization participation across the four major student-edited journals, the Moot Court Society, the Mock Trial team, and a range of affinity and practice-area groups. Atlanta's professional environment provides students with abundant externship and summer clerkship placements.

How Emory Compares

Choose Emory if

You want a top-30 law-school credential at a regional private flagship in Atlanta.
You are interested in health law, tax, or trial practice at top-20 specialty rankings.
You want a mid-size, collegial student body — large enough for curricular breadth, small enough for community.
You plan to take the Georgia bar and pursue an Atlanta-area career.
You prefer a moderate-cost-of-living legal market over coastal alternatives.

Consider alternatives if

You want a T14 credential with widely-discussed placements to NYC and DC firms (consider Duke, Penn, or Northwestern).
You want a different regional market — Florida, UNC, or Washington & Lee are health-law competitors with different employment profiles.
You want a part-time program (Emory's is small and limited; Georgetown night program or Northwestern's are better-known alternatives).
You want a different climate (Atlanta's heat and humidity can be intense in summer).

The TLS Verdict

Emory Law combines a top-30 LSAT/GPA median, a mid-size 197-student entering class, distinctive specialty rankings in trial advocacy (#4), health law (#16), and tax law (#18), and a tight Atlanta placement profile that produces reliable regional employment for graduates targeting Georgia. The school is a strong choice for students committed to the Atlanta market and especially those interested in health-law or trial-practice concentrations. For applicants seeking immediate coastal BigLaw placement or nationally-portable credentials, the regional employment gravity is a real consideration.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Emory Law School's acceptance rate?

28.0% — 1,580 completed applications and 442 offers of admission (Fall 2025, ABA Standard 509), with 197 students in the first-year class total.

What LSAT score do I need?

Median 167, with a 25th–75th percentile range of 161–170 (Fall 2025). Scores at or above 167 place you at the median.

What GPA do I need?

Median 3.85, with a 25th–75th percentile range of 3.60–3.95 (Fall 2025).

How much is tuition?

$69,070 per year (2026–27). Total cost of attendance is approximately $106,406 for a full-time J.D. student.

Does Emory give scholarships?

Yes — approximately 75–80% of students receive grant aid. Median grant amount $18,000 (25th: $5,000; 75th: $30,000).

What is Emory's bar passage rate?

90.2% first-time (Class of 2025, joint jurisdictions); 96.0% first-time in Georgia.

Is Emory good for BigLaw?

Emory places roughly one in three graduates at Am Law 200 firms, primarily in the Atlanta market (King & Spalding, Alston & Bird, Arnall Golden Gregory, McGuireWoods).

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

Yes — Emory operates a small part-time evening program, though its scale is limited and the full-time program is the dominant pathway.

Contact and Key Links

Emory University School of Law

1301 Clifton Road NE

Atlanta, GA 30322

Admissions Phone: 404-727-9495

Admissions Email: <[email protected]>

Main Office: 404-727-6801

Official links

TLS Forum Links

Sources

Emory Law

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