Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center (also known as Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law. As the second largest law school in the United States, Georgetown Law often touts the advantages of its wide range of program offerings and proximity to federal agencies and courts, including the Supreme Court.

From 1996 to 2009, the Law Center held an average rank of 13.64 on the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking, making it one of the 14 law schools that consistently place at the top.

Reputation and Ranking

Georgetown Law has placed in U.S. News & World Report's top 14 (out of over 200) law schools every year since the inception of the magazine's law school rankings. In the 2014 edition, Georgetown was ranked the #13 law school in the nation overall and its part-time J.D. program was ranked #1. The school also ranked #1 in clinical programs, #3 in international law, #2 in tax law, #4 in trial advocacy, #7 in healthcare law, and #8 in environmental law. The 2014 QS World University Rankings list Georgetown as the 17th-best law school in the world and 8th-best in the United States. In its latest ranking, December 2014, Business Insider ranks Georgetown as the 7th best law school in the US.

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private research university in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher education in the United States. Located in Washington's historic Georgetown neighborhood, the university's main campus is noted for Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark. Georgetown's law school is located on Capitol Hill, and the university has auxiliary campuses in Italy, Turkey, and Qatar.

Georgetown's founding by John Carroll, America's first Catholic bishop, realized efforts dating from the settlement of the province of Maryland in 1634 to establish a local Roman Catholic college in the face of religious persecution. The university expanded after the American Civil War under the leadership of Patrick Francis Healy, who came to be known as Georgetown's "second founder" despite having been born a slave by law. Jesuits have participated in the university's administration since 1805, a heritage Georgetown celebrates, but the university has always been governed independently of the Society of Jesus and of church authorities.