Law School Rises to No. 22 in Rankings for Legal Writing

NSU’s Shepard Broad Law Center rose to No. 22 in the U.S. News and World Report’s specialty rankings for legal writing, up from a No. 30 ranking last year. For the second year in a row, NSU and Stetson are the only Florida law schools ranked in the top 40 in legal writing. There are approximately 190 accredited law schools with legal writing programs.

“I attribute our rise in the rankings to being a leader in the field of legal writing,” said Anthony Niedwiecki, associate professor of law and director of the Lawyering Skills and Values program at the Shepard Broad Law Center.  “One of the most important features of our program is that we have one of the lowest student-teacher ratios in the country, so each student gets a great deal of individual attention from our professors. Our professors publish regularly in the field, and several professors serve in leadership roles in the main legal writing organizations.” 

Last September, the Shepard Broad Law Center hosted the Southeast Legal Writing Conference on NSU’s main campus. More than 60 Lawyering Skills and Values professors from around the southeast attended the conference, which was geared towards legal research and writing faculty with “Teaching the Basics: Practical Ideas for the Legal Writing Classroom” as its theme.  In addition, professors in NSU’s Lawyering Skills and Values program have attended and presented at numerous legal writing conferences throughout the country over the past few years.

The U.S. News and World Report rankings for legal writing were compiled from nominations made by directors or members of the clinical and legal writing programs. Programs that received the most nominations appeared in the rankings.