Boston College Law School: A Comprehensive Overview

Boston College Law School (BC Law), a Jesuit institution located in Newton, Massachusetts, offers a holistic legal education that balances legal theory with practical experience. Founded in 1929, the school is situated on a 40-acre campus minutes from downtown Boston, a hub of legal, corporate, and academic opportunities. BC Law is accredited by the American Bar Association, ensuring that its Juris Doctor (JD) program meets the educational requirements for bar examination eligibility in all 50 U.S. states.

A Commitment to Community and Social Justice

BC Law distinguishes itself by blending high academic expectations with a strong sense of community, fostering a commitment to social justice among its students. This commitment is manifested through various opportunities to aid real clients in need.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

BC Law provides extensive experiential learning opportunities, allowing students to gain practical skills and real-world experience. These opportunities include:

Clinics: Students can participate in clinics such as the Prison Disciplinary Clinic and the Ninth Circuit Appellate Program, providing legal assistance to those in need.
Legal Services Lab: This lab offers legal services to the community, providing students with hands-on experience in serving clients.

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Oral Advocacy Program: This program allows students to sharpen their courtroom skills through mock trials and other advocacy exercises.
Externships: Externships form a crucial part of a BC Law education. The Semester-in-Practice Programs allow students to work up to 37 hours a week in legal settings, either locally or internationally, while attending an accompanying seminar. Tethered Externships combine traditional coursework with a part-time placement in the field.

These programs take full advantage of Boston's thriving legal environment, immersing students in the practice of law.

Academics and Curriculum

BC Law combines a cutting-edge, academically challenging curriculum with a focus on the building blocks of a successful legal career. The curriculum emphasizes legal doctrine, research, writing, and analysis, along with a diverse set of elective courses.

First-Year Program

The first-year law program includes foundational courses such as:

Constitutional Law
Criminal Law
Civil Procedure
Contracts
Property
Torts

In addition, all first-year students are required to take a two-semester legal reasoning, research, and writing course called Law Practice, which provides experiential learning credits and a foundation in critical thinking, analysis, and communication. There is also a 1L experiential-based elective in the spring semester.

Programs Abroad

BC Law offers programs abroad through the Semester-in-Practice International Program, primarily based in Dublin, and exchange programs with Bucerius Law School, Paris HEAD Law School, and Renmin University in China.

Faculty

BC Law is well known for the quality of its teaching. The faculty are published scholars and leaders in the profession, recognized nationally and internationally for their expertise. They are dedicated to mentoring students and believe in the importance of a legal education that enables graduates to adapt to the changing demands of law practice.

Law Journals and Publications

Boston College Law School has two main, student-run publications: the Boston College Law Review (BCLR) and the Uniform Commercial Code Reporter-Digest (UCC Reporter-Digest).

Boston College Law Review (BCLR): The Law School's flagship journal, ranked 16th in the 2023 Washington & Lee Law Review Rankings. It publishes high-quality pieces written by students and scholars on a wide variety of legal issues. The BCLR publishes eight print issues and one electronic-only issue per year.

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Uniform Commercial Code Reporter-Digest: Published by Matthew Bender & Company, a division of LexisNexis, this journal provides comprehensive coverage of commercial law.

Library and Facilities

The BC Law campus is designed to foster community and provide a learning environment that allows for both formal and informal interaction among faculty, students, and staff.

Law Library

Opened in 1996, the 84,500-square-foot Law Library houses a vast collection of legal resources. The library contains four levels organized in four wings around a unifying central atrium. It houses 500,000 print volumes covering all major areas of American law and primary legal materials from the federal government, Canada, United Kingdom, United Nations, and European Union. The library also features a substantial collection of electronic volumes, treatises, periodicals, and a growing collection of international and comparative law material.

Other Facilities

The East Wing includes classrooms, faculty offices, administrative offices for a career services center and a career resources library, two conference rooms, and the John J. and Mary Daly Curtin Center for Public Interest Law. The school’s Center for Experiential Learning is housed in the Smith Wing. All academic, administrative, library, and service facilities are accessible to persons with physical disabilities.

Rankings and Recognition

U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings placed BC Law as the 25th best law school in the country in 2025.
In 2025, the magazine ranked BC Law's tax program tied for 12th in the nation, its intellectual property law program tied for 31st, and its international law program tied for 29th.

Bar Passage Rates

In 2022, the overall bar examination passage rate for BC Law first-time examination takers was 91.77%.

Cost and Financial Aid

The total cost of attendance (including tuition, fees, and living expenses) at BC Law for incoming students in the 2023-2024 academic year is $91,101. Nearly 90 percent of incoming students are awarded financial aid, and 94 percent of these students receive scholarship assistance as part of their financial aid awards. Select students are named dean’s scholars and are awarded full-tuition scholarships. Other entering students are awarded full-tuition public service scholarships because of their demonstrated commitment to public interest law. Scholarships awarded for the first year will be automatically renewed for the second and third years provided that students make satisfactory academic progress.

Financial Aid Office

The Financial Aid Office administers the Law School’s scholarship program, federal and private loan programs, and the Federal Work-Study Program. All prospective students admitted to the law school are considered for merit scholarships.

Student Life and Community

BC Law is a unique community focused upon the development of the whole person, nurturing students not just academically, but socially and spiritually as well. The school has a vibrant social life. The Law Student Association (LSA) and 40 other active student groups host many scholarly events during the year, including distinguished speakers and lecturers, relevant film screenings and discussion panels, and jointly sponsored events during Diversity Month, such as Culture Shock, which examines the role of privilege in society. The school holds a welcome reception in the fall, as well as dean’s office-hosted events, such as Oktoberfest and Harvest Desserts, town meetings, and mentoring programs with faculty and alumni.

Diversity and Inclusion

BC Law has an associate dean for external relations, diversity, and inclusion who focuses on assisting diverse students in acclimating to law school and the legal profession through special events and workshops, as well as pipeline programs with law firms, corporations, and nonprofits.

Public Interest Programs

Home to the John and Mary Daly Curtin Center for Public Interest Law programs, BC Law has a long, celebrated tradition of public service. The Office of Career Services has a dedicated director of public interest programs who helps coordinate the school’s various efforts and advises students pursuing careers in public service. BC Law’s public interest scholarships assist students with tuition, and the school’s Francis X. Bellotti Loan Repayment Assistance and Forgiveness Program (LRAP) assists with debt relief for graduates working in public interest-related positions.

Admissions

The Law School considers many factors during the admission process. Academic achievement and LSAT scores are extremely significant, but work and professional experience, college and volunteer activities, the quality of recommendations, and the personal statement also play an important role in this decision-making process. BC Law has no minimum cutoff either for GPA or LSAT score. In evaluating the undergraduate record, class rank and courses taken are considered. For the class entering in 2024, 13.27% of applicants were admitted with 26.20% of admitted students enrolling. The application deadline is March 1st.

Career Services

The Career Services Office assists students and alumni in identifying their talents and finding meaningful employment. The office offers over 130 career-development programs throughout the academic year. The signature program, 1L Bootcamp, sets the stage with early professional skill development and significant practitioner and practice-area exposure. The team spends nearly 2,000 hours annually providing career counseling. The alumni of Boston College Law School are passionate about their commitment to help current students. Nearly every week, alumni are on campus to help out with programming. Beyond campus, Boston College Law School alumni are very approachable. This is especially important to those who are beginning to form their professional networks.

Notable Faculty

Mary Sarah Bilder: Founders Professor of Law, legal historian, and author of Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention, which won the 2016 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy. She teaches broadly in the areas of property, trusts and estates, and American legal and constitutional history.

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