Law School Rankings Celebrate St. Thomas University's Status as A Powerhouse Producer of Mission-Driven Attorneys

U.S. News & World Report finds STU's Benjamin L. Crump College of Law leads Florida in law school alumni working in Public Interest Law

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., April 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Thomas University's Benjamin L. Crump College of Law leads Florida law schools in producing lawyers who serve nonprofit organizations, public defender offices, and other underrepresented causes and people, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Nearly one in six STU law school graduates, or 14%, work in U.S. News & World Report magazine's new Public Interest Law category, according to the magazine's recently released Best Law Schools list. U.S. News & World Report crowned STU the top school in Florida and No. 22 nationwide in producing Public Interest Law practitioners.

"This accomplishment underscores our commitment to service and community, which is at the heart of our Catholic mission," said Tarlika Nunez-Navarro, dean of STU's Benjamin L. Crump College of Law. "We believe that the law school should be a force for good, and our graduates are dedicated to using their legal education to uplift and support those in need."

"This latest recognition by U.S. News & World Report highlights our commitment to pursuing excellence," President David A. Armstrong, J.D. added. "Our Dean, faculty, students, and alumni are united in advancing the Mission of our university. While we are always grateful when receiving national accolades, we know that the true reward lies in the impact of the work itself. We remain humbled and proud to serve, teach, and lead with purpose, always striving to make a difference in the lives of our students and the communities we touch."

U.S. News & World Report's Best Law Schools list bases its overall and special category rankings on surveys completed by American Bar Association-accredited law schools and the data they disclose to the ABA. Public Interest Law is one of three new categories added by the magazine to its 2025 Best Law Schools list.

U.S. News & World Report also added categories for the highest shares of law school graduates in full-time, long-term jobs at large law firms (with more than 500 attorneys) and law schools with the most federal clerkships students. Approximately 200 law schools serve America.

STU Law has long been known for providing more opportunities to traditionally underrepresented students than most law schools nationwide. The Benjamin L. Crump College of Law's student body is 85% non-white (80% Black and Latino), including first-generation college students. 

STU Law trails only a pair of Puerto Rican law schools and one at Howard University, an HBCU, for the distinction of America's most diverse law school. STU's diverse law school student body has been on a long run of recent successes.

STU Law finished fifth out of 12 accredited Florida law schools for first-time bar passage results for July test takers, according to data released last November, and second out of 12 for the February 2024 bar passage results, which were announced in April 2024.

More than eight in 10 (83%) of STU's first-time test takers passed the July 2024 bar, an STU Law all-time high that is also 6.4 percentage points higher than the statewide average of 76.6%, according to the Florida Board of Examiners.

Incoming LSAT scores and GPAs for STU Law students continue to climb as higher admissions standards and an increasingly customized educational approach have lured STU Law's highest-performing class. The top third of STU's 2024 law school class earned an LSAT score of 155 and a grade point average of 3.59 compared with 151 and 3.36 in 2014.

STU Law's enrollment rocketed to a record 395 1L students (820 overall) for the fall 2024 semester, up about 66% from 238 in 2023 and approximately 132% higher than the school's 170-student tally in 2018, when President Armstrong assumed office.

About St. Thomas University
St. Thomas University (STU) is one of the South's premier Catholic universities. It is a private, nonprofit institution committed to fostering students' academic and professional success and helping them become ethical leaders in the global community. Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is a Miami Archdiocesan university, the only archdiocesan university in Florida, and one of just 11 nationwide. STU offers more than 60 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degree programs online and on the university's beautiful Miami Gardens via its College of Nursing, College of Health Sciences & Technology, Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, Gus Machado College of Business, and Biscayne College for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. STU serves 7,660 undergraduate, graduate, and dual enrollment students, a 78% increase since President David A. Armstrong, J.D., took office in the fall of 2018. STU is completing $123 million in improvements, its biggest expansion since its 1961 founding, including adding 400,000 square feet of new facilities. Among other objectives, President Armstrong's new "Pursue Excellence" strategic vision seeks to build a new 99,000-square-foot STEM and nursing building, expand the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, and construct new athletic facilities.

Contact: Dan Axelrod | St. Thomas University | [email protected] | 305.474.2418 

SOURCE St. Thomas University