2024 Best Legal Research Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

a master's degree in legal research is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #37 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Legal Research Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 411 master's degrees in legal research during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Legal Research School for Your Master's Degree

The legal research master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on legal research students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other legal research students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How much debt legal research students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized legal research related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for legal research students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Legal Research Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Legal Research in the Plains States Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in legal research.

10 Top Plains States Region Schools for a Master's in Legal Research

1

Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO

279 Annual Graduates

$47,010 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in legal research needs to check out Washington University in St Louis. Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the legal research program report average early career earnings of $47,010.

More information about a master’s in legal research from Washington University in St Louis

2

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

19 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in legal research needs to take a look at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in legal research from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

3

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

11 Annual Graduates

University of Nebraska - Lincoln is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in legal research. UNL is a very large public university located in the large city of Lincoln.More information about a master’s in legal research from University of Nebraska - Lincoln

4

Hamline University
Saint Paul, MN

21 Annual Graduates

Hamline University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in legal research. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, Hamline is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in legal research from Hamline University

5

University of Missouri - Columbia
Columbia, MO

6 Annual Graduates

Mizzou is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbia.More information about a master’s in legal research from University of Missouri - Columbia

6

University of St Thomas Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN

25 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Saint Paul, UST MN is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in legal research from University of St Thomas Minnesota

7

University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

5 Annual Graduates

Iowa is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Iowa City.More information about a master’s in legal research from University of Iowa

8

University of Missouri - Kansas City
Kansas City, MO

23 Annual Graduates

UMKC is a large public university located in the large city of Kansas City.More information about a master’s in legal research from University of Missouri - Kansas City

9

Washburn University
Topeka, KS

4 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Topeka, Washburn University is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in legal research from Washburn University

10

Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Saint Paul, MN

Located in the city of Saint Paul, Mitchell Hamline is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.More information about a master’s in legal research from Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Best Legal Research Colleges by State

Explore the best legal research colleges for a specific state in the Plains States Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	193	311
Minnesota	174	78
Iowa	154	5
Kansas	149	6
Nebraska	123	11

View All Rankings >

Legal Research Related Rankings by Major

One of 4 majors within the Legal Professions area of study, Legal Research has other similar majors worth exploring.

Legal Research Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Advanced Legal Research/Studies	263
American/U.S. Law/Legal Studies/Jurisprudence	60
Tax Law/Taxation	27
Other Legal Research & Advanced Professional Studies	27
Intellectual Property Law	14
Tribal/Indigenous Law	13
Programs for Foreign Lawyers	6
Health Law	1

Most Popular Majors Related to Legal Research

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Legal Professions (Other)	28
Non-Professional General Legal Studies	22

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.