University of New Hampshire School of Law

The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law is a public law school in Concord, New Hampshire, associated with the University of New Hampshire. It is the only law school in the state and was founded in 1973 by Robert H. Rines as the Franklin Pierce Law Center, named after the 14th President of the United States and New Hampshire native. (Pierce was the only U.S. president from the state of New Hampshire.) The school is particularly well known for its Intellectual Property Law program. History The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law was founded in 1973 as the Franklin Pierce Law Center, becoming the first law school in New Hampshire. On April 27, 2010, Franklin Pierce Law Center formally signed an affiliation agreement with the University of New Hampshire. The school was renamed the University of New Hampshire School of Law when the affiliation became effective. At the alumni reception during the INTA Annual Meeting in 2019, Dean Carpenter announced the incorporation of "Franklin Pierce" back into the school's name. The school was renamed the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. As of the 2023 rankings, among all ranked law schools in the United States, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNH Franklin Pierce Law 105th. The school was ranked 48th by Above the Law's 2018 rankings which are outcome (i.e. bar passage rate and employment results) oriented, but was unranked in 2022. UNH Franklin Pierce has been among the top 10 intellectual property law schools in the United States for the past 30 years. In its 2021 ranking of "America's Best Intellectual Property Law Programs", U.S. News & World Report ranked UNH Law's program 4th in the nation in the intellectual property specialty rankings. Among online law schools, UNH was ranked #1 by Best Value Schools in 2022.