University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law was ranked No. 1 in the nation for government law in a new report from preLaw Magazine, sharing the top spot with two other prestigious law schools—New York Law School and the University of Pennsylvania.

Pacific ranked higher than Yale University, Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley.

McGeorge is in a prime location—three miles from the California State Capitol Building in Sacramento—providing an unparalleled opportunity to impact critical government and public policy issues. The law school is home to the Capital Center for Law & Policy, a Capital Lawyering Certificate of Concentration and a one-of-a-kind Legislative and Public Policy Clinic.

“The opportunity to not only study the law, but also be a part of shaping public policy going forward, is the focal point of McGeorge’s Capital Center and Capital Lawyering Concentration,” said Erin O’Neal, director of the center. “Our students are able to take courses from faculty who have been involved in the policymaking process at the highest level and obtain hands-on experience through our Legislative & Public Policy Clinic, which provides the opportunity to influence California law and policy while still in law school.”

The Capital Center for Law & Policy offers a unique blend of courses and experiential opportunities to prepare students for a career focused on shaping public policy in government and the Capital Center Alumni Board helps to connect students to jobs, internships and networking opportunities. McGeorge alumni work at every level of government and legislative advocacy in and around California’s capital.

Twenty-four percent of McGeorge’s Class of 2023 are employed in government jobs, with an additional 12% working in public interest positions. For the past five consecutive years, more than 90% of capital lawyering concentration graduates were employed within one year of graduation.

"As a Sacramento native with a background in the state legislature, I always dreamt of attending McGeorge and immersing myself in its Capital Center,” said Taylor Gonsalves ’25, a third-year law student. “Now that I am approaching graduation, it is difficult to adequately express my gratitude for McGeorge and the knowledge I have gained over these past few years.

“The opportunity to obtain practical skills through unique experiences such as the California Initiative Review and the Legislative & Public Policy Clinic has been unmatched, solidifying why our government law program is now ranked No. 1 nationally," Gonsalves said.

McGeorge’s unique Legislative & Public Policy Clinic provides practical skills experience in researching, drafting and pursuing adoption of California state legislative and public policy changes. Students interact with client sponsors, elected and appointed officials in state government and their staff, lobbyists and public affairs professionals, often working to develop coalitions in support of a legislative proposal.

Since the Clinic began in 2013, students have worked on 14 bills that later became law. Most recently, water law legislation to ensure that disadvantaged communities have access to safe, affordable drinking water that three McGeorge students worked on was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.

Students also worked on a 2021 first-in-the-nation bill requiring hospitals to allow the use of cannabis for pain relief for terminally ill patients and a 2022 bill that made English as a Second Language courses more financially accessible to recent immigrants.

McGeorge School of Law partners with the Transformational Change Partnership and Breaking Barriers California. The Transformational Change Partnership helps local governments make improvements to mental health services, while Breaking Barriers California works to expand advocacy, education, training, and policy development for child and youth-serving systems across the state.