Princeton Review's Best 174 Law Schools

The Princeton Review has published the 2009 edition of The 174 Best Law Schools:

We surveyed more than 18,000 students at 174 law schools and used the information that they reported to us, along with school statistics provided by school administrators, to create 11 ranking lists (free registration required):

Best Classroom Experience:  Based on student assessment of professors' teaching abilities and recognition in their fields, the integration of new business trends and practices in the curricula, and the intellectual level of clasmmates' contributions in course discussions.

1. Texas
2. Loyola-L.A.
3. Chapman
4. Stanford
5. Virginia

Best Quality of Life:  Based on student assessment of:  whether there is a strong sense of community at the school, how aesthetically pleasing the law school is, the location of the law school, the quality of the social life, classroom facilities, and the library staff.

1. Virginia
2. University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)
3. Chapman
4. Stanford
5. Vanderbilt

Best Career Prospects:  Based on the Career Rating.

1. Michigan
2. Northwestern
3. Virginia
4. Harvard
5. Boston College

Professors Rock (Legally Speaking):  Based on the Professors Interesting and Professors Accessible Ratings.

1. Boston University
2. Chicago
3. Stanford
4. Virginia
5. Boston College

Most Diverse Faculty:  Based on the percentage of the law school faculty that is from a minority group and student assessment of whether the faculty makes up a broadly diverse group of individuals.

1. Howard
2. Florida International
3. Temple
4. Hawaii
5. Southern

Most Competitive Students:  Based on law student assessment of how competitive classmates are, how heavy the workload is, and the perceived academic pressure.

1. Baylor
2. Ohio Northern
3. BYU
4. Syracuse
5. St. John's

Students Lean to the Left:  Based on student assessment of the political bent of the student body at large.

1. Northeastern
2. CUNY
3. Lewis & Clark
4. American
5. District of Columbia

Students Lean to the Right:  Based on student assessment of the political bent of the student body at large.

1. Ave Maria
2. Regent
3. BYU
4. George Mason
5. Notre Dame

Best Environment for Minority Students:  Based on the percentage of the student body that is from underrepresented minorities and student assessment of whether all students receive equal treatment by fellow students and the faculty, regardless of ethnicity.

1. Howard
2. Hawaii
3. St. Thomas University (Florida)
4. Florida International
5. USC

Most Welcoming of Older Students:  Based on the average age of entry of law school students and student reports of how many years they spent out of college before enrolling in law school.

1. CUNY
2. Hawaii
3. Lewis & Clark
4. San Francisco
5. Arizona

Toughest to Get Into:  Based on the Admissions Selectivity Rating.

1. Yale
2. Harvard
3. Stanford
4. UC-Berkeley
5. Penn

Unfortunately, the Princeton Review did not release the response rate per school, so it is impossible to determine how the rankings are affected by each school's representation among the respondents.  For the 2008 rankings, see here.