U.S. News Annual Assessment of Law School Tax Programs

I received in the mail today my ballot for the 2011 U.S. News Tax Rankings (see the 2010 tax rankings here and here).  As in prior years, the survey is intended "to identify the law schools having the top programs in tax law."  The survey is sent "to a sample of law school faculty listed in the AALS Directory of Law Teachers 2007-2008 as currently teaching a course or seminar in tax law."  Recipients are asked "to [i]dentify up to fifteen (15) schools that have the highest-quality tax law courses or programs.  In making your choices consider all elements that contribute to a program's excellence, for example, the depth and breadth of the program, faculty research and publication record, etc." 

As Donald Tobin (Ohio State) has noted, it is more than strange that NYU has finished ahead of Florida and Georgetown each year that U.S. News has conducted the survey.  Because the survey ranks the schools by how often they appear on the respondents' "Top 15" lists, this means that some folks list NYU, but not Florida and Georgetown, among the Top 15 tax programs.  

In filling out your survey, you may want to consider various resources available on TaxProf Blog, including:

• Links to All 32 Graduate Tax Programs
• Tax Faculty Rankings
• Graduate Tax Faculty Rankings
• Tax Professor Rankings
• Tax Faculty Metropolitan Area Rankings
• Links to Tax Colloquia Workshop Series (left column of the blog)