Saturday, November 4, 2023
The U.S. News Rankings Of New York's 14 Law Schools
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, A Look at the U.S. News Law School Rankings From NYU to Touro:
The recent law school rankings by U.S. News have delineated a broad spectrum of legal education institutions across New York, with Brooklyn Law School holding its own amidst a highly competitive landscape. The rankings are a testament to the varying academic experiences and opportunities offered by these institutions:
- NYU Law (4)
- Columbia Law (8)
- Cornell University (13)
- Fordham University (29)
- St. John’s University (60)
- Cardozo University (69)
- Albany Law School (105)
- Brooklyn Law School (111)
- Syracuse University (122)
- New York Law School (125)
- Pace University (131)
- Hofstra University (140)
- CUNY School of Law (154)
- Touro University (167)
November 4, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
U.S. News Recalculates Ranking Of 213 Colleges Due To 'Code Anomaly'
Robert Morse (Chief Data Strategist. U.S. News), Corrections to the 2024 Best Colleges Rankings:
U.S. News has recalculated the numerical ranks of 213 schools due to a code anomaly.
After publication of the 2024 Best Colleges, an anomaly in the code used to output those rankings was discovered. As a result of correcting the anomaly, the rankings of 213 schools have changed from what was published on September 18, 2023. We therefore published updated rankings for those schools on October 27, 2023.
Below is a listing of each school impacted by the anomaly in the code and a notice of what that school’s rank was upon publication and what its rank is after the correction. The schools are sorted by their category and then by their corrected rank. Note that some schools in this list whose individual ranks changed continue to only have their ranking ranges display on usnews.com, which is the practice followed for schools placing in the bottom 10% of the rankings. ...
November 1, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
July 2023 Ohio Bar Exam Results: Ohio State #1
July Ohio Bar Exam Results for first-time test-takers by law school:
Bar Pass Rank (Rate) |
School | US News Rank OH (Overall) |
1 (92.0%) | Ohio State | 1 (22) |
2 (88.1%) | Cincinnati | 3 (84) |
3 (86.3%) | Dayton | 4 (111) |
4 (77.9%) | Capital | 9 (175) |
5 (76.6%) | Case Western | 2 (80) |
6 (73.3%) | Akron | 8 (150) |
7 (70.0%) | Toledo | 6 (141) |
8 (69.4%) | Cleveland State | 4 (111) |
9 (61.3%) | Ohio Northern | 7 (146) |
Prior TaxProf Blog Coverage:
October 31, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Harvard Resident Used AI To Create Medical School Ranking Alternative To U.S. News
Inside Higher Ed, AI Med School Rankings Tool Offers Alternative to Traditional Metrics:
As the backlash against traditional college rankings continues to gain momentum, one physician has used artificial intelligence to create an alternative ranking system for prospective medical students.
Instead of relying on U.S. News and World Report’s widely recognized rankings, which consider factors such as medical schools’ research profiles, acceptance rates and the grades and test scores of their students, the new AI-powered ranking tool allows aspiring doctors to include—and choose the weight assigned to—numerous additional factors, such as diversity of students and cost of attendance.
October 31, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Monday, October 2, 2023
After Adding Graduate Debt And Salaries, And Faculty Research, To Its College Rankings, Will U.S. News Overhaul The Law School Rankings Methodology Yet Again?
Following up on my previous post, 2024 U.S. News College Rankings Released With Biggest Methodology Changes In History, Including First-Ever Measure Of Faculty Research:
In the law school rankings released in May, U.S. News made the most significant changes in the methodology in the history of the rankings. Similarly, in the college rankings released in September, U.S. News again made the most significant changes in the methodology in the history of the rankings, including (1) graduate debt, (3) graduate salaries, and (3) faculty research:
Borrower debt (5%; up from 3%) assesses each school's typical average accumulated federal loan debt among borrowers only. Graduates who covered their expenses without borrowing did not help or hurt schools. New this edition, the data was sourced from College Scorecard instead of the U.S. News survey for all schools, and was of median debt instead of mean debt. The calculation averaged 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 data. ...
2. College grads earning more than a high school graduate (5%, new) assessed the proportion of a school's federal loan recipients who in 2019-2020—four years since completing their undergraduate degrees—were earning more than a typical high school graduate salary, as determined by and reported in the College Scorecard. The website documented that the median wage of workers ages 25-34 that self-identify as high school graduates was $32,000 in 2021 dollars. This means the vast majority of jobs utilizing a college degree, even including those not chosen for being in high-paying fields, exceed this threshold. Schools were assigned a perfect score if at least 90% of graduates achieved this threshold, and the remaining schools were assessed by how close they were to 90%. The data only pertained to employed college graduates; meaning nongraduates, or graduates who four years later were in graduate school, working part-time or simply not in the workforce did not help or hurt any school. ...
3. Faculty research (National Universities only):
October 2, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
2024 U.S. News College Rankings Released With Biggest Methodology Changes In History, Including First-Ever Measure Of Faculty Research
U.S. News & World Report has released its 2024 College Rankings. In the most recent law school rankings released in May, U.S. News made the most significant changes in the methodology in the history of the rankings. U.S. News followed suit with the most significant changes in the methodology in the history of the college rankings:
U.S. News & World Report made refinements to this year's rankings formula by dropping five longstanding factors, modifying the weights of several other factors, and introducing a few new ones. ...
[S]chools' eligibility to be ranked was not contingent on their participation in U.S. News' surveys. But the vast majority of schools U.S. News surveyed did report data to U.S. News – including 99 of the top 100 ranked National Universities and 97 of the top 100 National Liberal Arts Colleges. ...
Five ranking factors totaling 18% of the previous edition's rankings were removed from the formula completely. These factors and their corresponding weights last year were class size (8%), the proportion of a school's faculty with terminal degrees (3%), alumni giving rate (3%), the proportion of graduates borrowing (2%) and high school class standing (2%).
Faculty research (National Universities only): To be grouped in the National Universities ranking, an institution must be classified in the Carnegie Classifications as awarding doctorate-level degrees and conducting at least "moderate research." In alignment with these schools' missions, U.S. News introduced four new faculty research ranking factors based on bibliometric data, such as publications and citations, in partnership with Elsevier. They each reflect a five-year window from 2018-2022 as well as the strength and impact of the faculty instead of the scale of the university.
- Citations per publication (1.25%) is total citations divided by total publications. This is the average number of citations a university's publications receive. The metrics are extracted from SciVal based on Elsevier’s Scopus® Data.
- Field weighted citation impact (1.25%) is citation impact per paper, normalized for each field. The metrics are extracted from SciVal based on Elsevier’s Scopus® Data.
- The share of publications cited in the top 5% of the most cited journals (1%). The metrics are extracted from SciVal based on Elsevier’s Scopus® Data.
- The share of publications cited in the top 25% of the most cited journals (0.5%). The metrics are extracted from SciVal based on Elsevier’s Scopus® Data.
Universities with fewer than 5,000 total publications over five years were discounted on a sliding scale to reduce outliers based on small cohort sizes, and to require a minimum quantity of research to score well on the factor. Each indicator is calculated at the school level.
In February 2019, U.S. News announced it would publish a law faculty scholarly impact ranking in the 2019 law school rankings based on 5-year citation data from HeinOnline (FAQ; Updated FAQ; Additional Guidance; A Defense And Explanation Of The U.S. News 'Citation' Ranking). In November 2020, U.S. News announced it would be publishing the scholarly impact ranking in 2021. After much criticism of the proposed ranking, in June 2021 U.S. News abandoned its effort to rank law faculty scholarly impact.
For more on the methodology changes in the 2024 U.S. News college rankings methodology, see:
- U.S. News, How U.S. News Calculated the 2024 Best Colleges Rankings
- U.S. News, A More Detailed Look at the Ranking Factors
- U.S. News, Key Changes in How the 2024 Best Colleges Rankings Were Calculated
- Chronicle of Higher Education, The ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Are Here, With an Altered Formula and Few Defectors
- New York Times, With a New Formula, U.S. News Rankings Boost Some State Universities
- University Business, The U.S. News Exodus Never Happened. How Did the Top Ranking Service Outlast Naysayers?
- Washington Post, U.S. News College Rankings Are Scrambled as its Formula Changes
Here are the Top 25 National Universities:
Rank |
National Universities |
1 |
Princeton |
2 | MIT |
3 | Harvard |
3 | Stanford |
5 | Yale |
6 | Penn |
7 | Cal-Tech |
7 | Duke |
9 | Brown |
9 | Johns Hopkins |
9 | Northwestern |
12 | Chicago |
12 | Columbia |
12 | Cornell |
15 | UC-Berkeley |
15 | UCLA |
17 | Rice |
18 | Dartmouth |
18 | Vanderbilt |
20 | Notre Dame |
21 | Michigan |
22 | Georgetown |
22 | North Carolina |
24 | Carnegie Mellon |
24 | Emory |
24 | Virginia |
24 | Washington University |
Prior Years' U.S. News National University Rankings:
Here are the Top 25 Liberal Arts Colleges:
September 19, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Do Devout Law Schools Take A Hit In The U.S. News Peer Reputation Rankings?
Following up on last Sunday's post, 2023 Religious Law School Rankings: Do Devout Law Schools Take a Hit in the U.S. News Peer Review Rankings, preLaw (Winter 2023):
Liberty University School of Law ranks No. 1 on our list of Most Devout Law Schools. It also has the dubious distinction of being ranked last in peer assessment by U.S. News & World Report, receiving a score of 1.2 out of 5.
It's not alone. Ave Maria School of Law, which is No. 3 on our list, is tied with Liberty for last place. Regent Law and Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, are not far behind, with a 1.3 in peer assessment. In fact, the 20 schools on our Most Devout list average 1.96 in the peer ranking, while the average for all law schools is 2.51. ...
Most all schools of faith seem to see their U.S. News ranking dragged down by peer assessment. Brigham Young University - J. Reuben Clark Law School, for example, is ranked 23rd overall by U.S. News, but it comes in 52nd for peer assessment. It is one of only two schools on our Most Devout list have peer assessments higher than the national average {Pepperdine is the other].
Some law professors feel the poor scores for religious schools is a vestige of religious bigotry. They say it takes longer for schools of faith than it does for other schools to build a strong reputation.
Mike Simkovic, a professor at USC Gould School of Law and longtime commentator on the U.S. News rankings, said the peer rankings move slowly. "They probably reflect perceptions based on the past and do not update quickly as schools improve or decline," he said.
Simkovic said it is hard to determine bias in the rankings, and he points to Georgetown University Law Center, Notre Dame Law School and Fordham University School of Law as schools of faith that rank high.
But none of those schools make our Most Devout list.
September 17, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
The Most Diverse Law Schools
preLaw, Most Diverse Law Schools:
Legal education stands at a crossroads. For years, law schools have sought to match enrollment with the real world’s makeup of race, gender and other underrepresented groups.
Yes, the American Bar Association requires law schools to demonstrate a commitment to diversity in both students and faculty. But many schools have gone above and beyond that accreditation requirement.
In 2018, law schools hit a zenith for diversity. With minority enrollment numbers higher than ever, an unprecedented 80 law schools out of 204 made preLaw’s honor roll for diversity. Inclusion on the honor roll was based on how well enrollment matched national averages for various races.
But a different ABA requirement began chipping away at diversity. The ABA passed a new rule stating that law schools must attain a bar passage rate of 75% within two years of graduation.
Several law schools found themselves with bar passage rates either below the mark or dangerously close.
The new standard contributed to the closing of three law schools that had honors for diversity in 2019. Two other law schools dropped ABA accreditation to avoid a similar fate.
The loss of those schools meant a hit to diversity. At the same time, racial protests in 2020 brought diversity to the fore, with law schools doubling down on their commitment to enrolling a diverse student body. Law schools across the nation raised money for scholarships and created endowments to support diversity.
September 13, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Monday, September 11, 2023
2023 World Law School Rankings
Quacquarelli Symonds has released the 2023 World Law School Rankings as part of its World University Rankings. The methodology uses five indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, h-index, International Research Network (IRN). The rankings consist of 352 law schools, 55 in the United States. Here are the U.S. law schools, along with each school's position in the latest U.S. News rankings):
QS Ranking | School | US News Ranking |
1 | Harvard | 5 |
4 | Yale | 1 |
5 | Stanford | 1 |
6 | NYU | 5 |
8 | Columbia | 8 |
9 | UC-Berkeley | 10 |
10 | Chicago | 3 |
21 | Georgetown | 15 |
22 | UCLA | 14 |
27 | Penn | 4 |
29 | Duke | 5 |
34 | Cornell | 13 |
34 | Michigan | 10 |
51 | Virginia | 8 |
63 | Northwestern | 10 |
74 | Texas | 16 |
91 | George Washington | 35 |
98 | American | 89 |
101-150 | Boston University | 27 |
101-150 | Notre Dame | 27 |
101-150 | UC-Davis | 60 |
101-150 | University of Washington | 49 |
151-200 | Arizona State | 32 |
151-200 | Fordham | 29 |
151-200 | Illinois | 43 |
151-200 | Michigan State | 111 |
151-200 | Penn State-Univ. Park | 80 |
151-200 | UC-Irvine | 35 |
151-200 | USC | 16 |
151-200 | Vanderbilt | 16 |
151-200 | Wisconsin | 40 |
201-250 | Boston College | 29 |
201-250 | Emory | 35 |
201-250 | Indiana-Maurer | 45 |
201-250 | Minnesota | 16 |
201-250 | University of Arizona | 54 |
201-250 | Washington University | 20 |
251-300 | CUNY | 154 |
251-300 | Florida | 22 |
251-300 | Florida State | 56 |
251-300 | Illinois-Chicago | 159 |
251-300 | Miami | 71 |
251-300 | North Carolina | 22 |
251-300 | Ohio State | 22 |
251-300 | San Diego | 78 |
251-300 | Tulane | 71 |
301-350 | Cincinnati | 84 |
301-350 | Colorado | 56 |
301-350 | George Mason | 32 |
301-350 | Houston | 60 |
301-350 | Loyola-Chicago | 84 |
301-350 | Northeastern | 71 |
301-350 | Temple | 54 |
301-350 | Tufts | N/A |
301-350 | William & Mary | 45 |
September 11, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Sunday, September 10, 2023
2023 Religious Law School Rankings
The Most Devout Law Schools, preLaw (Winter 2023):
Religion has long played a significant role at many of the nation’s law schools. Here we highlight the top 20. ...
While 46 of the nation’s 200 law schools have ties to religious organizations, there is a big difference between them when it comes to acting on that faith.
While the 28 law schools associated with the Catholic religion stay true to a mission of serving the public good and educating the whole person, many provide few, if any, services or curriculum related to faith. And at many of those schools, few students ever talk of faith.
That’s not the case with the schools on our list.
To determine the top 20, we gathered information from the schools and from other sources. We looked at the percentage of students and faculty who belong to the faith; the number of religion-focused courses and other ways the school incorporates faith into its curriculum; religion-related journals, centers and clinics; religious services and clergy at the law school; and the mission of the law school.
This year, for the first time, we present the schools in one ranking, as opposed to best schools by denomination. Liberty University School of Law, a Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia, is No. 1. ... Regent Law practically tied for No. 1 on our list. ...
“The relationship between law and faith affects both what we do and how we do it,” [Regent Dean Brad] Lingo said. “While others might tell students that lawyers are sharks, we teach that lawyers can be healers of conflict. We teach that law, at its best, provides opportunities to walk with someone during what might be one of the darkest, scariest, loneliest times of their lives.”
September 10, 2023 in Faith, Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education, Pepperdine Legal Ed | Permalink
Saturday, September 2, 2023
U.S. District Court Dismisses Whistleblower's Claim That Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Raise Business School Ranking
Following up on my previous post, Whistleblower Claims Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Goose Business School Ranking: Law360, Rutgers Beats Suit Over Inflated MBA Job Data, For Now:
Rutgers University defeated, for now, a proposed class action by a part-time Master of Business Administration student accusing it of inflating its business school's rankings by misrepresenting post-graduate employment statistics, after a New Jersey federal judge found the plaintiff based his claims on a program he wasn't enrolled in.
In a 16-page order issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner dismissed, without prejudice, Lorenzo Budet's proposed class action against Rutgers Business School and Rutgers University, accusing the university system of inflating its rankings in publications like U.S. News & World Report by hiring MBA graduate students for "token permanent positions" through a temp agency called Adecco. ...
September 2, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
The Best Law Schools For Human Rights Law
Leaders in Human Rights Law, preLaw (Fall 2023):
Leaders in human rights law Protecting human rights is one of the world’s most vexing challenges. Name a nation that hasn’t faced struggles in doing so. Therefore, helping defend human rights around the globe has long been a vital mission of many law schools.
Methodology:
August 29, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Monday, August 14, 2023
The Fall 2023 Admissions Season: Applicants Are Down 1.9%, As Law Schools May Reduce Enrollment Due To Dramatic Changes In U.S. News Rankings Methodology
We are now 100% of the way through Fall 2023 law school admissions season. The number of law school applicants reported by LSAC is down -1.9% compared to last year at this time:
122 of the 198 law schools are experiencing a decrease in applications. Applications are down -10% or more at 34 law schools:
Applicants are down the most in New England (-7.0%), Mountain West (-5.8%), and Far West (-5.7%); and are up in Other (+17.7%):
Applicants' LSAT scores are up +1.6% in the 170-180 band, down -4.0% in the 160-169 band, down -4.5% in the 150-159 band, and up +0.2% in the 120-149 band:
August 14, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, August 10, 2023
The Best Law Schools For Practical Training
The Best Law Schools For Practical Training, preLaw (Spring 2023):
You may have heard the phrase “Learn by doing.”
Aristotle highlighted this idea when he said, “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
It’s a theory that speaks to the lovers of hands-on learning and posits that students must interact with their environment to learn best. For many law schools, this theory becomes reality through clinics, externships and simulation courses — or what is commonly known as practical training.
Practical Training Methodology
We graded schools on a number of data points, focusing on key practical training offerings such as clinics, externships, simulation courses, pro bono hours and moot trial participation.
August 10, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education, Pepperdine Legal Ed | Permalink
Monday, August 7, 2023
Incoming Class Of 2026 Relied Less On The U.S. News Rankings In Choosing A Law School
For many [law school applicants], the U.S. News & World Report annual law school rankings played a significant role in their decisions—despite longtime criticism from many in legal academia who advise applicants not to rely on the rankings.
Established in 1987, the rankings have historically been able to make or break a law school’s reputation and driven the hiring decisions of elite firms, many of which would hire new lawyers only from top-ranked schools.
But in 2023, rankings critics finally may have gotten their wish: Law school applicants relied less on the list because it was not published until May, and many by then already had taken acceptance offers, which usually arrive between December and April.
August 7, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Boycotts, Race, And Rankings: Howard Law School's Peculiar Position
Michael Conklin (Angelo State University), Boycotts, Race, Rankings, and Howard Law School's Peculiar Position:
Novel research was conducted in 2020 to measure disparities between the U.S. News & World Report overall rankings and the peer rankings of law schools. The research uncovered a stark outlier—Howard University School of Law—whose peer rank was consistently twenty to forty spots higher than its overall rank. Another article was published in 2023 using updated rankings data from 2022 and 2023. This update found that the disparity has been growing in severity in recent years. The present Article updates the research with the most recent 2024 data released in May 2023. With Howard’s overall ranking of 125 and peer ranking of forty-nine, the trend of increasingly disparate overall–peer rankings continues.
Because the overall rankings are largely based on objective factors, such as Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores, bar passage rates, and after-graduation employment, and the peer ranking is purely subjective, the overall—peer deviation provides valuable insight into potential bias in how law schools are viewed. Howard’s increasingly pronounced disparity between how it is viewed by its peers and its objective performance measures strengthens the original explanation in the 2020 paper: As racial salience increases in society, so does the unique standing of Howard—the most prestigious historically Black college or university (HBCU) law school. This Article investigates potential non-racial explanations that could result in peer rankings that are seventy-six spots above the overall rankings. These include an exceptional law review, use of promotional materials, location, political ideology, notable alumni, professor quality, unwillingness to game the system, and statistical noise. All of these non-racial explanations come up short.
August 3, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Constructing Inclusive & Current Scholarship Impact Rankings
Rob Willey (George Mason; Google Scholar), Melanie Knapp (George Mason; Google Scholar) & Ashley Matthews (George Mason), Constructing Inclusive & Current Scholarship Impact Rankings, 44 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 1 (2022):
Most legal scholarship ranking metrics focus on all-time publications — even rankings that purport to identify the top legal scholars of today, consider decades-old papers in their tabulations. This reliance on all-time publications leads to an underrepresentation of women. It also presents, scholars past their peak publication years as the current leaders in legal scholarship. Given the weight rankings carry within the legal community, skewed rankings could have an impact that extends beyond the exclusion of worthy scholars. Rankings may also affect tenure and career trajectories. Their power means we should do all we can to improve them.
While most legal scholarship rankings underrepresent women, research indicates that within the legal field women tend to be cited at the same or higher rates than men.
August 1, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education, Scholarship | Permalink
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Can Law School Rankings Predict Future Career Satisfaction?
Law.com, Can Law School Rankings Predict Future Career Satisfaction?:
Christopher D. Iacono graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School a little over four years ago. In 2019, he said in an interview with my predecessor, Karen Sloan, that U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings greatly influenced his decision to go to Penn Carey Law instead of to Temple University Beasley School of Law even though Temple has a part-time program and cost less.
Iacono worked as a full time police officer in Philadelphia while attending law school, and said, “At the end of the day, I would have been the same Chris going to Temple as the Chris at Penn. But I was willing to fork out an extra $100,000 and crush my body for three years, probably because of the rankings. If it weren’t for the rankings, I would have gone to Temple. It would have been a no brainer.”
In 2021, Iacono published Legally Unhappy: How US News and Law Schools Have Failed and How This Can Be Fixed How This Can Be Fixed in the Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center Law Review.
“So, US News, here is a guide to fixing the problem. The interviews have been done and the research had been completed; thus, the roadmap has been generated.” Iacono wrote in his paper’s conclusion. “Why not force schools to compete with each other over meaningful categories that ultimately lead to greater professional satisfaction?” ...
On June 15, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel on the U.S. News & World Report Law Rankings during the Association of American Law Schools’ Institutional Advancement conference to see if we could make sense of what has happened with the rankings of late and what the future might hold for them.
Paul L. Caron, dean of Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, was moderator and the two other speakers were William Treanor, dean of Georgetown University Law Center, and Mike Spivey, founder of Spivey Consulting Group. The discussion centered on the changes to U.S. News’ methodology after 63 law schools ceased cooperating with the survey.
July 29, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, July 27, 2023
The Top 100 Law Schools, Based On 5-, 10-, And 15-Year Rolling Average U.S. News Rankings
Bradley A. Areheart (Tennessee), The Top 100 Law Reviews: A Reference Guide Based on Historical USNWR Data:
The best proxy for how other law professors react and respond to publishing in main, or flagship, law reviews is the US News and World Report (USNWR) rankings. This paper utilizes historical USNWR data to rank the top 100 law reviews. The USNWR rankings are important in shaping many – if not most – law professors’ perceptions about the relative strength of a law school (and derivatively, the home law review). This document contains a chart that is sorted by the 10-year rolling average for each school, but it also contains the 5-year and 15-year rolling averages. This paper also describes my methodology and responds to a series of frequently asked questions. The document was last updated in June 2023.
Here are the Top 75 law schools based on their 5-year rolling average overall U.S. News ranking:
Rank | School | 5-Year Rank |
1 | Yale | 1.0 |
2 | Stanford | 1.8 |
3 | Harvard (4.6) | 3.6 |
4 | Chicago (4.5) | 3.6 |
5 | Columbia | 5.0 |
6 | NYU (4.5) | 6.0 |
7 | Penn (4.3) | 6.0 |
8 | Virginia | 8.0 |
9 | UC-Berkeley | 9.4 |
10 | Michigan (4.4) | 9.6 |
11 | Duke (4.2) | 9.6 |
12 | Northwestern | 11.0 |
13 | Cornell | 13.0 |
14 | Georgetown | 14.0 |
15 | UCLA | 15.0 |
16 | Texas | 16.0 |
17 | Vanderbilt (3.9) | 17.0 |
18 | Washington University (3.7) | 17.0 |
19 | USC | 18.0 |
20 | Minnesota | 20.0 |
21 | Boston University | 21.0 |
22 | Notre Dame | 23.0 |
23 | Florida | 24.0 |
24 | George Washington (3.4) | 26.0 |
24 | North Carolina (3.4) | 26.0 |
26 | Georgia | 27.0 |
27 | Arizona State (3.3) | 28.0 |
28 | Alabama (3.2) | 28.0 |
29 | Emory (3.4) | 29.0 |
30 | Iowa (3.3) | 29.0 |
31 | BYU | 30.0 |
32 | UC-Irvine (3.4) | 31.0 |
32 | Boston College (3.3) | 31.0 |
34 | Fordham (3.3) | 33.0 |
35 | Ohio State (3.2) | 33.0 |
36 | Washington & Lee (3.1) | 35.0 |
37 | Wake Forest (3.0) | 35.0 |
37 | Illinois (3.0) | 35.0 |
39 | William & Mary | 36.0 |
40 | Wisconsin | 37.0 |
41 | George Mason | 38.0 |
42 | UC-Davis | 40.0 |
43 | Indiana-Maurer (3.2) | 41.0 |
44 | Utah (3.1) | 41.0 |
45 | University of Arizona (3.2) | 46.0 |
46 | University of Washington (3.1) | 46.0 |
47 | Pepperdine | 48.0 |
48 | Colorado (3.1) | 49.0 |
49 | Maryland (3.0) | 49.0 |
50 | Florida State | 50.0 |
51 | SMU (2.7) | 53.0 |
52 | Baylor (2.5) | 53.0 |
53 | Texas A&M (2.9) | 54.0 |
54 | Richmond (2.8) | 54.0 |
55 | Temple | 55.0 |
56 | UC-San Francisco (3.1) | 56.0 |
57 | Cardozo (2.9) | 56.0 |
58 | Villanova | 57.0 |
59 | Tulane | 58.0 |
60 | Connecticut (2.9) | 59.0 |
61 | Houston (2.7) | 59.0 |
61 | Tennessee (2.7) | 59.0 |
63 | Kansas | 63.0 |
64 | Seton Hall | 64.0 |
65 | Loyola-L.A. | 65.0 |
66 | Missouri (2.5) | 66.0 |
67 | Penn State-University Park (2.4) | 66.0 |
68 | UNLV | 67.0 |
69 | Northeastern (2.6) | 68.0 |
70 | Penn State-Dickinson (2.4) | 68.0 |
71 | Miami (2.7) | 70.0 |
72 | Kentucky (2.5) | 70.0 |
73 | Oklahoma | 71.0 |
74 | Wayne State | 72.0 |
75 | St. John's | 73.0 |
July 27, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education | Permalink
Friday, July 14, 2023
U.S. News Law School Rankings Fraud
Geoffrey Rapp (Toledo), Fraud on the Rankings, 74 Baylor L. Rev. 583 (2022):
The professional school Dean did not take the stand in his own defense, but character witnesses testified that he was a person of integrity. One witness said of the Dean, “I would trust him with my life, my children, my anything.” The Dean was “a ‘magnet, our inspiration,’” a “loyal friend” of “noble character,” and a beloved companion for “long walks on the water” involving “deep conversations . . . on books, movies and other topics.”
The prosecution’s witnesses painted a different view. The Dean “managed through fear and intimidation,” making staff members “tremble” and leaving them “downright scared.” The Dean directed staff members to take questionable positions in reporting data requested in external rankings by ordering staff members to submit inaccurate information about the program. In one case, when a staff member wrote to the Dean to express discomfort with a proposed rankings input submission, the Dean called the staff member in and told her not to send him emails “like this.”
The Dean felt pressure to improve and maintain rankings, as the University’s internal investigation concluded, and this contributed to the reporting of inaccurate information. The professional school viewed rankings as a “key priority” and embraced a “concerted, rankings-focused strategy.” Faculty had been alarmed even before the fraud was revealed that the school had “fostered the culture of pursuing higher rankings at all costs.”
The jury found the less flattering view of the Dean more persuasive. He was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in “a scheme that falsely boosted the school’s position on the much-revered lists published in U.S. News and World Report.” The Dean faces up to twenty-five years in prison.
July 14, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education, Scholarship | Permalink
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
U.S. News Took A Hit On Rankings. Its Competitors Say They’re Doing Just Fine.
Chronicle of Higher Education, ‘U.S. News’ Took a Hit on Rankings. Its Competitors Say They’re Doing Just Fine.:
Since last fall, as dozens of colleges boycotted U.S. News & World Report’s lists of best law, medical, and undergraduate programs, other publications and companies that craft college rankings have been watching.
But they’re not worried by what they see. They say their rankings are different. ...
Money magazine is the only college ranker that told The Chronicle it had made changes this year as a result of public criticism of U.S. News. Money published star ratings for colleges for 2024, rather than rankings, a move that some rankings critics have long suggested would be more accurate and helpful to prospective students.
Leaders at Forbes, Niche, the Princeton Review, QS, and Times Higher Education all said they had no plans to change their ways because of the U.S. News rankings revolt of 2022-23. ...
July 11, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Muller: Law Schools Should Rethink Admissions In Light Of The U.S. News Rankings Methodology Changes
Derek T. Muller (Notre Dame; Google Scholar), Law Schools Have an Extraordinary Moment to Rethink Law School Admissions in Light of USNWR Methodology Changes:
The USNWR law rankings undoubtedly affect law school admissions decisions. A decade ago, I chronicled how law schools pursue lower-quality students (as measured by predicting first year law school GPA) to achieve higher median LSAT and UGPA scores to benefit their USNWR status.
While there is a lot of churn around the world of graduate school admissions at the moment—”test optional” or alternative testing policies, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, among other things—there’s a tremendous opportunity for law schools in light of the changes in the USNWR methodology changes. Opportunity—but also potential cost.
Let’s revisit how USNWR has changed its methodology. It has dramatically increased weight to outputs (employment and bar passage). It has dramatically decreased weight to inputs (LSAT and UGPA). Peer score also saw a significant decline.
But it’s not just the weight in those categories. It’s also the distribution of scores within each category. ...
Moving from 100 to 50 in employment is larger than the gap between a 153 median LSAT score and a 175 LSAT score (category (7)). It’s larger than an incoming class with a 3.42 median UGPA and a 3.95 UGPA (category (8)). It’s the equivalent of seeing your peer score rise from a 1.8 to a 2.9 (category (4)).
July 6, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Fordham Dean Diller: New U.S. News Law School Rankings Methodology Is 'Deeply Problematic'
National Law Journal Op-Ed: Problem Not Solved: A Closer Look at the New US News Law School Ranking Formula, by Matthew Diller (Dean, Fordham):
My school benefited from the new U.S. News & World Report law school ranking formula [Fordham ranks #29 this year, up from #37 last year], and I still don’t like it.
After more than six months of intense scrutiny and debate, the rankings will hopefully recede into the background, seen as just another data point in the constellation of information and opinions about law schools. But before we move on, I wanted to offer a few observations about the new formula unveiled this spring and why going forward the rankings should continue to draw skepticism.
U.S. News has stressed that its new formula emphasizes employment-related outcomes to a much greater degree than had been the case. Indeed, the metrics around employment and bar passage now make up almost 60% of a school’s score. At first blush, this seems to make perfect sense—prospective students care deeply about both of these things and the ability of a school to successfully launch students’ legal careers is obviously critical. However, the way that U.S. News focuses on these two issues is deeply problematic. ...
July 1, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Muller: Academic Attrition And The U.S. News Law School Rankings
Derek Muller (Iowa; Google Scholar), USNWR Should Considering Incorporating Academic Attrition Rates to Offset Perverse Incentives in New Methodology:
Last year, 41 schools have 0 students who faced academic attrition. Another 70 schools had academic attrition at less than 1% of the law school’s overall total JD enrollment. ...
USNWR has now done a few things that make academic attrition much more attractive to law schools.
First, it has devalued admissions statistics. ...
Second, it has dramatically increased the value of outputs, including the bar exam and employment outcomes. Again, a sensible result. But if schools can improve their outputs by graduating fewer students ... the temptation to dismiss students grows. That is, if the most at-risk students are dismissed, the students who have the lowest likelihood of passing the bar exam and the most challenging time securing employment are out of the schools “outputs” cohort. ...
I would submit that USNWR should consider incorporating academic attrition data into its law school rankings. As it is, its college rankings consider six-year graduation rates and first-year retention rates. (Indeed, it also has a predicted graduation rate, which it could likewise construct here.) While transfers out usually reflect the best law students in attrition, and “other” attrition can likely be attributed to personal or other idiosyncratic circumstances, academic attrition reflects the school’s decision to dismiss some students rather than help them navigate the rest of the law program. Indeed, from a consumer information perspective, this is important information for a prospective law student—if I enter the program, what are the odds that I’ll continue in the program?
June 28, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Monday, June 19, 2023
Forward Looking Academic Impact Rankings For All U.S. Law Schools
Following up on my previous post, The Most-Cited Law Faculties: Sisk-Leiter (Westlaw) v. Sag (HeinOnline): Matthew Sag (Emory; Google Scholar), Forward Looking Academic Impact Rankings for U.S. Law Schools, 51 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. ___ (2023):
Although the very concept of law school rankings is currently under fire, rankings abolitionism is misplaced. Given the number, diversity, and geographic dispersion of the more than 190 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association, rankings are essential to enable various stakeholders to make comparisons between schools. However, the current rankings landscape is dire. The U.S News law school rankings rely on poorly designed, highly subjective surveys to gauge “reputational strength,” rather than looking to easily available, objective citation data that is more valid and reliable. Would-be usurpers of U.S. News use better data, but make other arbitrary choices that limit and distort their rankings. One flaw common to U.S. News and those who would displace it is the fetishization of minor differences in placement that do not reflect actual differences in substance. This information is worse than trivial: it is actively misleading. This Article proposes a new set of law school rankings free from all of these defects.
The Forward-Looking Academic Impact Rankings (“FLAIR rankings”) introduced in this Article are based on data that shows how many times law review articles by each of 5,139 individual faculty members at 191 American law schools have been cited by other law review articles in the last five years. The FLAIR rankings can be used as an objective guide to the relative academic impact of law schools, or as a component in broader objective rankings. The FLAIR rankings are based on publicly available, reliable, and objective data obtained from law school websites and the research platform, HeinOnline. The FLAIR rankings include all fully ABA accredited law schools, unlike alternative rankings of academic influence that are selective, often arbitrarily so. Moreover, the FLAIR rankings are designed to impart meaningful information by clustering schools into tiers based on their distance from the mean of all schools and deemphasizing ordinal rankings. Thus, the FLAIR rankings enable readers to make rational comparisons between law schools, rather than simply creating a hierarchy for hierarchy’s sake.
June 19, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, June 15, 2023
U.S. News Law School Rankings Panel At Today's AALS Institutional Advancement Conference
I am moderating the final panel today at the first-ever AALS Institutional Advancement Conference: Making a Difference in a Changing World (registration):
U.S. News Law Rankings (4:30 PM ET)
It’s a whole new world with changes to the US News Law Rankings. Or is it? We’ll hear from those who are covering the U.S. News changes and are grappling with what it all means for law schools.
Moderator: Paul L. Caron, Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law, Pepperdine University, Caruso School of Law
June 15, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Conferences, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education, Pepperdine Legal Ed | Permalink
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Muller Critiques The 7% Weighting Of Ultimate 2-Year Bar Passage Rates In The U.S. News Law School Rankings
Following up on my previous post, Methodology Changes In The New 2024 U.S. News Law School Rankings: Derek Muller (Iowa; Google Scholar), Does a School's "Ultimate Bar Passage" Rate Relate to That School's Quality?:
With a loss of data that USNWR used to use to assess the quality of law schools, USNWR had to rely on ABA data. And it was already assessing one kind of outcome, first-time bar passage rate.
It introduced “ultimate bar passage” rate as a factor in this year’s methodology, with a whopping 7% of the total score. That’s higher than the median LSAT score now. It’s also much higher than the at-graduation [jobs] rate in previous methodologies (4%). ...
The ABA’s “ultimate” standard is simply a floor for accreditation purposes. Very few schools fail this standard. The statistic, and the cutoff, are designed for a minimal test of whether the law school is functioning appropriately, at a very basic level. (It’s also a bit circular, as I’ve written about—why does the ABA need to accredit schools separate and apart from the bar exam if it’s referring to accreditation standards as passing the bar exam?) ...
June 8, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
ABA Journal: Omnibus Law School Specialty Rankings Based On U.S. News Data
ABA Journal, These Law Schools Did Best in Blog's 'Omnibus Specialty Rankings' Based on US News Data:
The best law school for its showing in specialty rankings by U.S. News & World Report is Georgetown University, according to “omnibus specialty rankings” devised by a law dean.
The Georgetown University Law Center was ranked No. 15 in overall law school rankings by U.S. News & World Report. ... But Paul L. Caron, dean of the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, looked at how well law schools did in 13 separate specialty rankings by U.S. News & World Report to put together his omnibus specialty rankings for 100 law schools, which he published at the TaxProf Blog. The top 10 law schools for their performance in the specialty rankings are:
1. Georgetown University (tied for first for clinical law and had an average ranking of 10 in all 13 specialties)
June 6, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Friday, June 2, 2023
2024 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings v. Overall Rankings
Following up on yesterday's post, 2024 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings:
Here are the law schools whose U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Ranking most exceeds their overall U.S. News Ranking:
School | Specialty Rank | Overall Rank | Difference | |
1 | Santa Clara | 77 | 158 | +81 |
2 | Brooklyn* | 46 | 111 | +65 |
3 | Illinois-Chicago | 97 | 159 | +62 |
3 | Suffolk | 71 | 133 | +62 |
5 | American* | 28 | 89 | +61 |
6 | Howard | 66 | 125 | +59 |
7 | Hofstra | 82 | 140 | +58 |
8 | Widener (DE) | 119 | 175 | +56 |
9 | Denver | 25 | 80 | +55 |
10 | Rutgers* | 57 | 109 | +52 |
11 | CUNY | 104 | 154 | +50 |
11 | Mitchell | Hamline* | 117 | 167 | +50 |
13 | Syracuse* | 75 | 122 | +47 |
14 | Pacific | 95 | 141 | +46 |
15 | UC-San Francisco* | 18 | 60 | +42 |
15 | UNLV | 47 | 89 | +42 |
17 | Baltimore | 96 | 135 | +39 |
18 | UC-Davis* | 22 | 60 | +38 |
19 | Nova | 134 | 171 | +37 |
20 | Missouri-Kansas City | 99 | 135 | +36 |
21 | Golden Gate | 145 | 180 | +35 |
22 | Pace | 98 | 131 | +33 |
23 | Loyola-Chicago* | 53 | 84 | +31 |
23 | Willamette | 124 | 155 | +31 |
25 | Hawaii | 105 | 135 | +30 |
25 | San Diego | 48 | 78 | +30 |
25 | San Francisco* | 135 | 165 | +30 |
28 | Chicago-Kent | 70 | 99 | +29 |
28 | South Texas* | 133 | 162 | +29 |
30 | Seattle* | 83 | 111 | +28 |
31 | DePaul | 108 | 135 | +27 |
31 | Houston | 33 | 60 | +27 |
31 | Michigan State | 84 | 111 | +27 |
31 | Vermont | 137 | 164 | +27 |
35 | Creighton* | 130 | 155 | +25 |
36 | Cal-Western* | 151 | 175 | +24 |
36 | Case Western | 56 | 80 | +24 |
36 | Temple | 30 | 54 | +24 |
36 | UC-Irvine* | 11 | 35 | +24 |
40 | District of Columbia | 158 | 180 | +22 |
40 | George Washington | 13 | 35 | +22 |
42 | Catholic | 101 | 122 | +21 |
43 | Miami | 51 | 71 | +20 |
44 | Indiana (McKinney) | 80 | 99 | +19 |
45 | University of Arizona | 36 | 54 | +18 |
45 | Widener (PA) | 141 | 159 | +18 |
47 | Fordham | 12 | 29 | +17 |
47 | Maryland* | 34 | 51 | +17 |
49 | Loyola-L.A. | 44 | 60 | +16 |
49 | North Dakota | 164 | 180 | +16 |
Here are the law schools whose U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Ranking most trails their overall U.S. News Ranking:
June 2, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, June 1, 2023
2024 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings include the rankings for 13 specialty programs at 196 law schools. Here are the Top 100 law schools, determined by giving equal weight to each of the 13 separate specialty rankings:
- Business/Corporate Law
- Clinical Law
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts/Commercial Law
- Criminal Law
- Dispute Resolution
- Environmental Law
- Health Care Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- International Law
- Legal Writing
- Tax Law
- Trial Advocacy
School | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Avg. | |
1 | Georgetown* | 12 | 1 | 15 | 14 | 4 | 21 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 22 | 10.0 |
2 | Harvard* | 1 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 3 | 121 | 13 | 37 | 17.6 |
3 | Northwestern* | 14 | 6 | 15 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 44 | 41 | 22 | 18 | 21 | 4 | 31 | 19.2 |
4 | Michigan* | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 34 | 37 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 74 | 19.3 |
5 | Stanford* | 4 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 104 | 13 | 68 | 19.4 |
6 | UC-Berkeley* | 4 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 29 | 3 | 39 | 1 | 7 | 122 | 24 | 15 | 21.1 |
7 | UCLA* | 9 | 25 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 34 | 4 | 19 | 9 | 15 | 115 | 7 | 6 | 21.2 |
8 | NYU* | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 29 | 4 | 52 | 3 | 1 | 104 | 1 | 68 | 21.7 |
9 | Duke* | 15 | 25 | 12 | 14 | 4 | 34 | 15 | 29 | 9 | 18 | 84 | 10 | 80 | 26.8 |
10 | Virginia* | 8 | 69 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 21 | 26 | 46 | 22 | 10 | 46 | 5 | 80 | 27.2 |
11 | UC-Irvine* | 47 | 6 | 24 | 35 | 25 | 43 | 32 | 35 | 9 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 80 | 28.8 |
12 | Fordham | 19 | 9 | 35 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 61 | 79 | 22 | 18 | 52 | 24 | 6 | 28.9 |
13 | Columbia* | 1 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 26 | 7 | 52 | 19 | 2 | 118 | 7 | 108 | 29.2 |
13 | George Washington | 32 | 34 | 35 | 54 | 30 | 34 | 12 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 46 | 24 | 47 | 29.2 |
13 | Texas | 19 | 34 | 9 | 14 | 22 | 16 | 39 | 46 | 18 | 25 | 84 | 16 | 37 | 29.2 |
16 | Yale* | 9 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 34 | 26 | 15 | 46 | 3 | 115 | 22 | 96 | 30.4 |
17 | Penn* | 4 | 25 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 34 | 42 | 20 | 14 | 18 | 110 | 18 | 96 | 31.2 |
18 | UC-San Francisco* | 36 | 22 | 29 | 29 | 36 | 11 | 18 | 11 | 31 | 25 | 122 | 18 | 24 | 31.7 |
19 | Arizona State | 44 | 45 | 35 | 38 | 36 | 14 | 19 | 14 | 46 | 25 | 4 | 36 | 74 | 33.1 |
20 | Washington University | 22 | 9 | 21 | 19 | 22 | 18 | 71 | 26 | 36 | 25 | 122 | 40 | 24 | 35.0 |
21 | Cornell* | 15 | 51 | 9 | 14 | 22 | 29 | 55 | 52 | 28 | 15 | 68 | 36 | 80 | 36.5 |
22 | Ohio State | 44 | 78 | 24 | 35 | 15 | 2 | 42 | 15 | 51 | 58 | 32 | 50 | 40 | 37.4 |
22 | UC-Davis* | 22 | 59 | 17 | 38 | 17 | 32 | 17 | 39 | 22 | 23 | 122 | 31 | 47 | 37.4 |
24 | North Carolina | 29 | 34 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 68 | 32 | 35 | 60 | 58 | 13 | 24 | 80 | 37.6 |
25 | Denver | 68 | 9 | 57 | 64 | 30 | 43 | 19 | 61 | 51 | 35 | 13 | 46 | 6 | 38.6 |
26 | Vanderbilt* | 12 | 45 | 17 | 13 | 7 | 34 | 7 | 46 | 28 | 18 | 122 | 62 | 96 | 39.0 |
27 | Boston University | 19 | 59 | 24 | 29 | 36 | 60 | 61 | 1 | 9 | 25 | 98 | 13 | 80 | 39.5 |
28 | American* | 60 | 1 | 57 | 64 | 30 | 64 | 44 | 20 | 7 | 5 | 104 | 50 | 15 | 40.1 |
29 | Minnesota | 22 | 25 | 24 | 19 | 30 | 68 | 32 | 26 | 42 | 23 | 68 | 22 | 126 | 40.5 |
30 | Florida | 25 | 69 | 29 | 38 | 45 | 18 | 19 | 46 | 67 | 58 | 68 | 2 | 59 | 41.8 |
30 | Temple | 60 | 59 | 57 | 38 | 61 | 68 | 71 | 17 | 46 | 10 | 25 | 29 | 2 | 41.8 |
32 | Chicago | 1 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 68 | 71 | 67 | 36 | 9 | 118 | 7 | 126 | 42.2 |
33 | Houston | 47 | 69 | 86 | 47 | 50 | 68 | 26 | 9 | 6 | 53 | 21 | 44 | 24 | 42.3 |
34 | Maryland* | 60 | 13 | 48 | 72 | 36 | 9 | 19 | 6 | 46 | 47 | 98 | 68 | 40 | 43.2 |
35 | Emory | 25 | 89 | 29 | 23 | 36 | 50 | 58 | 29 | 31 | 38 | 42 | 81 | 35 | 43.5 |
36 | University of Arizona | 36 | 45 | 35 | 59 | 45 | 34 | 39 | 29 | 67 | 38 | 8 | 62 | 80 | 44.4 |
37 | Georgia | 29 | 34 | 42 | 29 | 61 | 50 | 71 | 41 | 74 | 15 | 77 | 50 | 13 | 45.1 |
38 | Boston College | 25 | 34 | 35 | 25 | 61 | 60 | 44 | 41 | 42 | 38 | 52 | 16 | 139 | 47.1 |
39 | University of Washington* | 54 | 34 | 65 | 54 | 25 | 43 | 19 | 52 | 28 | 47 | 16 | 44 | 139 | 47.7 |
40 | William & Mary | 29 | 89 | 17 | 25 | 20 | 68 | 44 | 94 | 46 | 25 | 52 | 68 | 47 | 48.0 |
41 | Wake Forest | 47 | 89 | 48 | 38 | 36 | 68 | 55 | 20 | 74 | 67 | 5 | 62 | 40 | 49.9 |
42 | USC | 17 | 89 | 35 | 19 | 36 | 64 | 19 | 61 | 42 | 75 | 113 | 24 | 64 | 50.6 |
43 | Indiana (Maurer) | 36 | 89 | 42 | 47 | 45 | 68 | 32 | 46 | 36 | 25 | 52 | 18 | 126 | 50.9 |
44 | Loyola-L.A. | 54 | 69 | 65 | 59 | 30 | 60 | 125 | 52 | 51 | 67 | 32 | 10 | 5 | 52.2 |
45 | Notre Dame | 32 | 69 | 17 | 29 | 50 | 68 | 61 | 94 | 60 | 25 | 84 | 46 | 47 | 52.5 |
46 | Brooklyn* | 32 | 34 | 42 | 38 | 20 | 68 | 131 | 83 | 92 | 47 | 16 | 40 | 47 | 53.1 |
47 | UNLV | 66 | 34 | 65 | 45 | 50 | 9 | 80 | 41 | 60 | 90 | 2 | 46 | 108 | 53.5 |
48 | San Diego | 36 | 106 | 21 | 47 | 30 | 68 | 71 | 52 | 22 | 58 | 122 | 18 | 47 | 53.7 |
49 | Colorado | 47 | 78 | 53 | 54 | 25 | 68 | 15 | 79 | 36 | 58 | 68 | 50 | 80 | 54.7 |
49 | Texas A&M | 68 | 51 | 79 | 47 | 119 | 7 | 32 | 67 | 9 | 58 | 32 | 62 | 80 | 54.7 |
51 | Miami | 54 | 25 | 53 | 54 | 84 | 50 | 39 | 67 | 67 | 25 | 98 | 40 | 68 | 55.7 |
51 | Wisconsin* | 44 | 59 | 29 | 25 | 36 | 68 | 44 | 67 | 81 | 42 | 90 | 31 | 108 | 55.7 |
53 | Loyola-Chicago* | 74 | 59 | 57 | 95 | 73 | 43 | 88 | 4 | 74 | 58 | 46 | 50 | 13 | 56.5 |
54 | Georgia State | 78 | 19 | 42 | 72 | 50 | 67 | 103 | 1 | 42 | 67 | 122 | 50 | 24 | 56.7 |
55 | SMU | 47 | 51 | 79 | 64 | 36 | 50 | 80 | 29 | 60 | 42 | 104 | 50 | 47 | 56.8 |
56 | Case Western | 66 | 59 | 57 | 72 | 84 | 68 | 44 | 11 | 60 | 10 | 46 | 119 | 47 | 57.2 |
57 | Rutgers* | 92 | 19 | 57 | 64 | 50 | 68 | 80 | 41 | 81 | 53 | 16 | 68 | 68 | 58.2 |
58 | Florida State | 47 | 106 | 29 | 29 | 50 | 68 | 19 | 52 | 60 | 75 | 122 | 36 | 74 | 59.0 |
59 | Tulane* | 32 | 45 | 74 | 47 | 45 | 43 | 26 | 94 | 60 | 35 | 122 | 50 | 108 | 60.1 |
60 | Washington & Lee | 36 | 45 | 53 | 45 | 50 | 68 | 80 | 61 | 74 | 42 | 77 | 40 | 126 | 61.3 |
61 | Utah | 54 | 89 | 42 | 72 | 25 | 68 | 12 | 25 | 31 | 35 | 122 | 68 | 166 | 62.2 |
62 | Alabama | 47 | 51 | 24 | 35 | 50 | 68 | 101 | 67 | 105 | 90 | 90 | 36 | 47 | 62.4 |
63 | Pepperdine Caruso | 54 | 34 | 53 | 59 | 84 | 2 | 113 | 103 | 88 | 53 | 110 | 29 | 59 | 64.7 |
64 | Villanova | 68 | 51 | 65 | 64 | 73 | 68 | 101 | 61 | 67 | 84 | 68 | 31 | 47 | 65.2 |
65 | Iowa | 25 | 59 | 48 | 23 | 61 | 68 | 88 | 67 | 51 | 58 | 110 | 50 | 158 | 66.6 |
66 | Howard | 92 | 34 | 74 | 47 | 45 | 68 | 125 | 103 | 51 | 50 | 52 | 109 | 40 | 68.5 |
67 | Illinois | 36 | 89 | 29 | 25 | 61 | 43 | 80 | 83 | 51 | 67 | 122 | 68 | 139 | 68.7 |
68 | Cardozo | 60 | 83 | 48 | 54 | 25 | 5 | 131 | 118 | 14 | 84 | 122 | 46 | 108 | 69.1 |
69 | Seton Hall | 92 | 89 | 65 | 59 | 68 | 68 | 71 | 11 | 74 | 80 | 122 | 50 | 64 | 70.2 |
70 | Chicago-Kent | 92 | 114 | 86 | 72 | 68 | 68 | 103 | 67 | 14 | 90 | 32 | 99 | 9 | 70.3 |
71 | Suffolk | 125 | 17 | 140 | 95 | 84 | 26 | 103 | 52 | 31 | 90 | 5 | 119 | 31 | 70.6 |
72 | Northeastern* | 140 | 22 | 86 | 144 | 61 | 68 | 94 | 9 | 36 | 67 | 21 | 91 | 80 | 70.7 |
73 | BYU | 17 | 133 | 48 | 38 | 68 | 50 | 71 | 118 | 74 | 58 | 122 | 31 | 96 | 71.1 |
74 | Oregon | 60 | 114 | 74 | 80 | 84 | 11 | 9 | 118 | 92 | 67 | 1 | 68 | 166 | 72.6 |
75 | Syracuse* | 100 | 106 | 79 | 95 | 61 | 68 | 80 | 67 | 67 | 90 | 42 | 81 | 15 | 73.2 |
76 | Pittsburgh* | 78 | 89 | 65 | 80 | 73 | 68 | 80 | 29 | 51 | 50 | 122 | 31 | 139 | 73.5 |
77 | Santa Clara | 74 | 89 | 107 | 80 | 84 | 68 | 94 | 113 | 4 | 42 | 52 | 74 | 96 | 75.2 |
78 | South Carolina | 60 | 25 | 97 | 80 | 73 | 68 | 71 | 79 | 123 | 127 | 122 | 50 | 15 | 76.2 |
79 | Richmond | 74 | 89 | 35 | 95 | 50 | 68 | 58 | 118 | 31 | 75 | 122 | 50 | 126 | 76.2 |
80 | Indiana (McKinney) | 92 | 106 | 97 | 87 | 84 | 68 | 103 | 20 | 92 | 67 | 16 | 74 | 108 | 78.0 |
81 | Tennessee | 36 | 22 | 57 | 47 | 94 | 68 | 103 | 61 | 117 | 175 | 46 | 81 | 108 | 78.1 |
82 | Hofstra | 78 | 89 | 86 | 109 | 73 | 50 | 138 | 83 | 81 | 103 | 42 | 74 | 22 | 79.1 |
83 | Seattle* | 92 | 25 | 107 | 95 | 50 | 68 | 61 | 103 | 92 | 75 | 8 | 91 | 166 | 79.5 |
84 | George Mason | 36 | 133 | 42 | 29 | 94 | 68 | 125 | 135 | 22 | 90 | 122 | 74 | 64 | 79.5 |
84 | Michigan State | 68 | 83 | 74 | 64 | 108 | 21 | 94 | 135 | 67 | 67 | 90 | 99 | 64 | 79.5 |
86 | Drexel | 92 | 51 | 97 | 121 | 94 | 68 | 157 | 29 | 92 | 84 | 25 | 119 | 15 | 80.3 |
87 | Stetson | 125 | 89 | 107 | 80 | 94 | 18 | 88 | 94 | 130 | 127 | 3 | 91 | 1 | 80.5 |
88 | Lewis & Clark | 125 | 51 | 79 | 109 | 73 | 68 | 2 | 135 | 88 | 75 | 16 | 119 | 108 | 80.6 |
89 | St. John's* | 87 | 106 | 65 | 64 | 84 | 50 | 131 | 113 | 92 | 90 | 25 | 109 | 37 | 81.0 |
90 | New Mexico | 100 | 17 | 86 | 87 | 94 | 68 | 26 | 83 | 130 | 116 | 52 | 90 | 126 | 82.7 |
91 | Wayne State | 100 | 69 | 97 | 80 | 73 | 68 | 94 | 46 | 130 | 53 | 122 | 81 | 80 | 84.1 |
92 | Connecticut* | 68 | 89 | 57 | 87 | 73 | 68 | 88 | 79 | 105 | 53 | 90 | 81 | 166 | 84.9 |
93 | Kansas | 78 | 106 | 65 | 72 | 108 | 26 | 44 | 135 | 105 | 84 | 68 | 91 | 139 | 86.2 |
94 | St. Louis | 125 | 69 | 79 | 72 | 94 | 68 | 145 | 1 | 81 | 119 | 68 | 74 | 139 | 87.2 |
95 | Pacific | 100 | 114 | 120 | 121 | 108 | 34 | 94 | 135 | 130 | 38 | 32 | 119 | 9 | 88.8 |
96 | Baltimore | 140 | 6 | 107 | 144 | 68 | 60 | 61 | 103 | 88 | 90 | 77 | 81 | 139 | 89.5 |
97 | Illinois-Chicago | 116 | 78 | 140 | 95 | 149 | 68 | 131 | 118 | 51 | 103 | 25 | 99 | 24 | 92.1 |
98 | Pace | 116 | 106 | 131 | 144 | 94 | 68 | 1 | 94 | 130 | 103 | 122 | 74 | 24 | 92.8 |
99 | Missouri-Kansas City | 87 | 114 | 120 | 95 | 94 | 68 | 118 | 94 | 105 | 127 | 13 | 119 | 59 | 93.3 |
100 | Penn State-Dickinson* | 87 | 78 | 115 | 87 | 108 | 68 | 61 | 52 | 92 | 80 | 122 | 109 | 158 | 93.6 |
If anyone at a law school outside the Top 100 would like the data for their school's rank, email me.
June 1, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
2024 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings include the trial advocacy programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 59% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.4 | Stetson |
2 | 4.3 | Temple |
3 | 4.2 | Baylor |
4 | 3.9 | Samford |
5 | 3.8 | Loyola-L.A. |
6 | 3.7 | Denver |
6 | 3.7 | Fordham |
6 | 3.7 | UCLA* |
9 | 3.6 | Chicago-Kent |
9 | 3.6 | Pacific |
9 | 3.6 | South Texas* |
12 | 3.5 | St. Mary's |
13 | 3.3 | Georgia |
13 | 3.3 | Loyola-Chicago* |
15 | 3.2 | American* |
15 | 3.2 | Campbell* |
15 | 3.2 | Drexel |
15 | 3.2 | Mercer |
15 | 3.2 | South Carolina |
15 | 3.2 | Syracuse* |
15 | 3.2 | UC-Berkeley* |
22 | 3.1 | Georgetown* |
22 | 3.1 | Hofstra |
24 | 3.0 | Akron |
24 | 3.0 | Georgia State |
24 | 3.0 | Houston |
24 | 3.0 | Illinois-Chicago |
24 | 3.0 | Pace |
24 | 3.0 | UC-San Francisco* |
24 | 3.0 | Washington University |
31 | 2.9 | Northwestern* |
31 | 2.9 | Nova |
31 | 2.9 | Quinnipiac* |
31 | 2.9 | Suffolk |
35 | 2.8 | Emory |
35 | 2.8 | Louisiana State |
37 | 2.7 | Harvard* |
37 | 2.7 | St. John's* |
37 | 2.7 | Texas |
40 | 2.6 | Catholic |
40 | 2.6 | Howard |
40 | 2.6 | Inter-American (PR)* |
40 | 2.6 | Maryland* |
40 | 2.6 | Ohio State |
40 | 2.6 | Texas Tech |
40 | 2.6 | Wake Forest |
47 | 2.5 | Alabama |
47 | 2.5 | Brooklyn* |
47 | 2.5 | Case Western |
47 | 2.5 | George Washington |
47 | 2.5 | Notre Dame |
47 | 2.5 | Ohio Northern |
47 | 2.5 | San Diego |
47 | 2.5 | SMU |
47 | 2.5 | South Dakota |
47 | 2.5 | UC-Davis* |
47 | 2.5 | Villanova |
47 | 2.5 | William & Mary |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 31, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
2024 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings include the legal writing programs at 121 law schools (the faculty survey had a 63% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.3 | Oregon |
2 | 4.2 | UNLV |
3 | 4.1 | Stetson |
4 | 4.0 | Arizona State |
5 | 3.9 | Suffolk |
5 | 3.9 | Wake Forest |
7 | 3.8 | Nova |
8 | 3.7 | Georgetown* |
8 | 3.7 | Michigan* |
8 | 3.7 | Seattle* |
8 | 3.7 | UC-Irvine* |
8 | 3.7 | University of Arizona |
13 | 3.6 | Denver |
13 | 3.6 | Missouri-Kansas City |
13 | 3.6 | North Carolina |
16 | 3.5 | Brooklyn* |
16 | 3.5 | Indiana (McKinney) |
16 | 3.5 | Lewis & Clark |
16 | 3.5 | Rutgers* |
16 | 3.5 | University of Washington* |
21 | 3.4 | Houston |
21 | 3.4 | Mercer |
21 | 3.4 | Northeastern* |
21 | 3.4 | Northwestern* |
25 | 3.3 | Drake |
25 | 3.3 | Drexel |
25 | 3.3 | Illinois-Chicago |
25 | 3.3 | St. John's* |
25 | 3.3 | Temple |
25 | 3.3 | Washburn |
25 | 3.3 | Wyoming |
32 | 3.2 | Arkansas-Fayetteville |
32 | 3.2 | Chicago-Kent |
32 | 3.2 | Duquesne |
32 | 3.2 | Hawaii |
32 | 3.2 | Loyola-L.A. |
32 | 3.2 | Marquette |
32 | 3.2 | Ohio State |
32 | 3.2 | Pacific |
32 | 3.2 | Texas A&M |
32 | 3.2 | Texas Tech |
42 | 3.1 | Elon |
42 | 3.1 | Emory |
42 | 3.1 | Hofstra |
42 | 3.1 | Syracuse* |
46 | 3.0 | Case Western |
46 | 3.0 | George Washington |
46 | 3.0 | Loyola-Chicago* |
46 | 3.0 | Tennessee |
46 | 3.0 | Virginia* |
46 | 3.0 | Willamette |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 30, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Duquesne, FIU, Kansas, Oklahoma, And Texas A&M Are Among The Biggest U.S. News Law School Rankings Winners
Following up on my previous post, The Law Schools Most Impacted By The Methodology Changes In The 2024 U.S. News Rankings: Law.com, Ahead of the Curve: Some Law Schools Are Happy About the US News Rankings:
In last week’s column, I questioned whether the 63 schools that boycotted the Best Law Schools list, along with the massive amount of unflattering press those moves garnered for U.S. News, would put a dent in the rankings’ reputation.
This week, though, I want to look at some of the institutions that performed particularly well in the rankings, which were finally released on May 11, and show that not every law school is unhappy with U.S. News.
Texas A&M University School of Law, for example, now ranks 29th nationally—tied with Boston College Law School and Fordham Law School—one of the fastest and furthest increases in U.S. News law school rankings history, according to an announcement put out by the school. The school rose 17 spots from No. 46 last year. The previous year, it had been tied for No. 53.
This year, 15 law schools increased by 20 or more spots as compared to last year’s rankings. and among the top 50, the University of Kansas School of Law rose to tied at 40th up from tied at 67th last year.
May 27, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Friday, May 26, 2023
2024 U.S. News International Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News International Law Rankings include the international law programs at 174 law schools (the faculty survey had a 53% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.6 | NYU* |
2 | 4.4 | Columbia* |
3 | 4.3 | Harvard* |
3 | 4.3 | Yale* |
5 | 4.2 | American* |
5 | 4.2 | Georgetown* |
7 | 4.1 | George Washington |
7 | 4.1 | UC-Berkeley* |
9 | 4.0 | Chicago |
10 | 3.9 | Case Western |
10 | 3.9 | Michigan* |
10 | 3.9 | Stanford* |
10 | 3.9 | Temple |
10 | 3.9 | Virginia* |
15 | 3.8 | Cornell* |
15 | 3.8 | Georgia |
15 | 3.8 | UCLA* |
18 | 3.6 | Duke* |
18 | 3.6 | Fordham |
18 | 3.6 | Northwestern* |
18 | 3.6 | Penn* |
18 | 3.6 | Vanderbilt* |
23 | 3.5 | Minnesota |
23 | 3.5 | UC-Davis* |
25 | 3.4 | Arizona State |
25 | 3.4 | Boston University |
25 | 3.4 | Indiana (Maurer) |
25 | 3.4 | Miami |
25 | 3.4 | Notre Dame |
25 | 3.4 | Texas |
25 | 3.4 | UC-Irvine* |
25 | 3.4 | UC-San Francisco* |
25 | 3.4 | Washington University |
25 | 3.4 | William & Mary |
35 | 3.3 | Denver |
35 | 3.3 | Tulane* |
35 | 3.3 | Utah |
38 | 3.2 | Boston College |
38 | 3.2 | Emory |
38 | 3.2 | Pacific |
38 | 3.2 | University of Arizona |
42 | 3.1 | Florida Int'l |
42 | 3.1 | Santa Clara |
42 | 3.1 | SMU |
42 | 3.1 | Washington & Lee |
42 | 3.1 | Wisconsin* |
47 | 3.0 | Brooklyn* |
47 | 3.0 | Maryland* |
47 | 3.0 | University of Washington* |
50 | 2.9 | Hawaii |
50 | 2.9 | Howard |
50 | 2.9 | Pittsburgh* |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News International Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 26, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, May 25, 2023
2024 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings include the intellectual property law programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 57% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.8 | Stanford* |
1 | 4.8 | UC-Berkeley* |
3 | 4.4 | NYU* |
4 | 4.1 | George Washington |
4 | 4.1 | Santa Clara |
6 | 3.8 | Houston |
7 | 3.7 | American* |
7 | 3.7 | Georgetown* |
9 | 3.6 | Boston University |
9 | 3.6 | Duke* |
9 | 3.6 | Texas A&M |
9 | 3.6 | UC-Irvine* |
9 | 3.6 | UCLA* |
14 | 3.5 | Cardozo |
14 | 3.5 | Chicago-Kent |
14 | 3.5 | Michigan* |
14 | 3.5 | Penn* |
18 | 3.4 | Texas |
19 | 3.3 | Columbia* |
19 | 3.3 | Harvard* |
19 | 3.3 | New Hampshire* |
22 | 3.2 | Fordham |
22 | 3.2 | George Mason |
22 | 3.2 | Northwestern* |
22 | 3.2 | San Diego |
22 | 3.2 | UC-Davis* |
22 | 3.2 | Virginia* |
28 | 3.1 | Cornell* |
28 | 3.1 | University of Washington* |
28 | 3.1 | Vanderbilt* |
31 | 3.0 | Emory |
31 | 3.0 | Richmond |
31 | 3.0 | Suffolk |
31 | 3.0 | UC-San Francisco* |
31 | 3.0 | Utah |
36 | 2.9 | Chicago |
36 | 2.9 | Colorado |
36 | 2.9 | DePaul |
36 | 2.9 | Indiana (Maurer) |
36 | 2.9 | Northeastern* |
36 | 2.9 | Washington University |
42 | 2.8 | Boston College |
42 | 2.8 | Georgia State |
42 | 2.8 | Minnesota |
42 | 2.8 | USC |
46 | 2.7 | Arizona State |
46 | 2.7 | Maryland* |
46 | 2.7 | Temple |
46 | 2.7 | William & Mary |
46 | 2.7 | Yale* |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 25, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
2024 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings include the health care law programs at 189 law schools (the faculty survey had a 52% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.3 | Boston University |
1 | 4.3 | Georgia State |
1 | 4.3 | St. Louis |
4 | 4.1 | Loyola-Chicago* |
5 | 4.0 | Stanford* |
6 | 3.9 | Georgetown* |
6 | 3.9 | Harvard* |
6 | 3.9 | Maryland* |
9 | 3.8 | Houston |
9 | 3.8 | Northeastern* |
11 | 3.7 | Case Western |
11 | 3.7 | Seton Hall |
11 | 3.7 | UC-San Francisco* |
14 | 3.6 | Arizona State |
15 | 3.5 | Ohio State |
15 | 3.5 | Yale* |
17 | 3.3 | Michigan* |
17 | 3.3 | Temple |
19 | 3.2 | UCLA* |
20 | 3.1 | American* |
20 | 3.1 | George Washington |
20 | 3.1 | Indiana (McKinney) |
20 | 3.1 | Penn* |
20 | 3.1 | Wake Forest |
25 | 3.0 | Utah |
26 | 2.9 | Minnesota |
26 | 2.9 | Mitchell | Hamline* |
26 | 2.9 | Washington University |
29 | 2.8 | Drexel |
29 | 2.8 | Duke* |
29 | 2.8 | Emory |
29 | 2.8 | Pittsburgh* |
29 | 2.8 | SMU |
29 | 2.8 | University of Arizona |
35 | 2.7 | DePaul |
35 | 2.7 | North Carolina |
35 | 2.7 | Nova |
35 | 2.7 | UC-Irvine* |
39 | 2.6 | UC-Berkeley* |
39 | 2.6 | UC-Davis* |
41 | 2.5 | Boston College |
41 | 2.5 | Georgia |
41 | 2.5 | Northwestern* |
41 | 2.5 | Rutgers* |
41 | 2.5 | UNLV |
46 | 2.4 | Florida |
46 | 2.4 | Indiana (Maurer) |
46 | 2.4 | Texas |
46 | 2.4 | Vanderbilt* |
46 | 2.4 | Virginia* |
46 | 2.4 | Wayne State |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 24, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
2024 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings include the environmental law programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 59% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.6 | Pace |
2 | 4.5 | Lewis & Clark |
3 | 4.4 | UC-Berkeley* |
4 | 4.3 | NYU* |
4 | 4.3 | UCLA* |
4 | 4.3 | Vermont |
7 | 4.1 | Columbia* |
7 | 4.1 | Vanderbilt* |
9 | 4.0 | Harvard* |
9 | 4.0 | Oregon |
9 | 4.0 | Stanford* |
12 | 3.9 | George Washington |
12 | 3.9 | Georgetown* |
12 | 3.9 | Utah |
15 | 3.8 | Colorado |
15 | 3.8 | Duke* |
17 | 3.7 | UC-Davis* |
18 | 3.6 | UC-San Francisco* |
19 | 3.5 | Arizona State |
19 | 3.5 | Denver |
19 | 3.5 | Florida |
19 | 3.5 | Florida State |
19 | 3.5 | Maryland* |
19 | 3.5 | University of Washington* |
19 | 3.5 | USC |
26 | 3.4 | Hawaii |
26 | 3.4 | Houston |
26 | 3.4 | New Mexico |
26 | 3.4 | Tulane* |
26 | 3.4 | Virginia* |
26 | 3.4 | Yale* |
32 | 3.3 | Indiana (Maurer) |
32 | 3.3 | Minnesota |
32 | 3.3 | North Carolina |
32 | 3.3 | Texas A&M |
32 | 3.3 | UC-Irvine* |
37 | 3.2 | Michigan* |
37 | 3.2 | Montana |
39 | 3.1 | Miami |
39 | 3.1 | Texas |
39 | 3.1 | University of Arizona |
42 | 3.0 | Ohio State |
42 | 3.0 | Penn* |
44 | 2.9 | American* |
44 | 2.9 | Boston College |
44 | 2.9 | Case Western |
44 | 2.9 | CUNY |
44 | 2.9 | Kansas |
44 | 2.9 | Loyola-New Orleans* |
44 | 2.9 | Northwestern* |
44 | 2.9 | Widener (DE) |
44 | 2.9 | William & Mary |
44 | 2.9 | Wisconsin* |
44 | 2.9 | Wyoming |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 23, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Monday, May 22, 2023
2024 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings include the dispute resolution programs at 67 law schools (the faculty survey had a 56% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.5 | Harvard* |
2 | 4.4 | Ohio State |
2 | 4.4 | Pepperdine Caruso |
4 | 4.3 | Missouri (Columbia) |
5 | 4.2 | Cardozo |
5 | 4.2 | Mitchell | Hamline* |
7 | 4.0 | Northwestern* |
7 | 4.0 | Texas A&M |
9 | 3.9 | Maryland* |
9 | 3.9 | UNLV |
11 | 3.8 | Oregon |
11 | 3.8 | Stanford* |
11 | 3.8 | UC-San Francisco* |
14 | 3.7 | Arizona State |
15 | 3.6 | Fordham |
16 | 3.5 | Creighton* |
16 | 3.5 | Texas |
18 | 3.4 | Florida |
18 | 3.4 | Stetson |
18 | 3.4 | Washington University |
21 | 3.3 | Georgetown* |
21 | 3.3 | Michigan State |
21 | 3.3 | Quinnipiac* |
21 | 3.3 | South Texas* |
21 | 3.3 | Virginia* |
26 | 3.2 | Columbia* |
26 | 3.2 | Kansas |
26 | 3.2 | Suffolk |
29 | 3.1 | Cornell* |
29 | 3.1 | NYU* |
29 | 3.1 | UC-Berkeley* |
32 | 3.0 | Marquette |
32 | 3.0 | UC-Davis* |
34 | 2.9 | Duke* |
34 | 2.9 | George Washington |
34 | 2.9 | Michigan* |
34 | 2.9 | Pacific |
34 | 2.9 | Penn* |
34 | 2.9 | UCLA* |
34 | 2.9 | University of Arizona |
34 | 2.9 | Vanderbilt* |
34 | 2.9 | Yale* |
43 | 2.8 | Denver |
43 | 2.8 | Illinois |
43 | 2.8 | Loyola-Chicago* |
43 | 2.8 | Nebraska* |
43 | 2.8 | Tulane* |
43 | 2.8 | UC-Irvine* |
43 | 2.8 | University of Washington* |
50 | 2.7 | Arkansas-Little Rock |
50 | 2.7 | BYU |
50 | 2.7 | Emory |
50 | 2.7 | Georgia |
50 | 2.7 | Hofstra |
50 | 2.7 | Miami |
50 | 2.7 | SMU |
50 | 2.7 | Southwestern* |
50 | 2.7 | St. John's* |
50 | 2.7 | Texas Tech |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 22, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Law School Rankings: The Good News, The Bad News And The Ultimate Proof That It Is Flawed
National Law Journal Op-Ed: Law School Rankings: The Good News, the Bad News and the Ultimate Proof That It Is Flawed, by Alan B. Morrison (Associate Dean, George Washington):
Finally, after two false starts, the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings are out, and one clear positive is that the authors have now told us more clearly what counts and for how much. The newest version has some sensible changes, as well as some problematic elements, but the bottom line is that the dramatic shifts in methodology for the overall rankings prove beyond a doubt that the premise of the endeavor—that these are objective measures—is fatally flawed. ...
These huge changes [in methodology] —in one year—are neither right nor wrong. What they show is how subjective the rankings are. In other words, they are entirely dependent on the personal whims of the U.S. News staff, who are not practicing lawyers, law professors, or law students. This arbitrariness applies not simply to the categories—why are these and only these categories relevant—but why are these the right percentages? The accompanying press release advises students that the rankings are only “one consideration” among many, including cost. But the overall message that the rankings convey is that students should go to the highest-ranked school because one size fits all—why else would they pick the title “Best Law Schools.”
May 22, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Muller: How Law Faculty Succeeded In Diminishing Their Importance In The U.S. News Rankings
Derek Muller (Iowa; Google Scholar), Law School Faculty Have Aggressively and Successfully Lobbied to Diminish the Importance of Law School Faculty in the USNWR Rankings:
In many contexts, there is a concern of “regulatory capture,” the notion that the regulated industry will lobby the regulator and ensure that the regulator sets forth rules most beneficial to the interests of the regulated industry.
In the context of the USNWR law rankings, the exact opposite has happened when it comes to the interests of law school faculty. Whether it has been intentional or inadvertent it hard to say.
It is in the self-interest of law school faculty to ensure that the USNWR law school rankings maximize the importance and influence of law school faculty. The more that faculty matter in the rankings, the better life is for law faculty—higher compensation, more competition for faculty, more hiring, more recognition for work, more earmarking for fundraising, the list goes on.
But in the last few years, law school faculty (sometimes administrators, sometimes not) have pressed for three specific rules that affirmatively diminish the importance of law faculty in the rankings.
May 20, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Friday, May 19, 2023
2024 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings include the criminal law programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 46% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.4 | NYU* |
2 | 4.2 | Harvard* |
2 | 4.2 | Stanford* |
4 | 4.1 | Columbia* |
4 | 4.1 | Duke* |
4 | 4.1 | Georgetown* |
7 | 3.9 | Chicago |
7 | 3.9 | Penn* |
7 | 3.9 | UC-Berkeley* |
7 | 3.9 | Vanderbilt* |
7 | 3.9 | Virginia* |
12 | 3.8 | Michigan* |
12 | 3.8 | UCLA* |
12 | 3.8 | Yale* |
15 | 3.7 | Northwestern* |
15 | 3.7 | Ohio State |
17 | 3.6 | Fordham |
17 | 3.6 | North Carolina |
17 | 3.6 | UC-Davis* |
20 | 3.5 | Brooklyn* |
20 | 3.5 | William & Mary |
22 | 3.4 | Cornell* |
22 | 3.4 | Texas |
22 | 3.4 | Washington University |
25 | 3.3 | Cardozo |
25 | 3.3 | Colorado |
25 | 3.3 | UC-Irvine* |
25 | 3.3 | University of Washington* |
25 | 3.3 | Utah |
30 | 3.2 | American* |
30 | 3.2 | Denver |
30 | 3.2 | George Washington |
30 | 3.2 | Loyola-L.A. |
30 | 3.2 | Minnesota |
30 | 3.2 | San Diego |
36 | 3.1 | Arizona State |
36 | 3.1 | Boston University |
36 | 3.1 | Emory |
36 | 3.1 | Maryland* |
36 | 3.1 | SMU |
36 | 3.1 | UC-San Francisco* |
36 | 3.1 | USC |
36 | 3.1 | Wake Forest |
36 | 3.1 | Wisconsin* |
45 | 3.0 | Florida |
45 | 3.0 | Howard |
45 | 3.0 | Indiana (Maurer) |
45 | 3.0 | Tulane* |
45 | 3.0 | University of Arizona |
50 | 2.9 | Alabama |
50 | 2.9 | CUNY |
50 | 2.9 | Florida State |
50 | 2.9 | Georgia State |
50 | 2.9 | Houston |
50 | 2.9 | Notre Dame |
50 | 2.9 | Richmond |
50 | 2.9 | Rutgers* |
50 | 2.9 | Seattle* |
50 | 2.9 | UNLV |
50 | 2.9 | Washington & Lee |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 19, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Thursday, May 18, 2023
2024 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings include the contracts/commercial law programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 42% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.8 | Chicago |
2 | 4.6 | Columbia* |
3 | 4.4 | Harvard* |
3 | 4.4 | Stanford* |
5 | 4.3 | NYU* |
5 | 4.3 | Penn* |
5 | 4.3 | UC-Berkeley* |
8 | 4.2 | Michigan* |
8 | 4.2 | UCLA* |
8 | 4.2 | Virginia* |
11 | 4.1 | Northwestern* |
11 | 4.1 | Yale* |
13 | 4.0 | Vanderbilt* |
14 | 3.9 | Cornell* |
14 | 3.9 | Duke* |
14 | 3.9 | Georgetown* |
14 | 3.9 | Texas |
18 | 3.8 | North Carolina |
19 | 3.6 | Fordham |
19 | 3.6 | Minnesota |
19 | 3.6 | USC |
19 | 3.6 | Washington University |
23 | 3.5 | Emory |
23 | 3.5 | Iowa |
25 | 3.4 | Boston College |
25 | 3.4 | Illinois |
25 | 3.4 | William & Mary |
25 | 3.4 | Wisconsin* |
29 | 3.3 | Boston University |
29 | 3.3 | Florida State |
29 | 3.3 | George Mason |
29 | 3.3 | Georgia |
29 | 3.3 | Notre Dame |
29 | 3.3 | UC-San Francisco* |
35 | 3.2 | Alabama |
35 | 3.2 | Ohio State |
35 | 3.2 | UC-Irvine* |
38 | 3.1 | Arizona State |
38 | 3.1 | Brooklyn* |
38 | 3.1 | BYU |
38 | 3.1 | Florida |
38 | 3.1 | Temple |
38 | 3.1 | UC-Davis* |
38 | 3.1 | Wake Forest |
45 | 3.0 | UNLV |
45 | 3.0 | Washington & Lee |
47 | 2.9 | Houston |
47 | 2.9 | Howard |
47 | 2.9 | Indiana (Maurer) |
47 | 2.9 | San Diego |
47 | 2.9 | Tennessee |
47 | 2.9 | Texas A&M |
47 | 2.9 | Tulane* |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 18, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
2024 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings include the constitutional law programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 46% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.8 | Harvard* |
2 | 4.7 | Yale* |
3 | 4.6 | Chicago |
3 | 4.6 | Stanford* |
5 | 4.5 | NYU* |
5 | 4.5 | UC-Berkeley* |
5 | 4.5 | Virginia* |
8 | 4.4 | Columbia* |
9 | 4.3 | Cornell* |
9 | 4.3 | Michigan* |
9 | 4.3 | Texas |
12 | 4.2 | Duke* |
12 | 4.2 | Penn* |
12 | 4.2 | UCLA* |
15 | 4.1 | Georgetown* |
15 | 4.1 | Northwestern* |
17 | 3.6 | Notre Dame |
17 | 3.6 | UC-Davis* |
17 | 3.6 | Vanderbilt* |
17 | 3.6 | William & Mary |
21 | 3.5 | North Carolina |
21 | 3.5 | San Diego |
21 | 3.5 | Washington University |
24 | 3.4 | Alabama |
24 | 3.4 | Boston University |
24 | 3.4 | Minnesota |
24 | 3.4 | Ohio State |
24 | 3.4 | UC-Irvine* |
29 | 3.3 | Emory |
29 | 3.3 | Florida |
29 | 3.3 | Florida State |
29 | 3.3 | Illinois |
29 | 3.3 | UC-San Francisco* |
29 | 3.3 | Wisconsin* |
35 | 3.2 | Arizona State |
35 | 3.2 | Boston College |
35 | 3.2 | Fordham |
35 | 3.2 | George Washington |
35 | 3.2 | Richmond |
35 | 3.2 | University of Arizona |
35 | 3.2 | USC |
42 | 3.1 | Brooklyn* |
42 | 3.1 | George Mason |
42 | 3.1 | Georgia |
42 | 3.1 | Georgia State |
42 | 3.1 | Indiana (Maurer) |
42 | 3.1 | Utah |
48 | 3.0 | BYU |
48 | 3.0 | Cardozo |
48 | 3.0 | Iowa |
48 | 3.0 | Maryland* |
48 | 3.0 | Wake Forest |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 17, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Will Boycotts And Bad Press Put A Dent In The U.S. News Law School Rankings' Reputation?
Law.com, Ahead of the Curve: Will Boycotts and Bad Press Put a Dent in the US News Rankings' Reputation?:
This week, we dive back into the U.S. News & World Report’s education rankings, examining whether the U.S. News law school rankings will remain influential despite widespread public boycotts by dozens of schools. ...
Paul L. Caron, Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and professor of law at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and author of the TaxProf Blog, told me in an email on Monday that “U.S. News really shot itself in the foot when they bollixed up the April 18 release of the rankings.”
“It is shocking that with the spotlight on them as a result of the publicity over the rankings boycott (although 42 law schools publicly joined the boycott, a total of 62 schools ended up boycotting—over 30% of all law schools), U.S. News released embargoed rankings on April 11 fraught with errors,” Caron said.
“Moreover, U.S. News never forthrightly explained the source of the errors and did not correct the misinformation about the jobs data in several media reports,” Caron added. ...
“Obviously rankings can survive, with or without meaningful support from those being ranked,” Robert B. Ahdieh, dean & Anthony G. Buzbee Endowed Dean’s Chair and vice president for Professional Schools & Programs at Texas A&M University School of Law, told me in an email Monday.
May 16, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Projected 2025 U.S. News Law School Rankings: The Biggest Winners And Losers
Derek Muller (Iowa; Google Scholar), Projecting the 2024-2025 USNWR Law School Rankings (To Be Released March 2024 Or So):
Fifty-eight percent of the new USNWR law school rankings turn on three highly-volatile categories: employment 10 months after graduation, first-time bar passage, and ultimate bar passage.
Because USNWR releases its rankings in the spring, at the same time the ABA releases new data on these categories, the USNWR law school rankings are always a year behind. This year’s data include the ultimate bar passage rate for the Class of 2019, the first-time bar passage rate for the Class of 2021, and the employment outcomes of the Class of 2021.
We can quickly update all that data with this year’s data—Class of 2020 ultimate bar passage rate, Class of 2022 first-time bar passage, and Class of 2022 employment outcomes (which we have to estimate and reverse engineer, so there’s some guesswork). Those three categories are 58% of next year’s rankings.
Derek projects the Top 100 schools in next year's 2025 rankings. Here are the largest projected increases among those schools:
Rank | School | Projected 2025 Rank | Actual 2024 Rank | Difference |
1 | Maine | 83 | 146 | +63 |
2 | Missouri-Kansas City | 93 | 135 | +42 |
3 | Penn State-Dickinson | 51 | 89 | +38 |
4 | Catholic | 86 | 122 | +36 |
5 | Regent | 93 | 125 | +32 |
6 | UNLV | 60 | 89 | +29 |
7 | Connecticut | 46 | 71 | +25 |
8 | Penn State Law | 56 | 80 | +24 |
9 | San Diego | 56 | 78 | +22 |
10 | Florida State | 36 | 56 | +20 |
11 | New Hampshire | 86 | 105 | +19 |
12 | Colorado | 40 | 56 | +16 |
12 | William & Mary | 29 | 45 | +16 |
12 | Wisconsin | 24 | 40 | +16 |
15 | Belmont | 90 | 105 | +15 |
15 | Marquette | 56 | 71 | +15 |
15 | Nebraska | 74 | 89 | +15 |
Here are the the largest projected decreases among those schools:
May 16, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
2024 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings include the clinical training law programs at 188 law schools (the faculty survey had a 53% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.4 | American* |
1 | 4.4 | Georgetown* |
3 | 4.3 | CUNY |
4 | 4.2 | Yale* |
5 | 4.1 | NYU* |
6 | 4.0 | Baltimore |
6 | 4.0 | Northwestern* |
6 | 4.0 | UC-Irvine* |
9 | 3.9 | Denver |
9 | 3.9 | Fordham |
9 | 3.9 | Michigan* |
9 | 3.9 | Washington University |
13 | 3.8 | District of Columbia |
13 | 3.8 | Harvard* |
13 | 3.8 | Maryland* |
13 | 3.8 | UC-Berkeley* |
17 | 3.7 | New Mexico |
17 | 3.7 | Suffolk |
19 | 3.6 | Georgia State |
19 | 3.6 | Rutgers* |
19 | 3.6 | Stanford* |
22 | 3.5 | Northeastern* |
22 | 3.5 | Tennessee |
22 | 3.5 | UC-San Francisco* |
25 | 3.4 | Albany |
25 | 3.4 | Columbia* |
25 | 3.4 | Duke* |
25 | 3.4 | Miami |
25 | 3.4 | Minnesota |
25 | 3.4 | Penn* |
25 | 3.4 | Seattle* |
25 | 3.4 | South Carolina |
25 | 3.4 | UCLA* |
34 | 3.3 | Boston College |
34 | 3.3 | Brooklyn* |
34 | 3.3 | Chicago |
34 | 3.3 | George Washington |
34 | 3.3 | Georgia |
34 | 3.3 | Howard |
34 | 3.3 | North Carolina |
34 | 3.3 | Pepperdine Caruso |
34 | 3.3 | Texas |
34 | 3.3 | University of Washington* |
34 | 3.3 | UNLV |
45 | 3.2 | Arizona State |
45 | 3.2 | Mitchell | Hamline* |
45 | 3.2 | Tulane* |
45 | 3.2 | University of Arizona |
45 | 3.2 | Vanderbilt* |
45 | 3.2 | Washington & Lee |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Clinical Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 16, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Monday, May 15, 2023
2024 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings include the business/corporate law programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 58% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.5 | Chicago |
1 | 4.5 | Columbia* |
1 | 4.5 | Harvard* |
4 | 4.4 | NYU* |
4 | 4.4 | Penn* |
4 | 4.4 | Stanford* |
4 | 4.4 | UC-Berkeley* |
8 | 4.1 | Virginia* |
9 | 4.0 | Michigan* |
9 | 4.0 | UCLA* |
9 | 4.0 | Yale* |
12 | 3.9 | Georgetown* |
12 | 3.9 | Vanderbilt* |
14 | 3.8 | Northwestern* |
15 | 3.7 | Cornell* |
15 | 3.7 | Duke* |
17 | 3.5 | BYU |
17 | 3.5 | USC |
19 | 3.4 | Boston University |
19 | 3.4 | Fordham |
19 | 3.4 | Texas |
22 | 3.3 | Minnesota |
22 | 3.3 | UC-Davis* |
22 | 3.3 | Washington University |
25 | 3.2 | Boston College |
25 | 3.2 | Emory |
25 | 3.2 | Florida |
25 | 3.2 | Iowa |
29 | 3.1 | Georgia |
29 | 3.1 | North Carolina |
29 | 3.1 | William & Mary |
32 | 3.0 | Brooklyn* |
32 | 3.0 | George Washington |
32 | 3.0 | Notre Dame |
32 | 3.0 | Tulane* |
36 | 2.9 | George Mason |
36 | 2.9 | Illinois |
36 | 2.9 | Indiana (Maurer) |
36 | 2.9 | San Diego |
36 | 2.9 | Tennessee |
36 | 2.9 | UC-San Francisco* |
36 | 2.9 | University of Arizona |
36 | 2.9 | Washington & Lee |
44 | 2.8 | Arizona State |
44 | 2.8 | Ohio State |
44 | 2.8 | Wisconsin* |
47 | 2.7 | Alabama |
47 | 2.7 | Colorado |
47 | 2.7 | Florida State |
47 | 2.7 | Houston |
47 | 2.7 | SMU |
47 | 2.7 | UC-Irvine* |
47 | 2.7 | Wake Forest |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
2023 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings
2024 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
May 15, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Saturday, May 13, 2023
More Commentary On The 2024 U.S. News Law School Rankings
Chronicle of Higher Education, What the New ‘U.S. News’ Law-School Rankings Reveal About the Rankings Enterprise:
Here are three takeaways from this year’s law list and what they say about the rankings enterprise.
The law schools that opted out clustered at certain places on the list. Of the 15 top-ranked law schools, all but one, the University of Chicago, declined to provide data this year. Several schools at the bottom of the list also didn’t return U.S. News’s survey. In the middle, opt-outs were scarcer. ... [A]t the bottom of the list, Malik C. Edwards, dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Law, said he hadn’t participated in the last three years, because he didn’t see it as worth his time. ...
The top 14 law schools stayed nearly the same. Historically, U.S. News rankings were designed to change only modestly year to year. Editors feared large shifts “could have undermined the credibility of the project,” Alvin P. Sanoff, an early and influential editor, wrote in 2007. Keeping the most scrutinized part of the law-school list — the top 14 — largely the same reflects that dedication to stability. ...
Did the rankings protest help right inequities in law education? That was the point of the boycott. Did it work?
It did and it didn’t, Edwards said. On the one hand, top law schools’ criticisms of U.S. News helped draw public attention to points that law deans had long made to one another, and drove real change in the methodology. On the other hand, problems persist.
Brian Leiter (Chicago; Google Scholar), USNews.com Has Outdone Itself: It Has Made Its Law School Rankings Even More Absurd Than Before!:
There's not much to say about what is essentially a random ordering of law schools within tier groups. Any student who made a decision on the basis of small (and, in some cases, even large) ordinal differences in this year's travesty really should have a cause of action against USNews.com. (Some of the swings in overall rank are beyond bizarre! UC Davis and Arizona dropped from the top 50? Emory and George Washington dropped out of the top 30? Is this a joke?)
Brian Leiter (Chicago; Google Scholar), More on the New USNews.com Ranking Stew:
The whole formula still of course makes no sense, and is inexplicable in terms of the weightings. What is clear is that the results are even more detached from traditional criteria of excellence, like faculty quality. The rankings will also now be much more volatile, for reasons Professor Muller explains.
Derek Muller (Iowa; Google Scholar), New USNWR Methodology Will Yield Dramatically More Compression and Volatility in Law School Rankings:
May 13, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink
Friday, May 12, 2023
2024 U.S. News Tax Rankings
The new 2024 U.S. News Tax Rankings include the tax programs at 196 law schools (the faculty survey had a 54% response rate). Here are the Top 50:
Rank | Score | School |
1 | 4.7 | NYU* |
2 | 4.4 | Florida |
3 | 4.3 | Georgetown* |
4 | 4.1 | Northwestern* |
5 | 4.0 | Virginia* |
6 | 3.9 | UC-Irvine* |
7 | 3.7 | Chicago |
7 | 3.7 | Columbia* |
7 | 3.7 | UCLA* |
10 | 3.6 | Duke* |
10 | 3.6 | Loyola-L.A. |
10 | 3.6 | Michigan* |
13 | 3.5 | Boston University |
13 | 3.5 | Harvard* |
13 | 3.5 | Stanford* |
16 | 3.4 | Boston College |
16 | 3.4 | Texas |
18 | 3.3 | Indiana (Maurer) |
18 | 3.3 | Penn* |
18 | 3.3 | San Diego |
18 | 3.3 | UC-San Francisco* |
22 | 3.2 | Minnesota |
22 | 3.2 | Yale* |
24 | 3.1 | Fordham |
24 | 3.1 | George Washington |
24 | 3.1 | North Carolina |
24 | 3.1 | UC-Berkeley* |
24 | 3.1 | USC |
29 | 3.0 | Pepperdine Caruso |
29 | 3.0 | Temple |
31 | 2.9 | BYU |
31 | 2.9 | Pittsburgh* |
31 | 2.9 | UC-Davis* |
31 | 2.9 | Villanova |
31 | 2.9 | Wisconsin* |
36 | 2.8 | Alabama |
36 | 2.8 | Arizona State |
36 | 2.8 | Cornell* |
36 | 2.8 | Florida State |
40 | 2.7 | Brooklyn* |
40 | 2.7 | Miami |
40 | 2.7 | Washington & Lee |
40 | 2.7 | Washington University |
44 | 2.6 | Houston |
44 | 2.6 | University of Washington* |
46 | 2.5 | Cardozo |
46 | 2.5 | Denver |
46 | 2.5 | Notre Dame |
46 | 2.5 | UNLV |
50 | 2.4 | American* |
50 | 2.4 | Colorado |
50 | 2.4 | Georgia |
50 | 2.4 | Georgia State |
50 | 2.4 | Iowa |
50 | 2.4 | Loyola-Chicago* |
50 | 2.4 | Ohio State |
50 | 2.4 | Richmond |
50 | 2.4 | Seton Hall |
50 | 2.4 | SMU |
50 | 2.4 | South Carolina |
50 | 2.4 | Tulane* |
*Denotes schools that boycotted the U.S. News rankings
Among the law schools in the tax rankings last year, here are the biggest upward moves:
- +9: Florida State (#36)
- +8: Duke (#10), BYU (#31), Villanova (#31)
- +6: San Diego (#18)
- +5: Washington & Lee (#40), Houston (#44)
- +4: Fordham (#24)
- +3: UC-Irvine (#6), Loyola-L.A. (#10), George Washington (#24), Alabama (#36), Arizona State (#36)
Here are the biggest downward moves:
- -16: Ohio State (#50)
- -12: Brooklyn (#40)
- -11: Georgia (#50)
- -10: University of Washington (#44)
- -6: Miami (#40), Washington University (#40)
- -4: Michigan (#10), Harvard (#13), Stanford (#13), North Carolina (#24), USC (#24)
Here are the rankings of law schools with graduate tax programs:
May 12, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education, Tax, Tax Rankings | Permalink
The Impact Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings Boycott On Peer Reputation
Following up on my previous post, Will U.S. News Refuse To Count Votes From Deans, Faculty, Lawyers, And Judges From Boycotting Law Schools In Reputation Metric In 2024 Rankings?: Derek Muller (Iowa; Google Scholar), Did "Boycotting" the USNWR Law Rankings Affect Those Schools' Peer Scores?:
USNWR’s methodology provides that it withdrew the survey responses of “boycotting” schools: “Peer assessment ratings were only used when submitted by law schools that also submitted their statistical surveys. This means the schools that declined to provide statistical information to U.S. News and its readers had their academic peer ratings programmatically discarded before any computations were made.” ... [D]id it affect those schools adversely?
But among these ~60 schools, 7 of them saw an increase in their peer score (12%). Another 28, nearly half, saw a decline. The average effect on their peer score was a decline of 0.043, slightly less than than the 0.1 I projected, but still an average decline.
Another 130 or so did not boycott. 29 of them (22%) saw an increase in their peer score, and 36 (27%) saw a decline—a mixed bag, with declining schools slightly outpacing increasing schools. The average effect on their peer was a marginal decrease of less than 0.01)—in other words, a decline, but somewhat less than the “boycotting” schools. (Peer scores have been long declining.)
Here are the changes in the peer reputation scores (now 12.5% of the methodology) of all 196 law schools, with an asterisk marking the 62 schools that boycotted the rankings:
Difference | School | 2023 Peer Score | 2024 Peer Score |
+0.2 | Northern Kentucky | 1.5 | 1.7 |
+0.1 | Albany | 2.0 | 2.1 |
+0.1 | Arkansas-Little Rock | 2.2 | 2.3 |
+0.1 | Ave Maria | 1.2 | 1.3 |
+0.1 | Baltimore | 2.1 | 2.2 |
+0.1 | Barry* | 1.2 | 1.3 |
+0.1 | Campbell* | 1.5 | 1.6 |
+0.1 | Capital* | 1.4 | 1.5 |
+0.1 | Creighton* | 1.9 | 2.0 |
+0.1 | Drake | 2.0 | 2.1 |
+0.1 | Drexel | 2.3 | 2.4 |
+0.1 | Elon | 1.7 | 1.8 |
+0.1 | Georgia | 3.2 | 3.3 |
+0.1 | Illinois-Chicago | 2.1 | 2.2 |
+0.1 | Liberty | 1.2 | 1.3 |
+0.1 | Louisiana State | 2.2 | 2.3 |
+0.1 | Maine | 2.1 | 2.2 |
+0.1 | Mercer | 1.9 | 2.0 |
+0.1 | Mississippi | 2.2 | 2.3 |
+0.1 | Nova | 1.6 | 1.7 |
+0.1 | Pacific | 2.0 | 2.1 |
+0.1 | Pepperdine Caruso | 2.8 | 2.9 |
+0.1 | Quinnipiac* | 1.9 | 2.0 |
+0.1 | Regent | 1.3 | 1.4 |
+0.1 | Roger Williams* | 1.7 | 1.8 |
+0.1 | Seattle* | 2.4 | 2.5 |
+0.1 | Southern Illinois | 1.7 | 1.8 |
+0.1 | Southern* | 1.7 | 1.8 |
+0.1 | St. Mary's | 1.8 | 1.9 |
+0.1 | Suffolk | 2.1 | 2.2 |
+0.1 | Temple | 2.8 | 2.9 |
+0.1 | Tennessee | 2.6 | 2.7 |
+0.1 | Texas A&M | 2.8 | 2.9 |
+0.1 | UNLV | 2.6 | 2.7 |
+0.1 | Utah | 3.0 | 3.1 |
+0.1 | West Virginia | 2.1 | 2.2 |
+0.1 | Willamette | 2.0 | 2.1 |
0 | Alabama | 3.2 | 3.2 |
0 | Appalachian* | 1.3 | 1.3 |
0 | Arizona State | 3.3 | 3.3 |
0 | Arkansas-Fayetteville | 2.4 | 2.4 |
0 | Baylor | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | Belmont | 1.5 | 1.5 |
0 | BYU | 2.9 | 2.9 |
0 | Cal-Western* | 1.7 | 1.7 |
0 | Case Western | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | Catholic | 2.2 | 2.2 |
0 | Chapman | 1.8 | 1.8 |
0 | Charleston | 1.4 | 1.4 |
0 | Cincinnati | 2.4 | 2.4 |
0 | Cleveland State | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | Connecticut* | 2.9 | 2.9 |
0 | Cornell* | 4.2 | 4.2 |
0 | Dayton | 1.8 | 1.8 |
0 | DePaul | 2.3 | 2.3 |
0 | Duke* | 4.2 | 4.2 |
0 | Duquesne | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | Faulkner | 1.3 | 1.3 |
0 | Florida | 3.3 | 3.3 |
0 | Florida A&M* | 1.8 | 1.8 |
0 | Florida Int'l | 2.1 | 2.1 |
0 | Fordham | 3.3 | 3.3 |
0 | George Mason | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | Georgia State | 2.8 | 2.8 |
0 | Golden Gate | 1.5 | 1.5 |
0 | Gonzaga* | 2.1 | 2.1 |
0 | Hawaii | 2.6 | 2.6 |
0 | Howard | 2.9 | 2.9 |
0 | Indiana (Maurer) | 3.2 | 3.2 |
0 | John Marshall (GA)* | 1.4 | 1.4 |
0 | Kansas | 2.6 | 2.6 |
0 | Kentucky | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | Lewis & Clark | 2.4 | 2.4 |
0 | Lincoln Memorial | 1.3 | 1.3 |
0 | Louisville | 2.2 | 2.2 |
0 | Loyola-Chicago* | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | Loyola-New Orleans* | 2.2 | 2.2 |
0 | Memphis | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | Miami | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | Michigan State | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | Michigan* | 4.4 | 4.4 |
0 | Minnesota | 3.6 | 3.6 |
0 | Mississippi College | 1.6 | 1.6 |
0 | Missouri (Columbia) | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | Missouri-Kansas City | 2.2 | 2.2 |
0 | Mitchell | Hamline* | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | Montana | 2.0 | 2.0 |
0 | Nebraska* | 2.4 | 2.4 |
0 | New England | 1.5 | 1.5 |
0 | New Mexico | 2.4 | 2.4 |
0 | New York Law School | 2.0 | 2.0 |
0 | North Carolina Central* | 1.7 | 1.7 |
0 | North Dakota | 1.8 | 1.8 |
0 | Northeastern* | 2.6 | 2.6 |
0 | Northern Illinois | 1.8 | 1.8 |
0 | Notre Dame | 3.4 | 3.4 |
0 | Ohio Northern | 1.5 | 1.5 |
0 | Oklahoma | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | Oklahoma City | 1.6 | 1.6 |
0 | Oregon | 2.8 | 2.8 |
0 | Pace | 2.1 | 2.1 |
0 | Pittsburgh* | 2.6 | 2.6 |
0 | Richmond | 2.8 | 2.8 |
0 | Rutgers* | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | Samford | 1.7 | 1.7 |
0 | San Diego | 2.9 | 2.9 |
0 | San Francisco* | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | Santa Clara | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | Seton Hall | 2.5 | 2.5 |
0 | SMU | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | South Dakota | 1.8 | 1.8 |
0 | South Texas* | 1.7 | 1.7 |
0 | Southwestern* | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | St. John's* | 2.3 | 2.3 |
0 | St. Thomas (MN) | 2.0 | 2.0 |
0 | Stanford* | 4.7 | 4.7 |
0 | Stetson | 2.2 | 2.2 |
0 | SUNY-Buffalo | 2.2 | 2.2 |
0 | Texas Tech | 2.0 | 2.0 |
0 | Touro* | 1.6 | 1.6 |
0 | University of Arizona | 3.2 | 3.2 |
0 | Villanova | 2.7 | 2.7 |
0 | Wake Forest | 3.0 | 3.0 |
0 | Washburn | 2.1 | 2.1 |
0 | Western Michigan* | 1.3 | 1.3 |
0 | Western State | 1.2 | 1.2 |
0 | Widener (DE) | 1.9 | 1.9 |
0 | Wyoming | 1.9 | 1.9 |
-0.1 | Akron | 1.8 | 1.7 |
-0.1 | American* | 3.0 | 2.9 |
-0.1 | Boston College | 3.4 | 3.3 |
-0.1 | Boston University | 3.6 | 3.5 |
-0.1 | Brooklyn* | 2.7 | 2.6 |
-0.1 | Cardozo | 3.0 | 2.9 |
-0.1 | Chicago | 4.6 | 4.5 |
-0.1 | Colorado | 3.2 | 3.1 |
-0.1 | Columbia* | 4.6 | 4.5 |
-0.1 | CUNY | 2.3 | 2.2 |
-0.1 | Denver | 2.8 | 2.7 |
-0.1 | Detroit Mercy* | 1.8 | 1.7 |
-0.1 | District of Columbia | 1.8 | 1.7 |
-0.1 | Florida State | 3.0 | 2.9 |
-0.1 | George Washington | 3.5 | 3.4 |
-0.1 | Georgetown* | 4.2 | 4.1 |
-0.1 | Harvard* | 4.7 | 4.6 |
-0.1 | Hofstra | 2.3 | 2.2 |
-0.1 | Houston | 2.8 | 2.7 |
-0.1 | Idaho* | 2.1 | 2.0 |
-0.1 | Indiana (McKinney) | 2.5 | 2.4 |
-0.1 | Iowa | 3.4 | 3.3 |
-0.1 | Loyola-L.A. | 2.8 | 2.7 |
-0.1 | Marquette | 2.3 | 2.2 |
-0.1 | Maryland* | 3.1 | 3.0 |
-0.1 | Massachusetts | 1.6 | 1.5 |
-0.1 | North Carolina | 3.5 | 3.4 |
-0.1 | Northwestern* | 4.2 | 4.1 |
-0.1 | NYU* | 4.6 | 4.5 |
-0.1 | Ohio State | 3.3 | 3.2 |
-0.1 | Penn State-Dickinson* | 2.5 | 2.4 |
-0.1 | Penn State-University Park* | 2.5 | 2.4 |
-0.1 | Penn* | 4.4 | 4.3 |
-0.1 | South Carolina | 2.6 | 2.5 |
-0.1 | St. Louis | 2.4 | 2.3 |
-0.1 | Syracuse* | 2.4 | 2.3 |
-0.1 | Texas | 4.1 | 4.0 |
-0.1 | Texas Southern* | 1.6 | 1.5 |
-0.1 | Tulane* | 3.1 | 3.0 |
-0.1 | Tulsa | 2.0 | 1.9 |
-0.1 | UC-Berkeley* | 4.5 | 4.4 |
-0.1 | UC-Davis* | 3.5 | 3.4 |
-0.1 | UC-San Francisco* | 3.2 | 3.1 |
-0.1 | University of Washington* | 3.2 | 3.1 |
-0.1 | USC | 3.7 | 3.6 |
-0.1 | Vanderbilt* | 4.0 | 3.9 |
-0.1 | Vermont | 2.0 | 1.9 |
-0.1 | Virginia* | 4.4 | 4.3 |
-0.1 | Washington & Lee | 3.2 | 3.1 |
-0.1 | Washington University | 3.8 | 3.7 |
-0.1 | Wayne State | 2.4 | 2.3 |
-0.1 | Western New England | 1.5 | 1.4 |
-0.1 | Widener (PA) | 1.7 | 1.6 |
-0.1 | William & Mary | 3.4 | 3.3 |
-0.1 | Wisconsin* | 3.3 | 3.2 |
-0.2 | Chicago-Kent | 2.6 | 2.4 |
-0.2 | Emory | 3.6 | 3.4 |
-0.2 | Illinois | 3.2 | 3.0 |
-0.2 | New Hampshire* | 2.2 | 2.0 |
-0.2 | St. Thomas (FL) | 1.6 | 1.4 |
-0.2 | Toledo | 1.9 | 1.7 |
-0.2 | UC-Irvine* | 3.6 | 3.4 |
-0.2 | UCLA* | 4.2 | 4.0 |
-0.2 | Yale* | 4.6 | 4.4 |
May 12, 2023 in Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink