Columbia Will Not Submit Data To U.S. News This Year After Math Professor Questioned Its #2 Ranking

Following up on my previous posts:

• Michael Thaddeus (Professor of Mathematics, Columbia), An Investigation of the Facts Behind Columbia’s U.S. News Ranking (Mar. 8, 2022)
• New York Times, U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, But A Math Professor Has His Doubts (Mar. 21, 2022)

Columbia University Provost Mary Boyce, Statement Regarding U.S. News and World Report’s Undergraduate Survey:

A few months ago, a member of our faculty, Professor Michael Thaddeus, raised questions regarding the accuracy of some of the data the University submitted to U.S. News and World Report for its annual ranking of undergraduate universities. Columbia leaders take these questions seriously, and we immediately embarked on a review of our data collection and submissions process.

In light of the work underway, we will refrain from submitting to U.S. News and World Report this year. The deadline for that submission is July 1. Given the extensive analysis required to review the data and ensure it complies with U.S. News methodologies, we cannot complete our work with the appropriate care within that timeframe.

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After Submitting False Data To U.S. News For 9 Years, USC Ordered To Certify Accuracy Of Its Data In Future Rankings

Following up on my previous posts:

• USC Pulls Ed School Out Of U.S. News Graduate School Rankings; Jones Day Is Investigating 5 Years Of Inaccurate Data (Mar. 24, 2022)
• Jones Day Finds USC Dean Intentionally Reported False Data To U.S. News To Goose Its Ranking (Apr. 30, 2022)

Robert Morse (Chief Data Strategist, U.S. News), U.S. News Responds to University of Southern California Education School on Misreporting (June 7, 2022):

U.S. News & World Report has recently been informed by the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education that "for several years, USC Rossier had been inaccurately reporting data on research and student enrollment to USNWR."

U.S. News is reviewing the various disclosures made by the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education with respect to this misreporting, which are included in the recently published investigative report by the law firm Jones Day.

The Jones Day report said, "From at least 2013 to 2021, the School misreported data to US News about the selectivity of its doctoral programs." In addition the report said, "While this investigation focused on the School’s reporting of doctoral selectivity metrics, Jones Day confirmed during the course of the investigation the existence of irregularities in the School’s calculation and reporting of research expenditures, and identified other potential data misreporting issues, such as issues relating to the exclusion of online EdD programs, the designation of EdD students as part-time, certain faculty-related metrics, and the School’s reporting of teacher job placement and retention statistics."

In light of these findings, U.S. News will require the Rossier School of Education’s dean or top academic, the University of Southern California's president and the Chair of USC’s Board of Trustees to provide a letter certifying the accuracy of the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education's data submissions to U.S. News for the next three ranking cycles in order to be included in the rankings. ...

Click here to read the letter U.S. News sent to University of Southern California.

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As Temple Dean Begins Serving 14-Month Sentence For U.S. News Rankings Fraud, Tenured Professor Is Defiant At Sentencing Hearing: 'Every Single University Has People Doing The Same Exact Operations'

Following up on my previous post, Former Temple Dean Sentenced To 14 Months In Federal Prison For Rankings Fraud:  

Poets & Quants, Moshe Porat, Denied Bail, Will Begin Prison Sentence On May 9:

Philadlphia Inquirer, Ex-Temple Employees Sentenced to Probation for Fraud Tied to Business School Rankings:

A former administrator and a retired statistics professor at Temple University were sentenced to probation this week for assisting the former dean of its business school in a scheme to inflate its position in national rankings publications.

But standing before a federal judge in Philadelphia, Marjorie O’Neill, a onetime finance manager at the Fox School of Business, and Isaac Gottlieb, who was a tenured professor, struck vastly different tones when it came to accepting responsibility for a scandal that has since cost the university millions in legal settlements.

O’Neill admitted last year that she, under the direction of former dean Moshe Porat, had falsified data on students at the school to help propel it to the top of influential lists like U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of top business school programs. She told U.S. District Judge Gerald A Pappert during a hearing Thursday that she was “thoroughly ashamed.” ...

Meanwhile, Gottlieb — who helped Fox cheat more effectively by reverse engineering the criteria by which U.S. News ranked schools — showed flashes of defiance at his sentencing hearing Wednesday. “Every single university in the United States has people doing the same exact operations,” he said. ...

“It is important for other institutions to realize that this chase for rankings is not worth it,” the judge said Thursday. “There are lines you can’t cross. It’s important for people to see there are going to be criminal consequences and penalties for doing that.” ...

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An Access And Equity Ranking Of America's 63 Public Law Schools

Christopher L. Mathis (Iowa; Google Scholar), An Access and Equity Ranking of Public Law Schools:

Over the past few decades, several comprehensive ranking systems, including the influential U.S. News and World Report’s Best Law Schools rankings, have emerged to provide useful information to prospective law students seeking to enroll in law school. These ranking systems have defined what is measured as “quality” and what outcomes law schools focus on to gain a better position in the ranking. These rankings fail to measure what many law schools claim to be one of their longstanding goals— diversity, access, and equity.

One of the problematic and shocking reasons U.S. News cites for not including diversity measures in the ranking is that law schools themselves have no consensus on diversity. I counter this argument, asserting that while there may not be widespread consensus—for certain people—on diversity, there is substantial academic scholarship and agreement on the tenets of diversity that ranking enthusiasts can use to design an effective diversity measure. I maintain that any ranking that does not include diversity, access, and equity measures often leave communities of color and their interests in the margins. Therefore, this Article seeks to center the needs of Black and Latinx prospective law students through a new ranking system

Given that public law schools aim to increase racial/ethnic diversity—that is, the number of racial/ethnic minoritized students—because of their institutional missions, the Article provides the first ranking of public law schools on “Access and Equity” measures. It describes ranking law schools based on measurable outcomes related to diversity, access, and equity. This ranking uses twelve access and equity measures that are significant to Black and Latinx law school fit. This “Access and Equity Ranking” is the only ranking to date that will help Black and Latinx students identify which public law schools centers their needs.

The Top 25 law schools under this measure are:

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New ABA Bar Data: Ultimate 2-Year Pass Rate Increased 1 Percentage Point; Ten Law Schools Fell Short of 75% Accreditation Threshold

Press Release, ABA Section of Legal Education Releases Comprehensive Report on Bar Passage Data:

The Managing Director’s Office of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released today a comprehensive set of data on bar passage outcomes for American Bar Association-approved law schools. Spreadsheets are available on the section’s webpage under Legal Education Statistics, which report these outcomes under ABA Required Disclosures on a school-by-school basis and in more detail.

The new data shows that in the aggregate, 91.17% of 2019 law graduates who sat for a bar exam passed it within two years of graduation (91.27% with Diploma Privilege). The two-year “ultimate” aggregate success rate is slightly better than the 90.10% comparable figure for 2018 graduates. 

Here are the Top 50 law schools in two-year ultimate bar passage rates:

Rank  Law School	% Passers
1.   BELMONT	100.00%
1.   MARQUETTE	100.00%
3.   UC-BERKELEY	99.69%
4.   DUKE	99.54%
5.   CHICAGO	99.49%
6.   GEORGE MASON	99.36%
7.   VIRGINIA	99.30%
8.   BAYLOR	99.29%
9.   HARVARD	99.29%
10. ALABAMA	99.21%
11. YALE	99.04%
12. STANFORD	98.88%
13. MINNESOTA	98.69%
14. NORTHWESTERN	98.69%
15. MICHIGAN	98.34%
16. CAMPBELL	98.13%
17. NYU	98.11%
18. UCLA	98.08%
19. LIBERTY	98.04%
20. PENNSYLVANIA	97.97%
21. CORNELL	97.93%
22. OHIO STATE	97.87%
23. UC-IRVINE	97.86%
24. GEORGIA STATE	97.85%
25. FLORIDA	97.83%
26. BOSTON UNIVERSITY	97.61%
27. NOTRE DAME	97.37%
28. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY	97.30%
29. TEXAS	97.29%
30. BOSTON COLLEGE	97.20%
31. WASHINGTON & LEE	97.20%
32. FLORIDA INT'L	97.16%
33. OKLAHOMA	97.09%
34. VANDERBILT	97.06%
35. ILLINOIS	96.72%
36. FORDHAM	96.71%
37. TEXAS A&M	96.69%
38. GEORGIA	96.67%
39. GEORGETOWN	96.43%
40. NEW MEXICO	96.30%
41. UTAH	96.20%
42. CARDOZO	96.04%
43. COLORADO	95.95%
44. FLORIDA STATE	95.88%
45. WILLIAM & MARY	95.81%
46. KANSAS	95.74%
47. MONTANA	95.65%
48. SAMFORD	95.59%
49. COLUMBIA	95.58%
50. GEORGE WASHINGTON	95.46%

First-time takers in 2021 achieved an aggregate 79.86% pass rate (80.28% with Diploma Privilege), which is approximately a 3-percentage point decrease over the comparable 83.66% pass rate (with Diploma Privilege) for 2020. Consistent with last year, those admitted to the practice of law solely based on their graduation status are considered bar passers.

Ten law schools fell short of the 75% accreditation threshold:

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The Top 15 Law Schools For Jobs Contain Some Surprises

The ABA recently released data on job placement 10 months after graduation. In These Law Schools Crushed the Job Market in 2021, Reuters uncovered expected and unexpected results.  At the top was Columbia University. Expected. But also among the Top 15 schools were University of Montana and Texas Tech University. Here's the complete list of the Top 15 Schools:

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Kuehn: Law School Specialty Program Ranking Credibility

Tax Prof Blog op-ed:  Law School Specialty Ranking Credibility, by Robert Kuehn (Washington University):

As part of its spring rite of ranking law schools, U.S. News ranks law school specialty programs. The specialty rankings are based solely on reputation. In particular, a faculty member teaching in a specialty area at each school is asked to assess their area at other ABA accredited schools. Yet the most recent rankings demonstrate that the current methodology does not yield credible results for many specialties.

Prior to 2020, the faculty member rating a specialty program was directed to choose the schools with the top 15 programs in the rater’s area. U.S. News would then rank the top up to 20 programs based on how often the school was listed. Beginning with its 2020 rankings, the system changed. The faculty member now was asked to rate the specialty program at every law school on a scale from Marginal (1) to Outstanding (5), mirroring the “peer assessment” method used to assess the academic reputation of schools. If a school’s program receives as few as ten ratings, it is ranked in that specialty. Whereas having an informed opinion on the 15 best programs in one’s field under the old system seemed manageable, the new system is overwhelming, if not impossible — provide an informed opinion, reduced to a number, on the programs at all schools so they can then be credibly ranked, based on their average score, in descending order from supposedly best to worst.

Since I highlighted problems with the new 2020 specialty ranking approach, U.S. News has added four more specialty programs: business/corporate law; constitutional law; contracts/commercial law; and criminal law. Unlike the prior nine categories, these four new programs cover core, not special, areas of a school’s educational program. An examination of the ranking of these core areas illustrates the continuing credibility problem with the specialty program ranking system.

Looking at the recently released 2023 specialty rankings, among the 187 ranked schools there are noticeable clusters of schools ranked highest by U.S. News at the top of the four new programs, and an overpopulation of lowest-ranked schools at the bottom. The top ten ranked constitutional and contracts/commercial law specialty programs are all at schools ranked 1-14 by U.S. News (“T-14” schools). There is a similar pattern for the new business/corporate and criminal law specialties — 9 of the top 10 ranked programs are at T-14 ranked schools (the tenth at the 15th ranked school). Conversely, the programs ranked in the bottom quarter of the constitutional and contracts/commercial law specialties are all at schools ranked over 100.

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2023 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings v. Overall Rankings

Following up on yesterday's post, 2023 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	American	16	73	+57
2	Brooklyn	43	98	+55
3	Illinois-Chicago	94	147	+53
4	Santa Clara	81	133	+52
4	Suffolk	70	122	+52
6	Denver	33	78	+45
6	Seattle	71	116	+45
8	Pace	98	142	+44
9	Chicago-Kent	57	94	+37
10	Mitchell | Hamline	111	147	+36
10	Temple	27	63	+36
12	Hofstra	83	118	+35
13	Howard	65	98	+33
13	Rutgers	53	86	+33
15	Baltimore	90	122	+32
15	Loyola-New Orleans	101	133	+32
15	UC-Hastings	19	51	+32
18	Pacific	102	133	+31
19	CUNY	103	133	+30
20	South Texas	118	147	+29
21	Stetson	84	111	+27
21	Widener (DE)	120	147	+27
23	Loyola-L.A.	41	67	+26
23	San Francisco	121	147	+26
25	New York Law School	104	129	+25
26	UC-Irvine	13	37	+24
27	Loyola-Chicago	51	73	+22
27	Quinnipiac	125	147	+22
29	Houston	38	58	+20
30	Miami	54	73	+19
31	Fordham	20	37	+17
32	Case Western	62	78	+16
32	Syracuse	87	103	+16
34	George Washington	10	25	+15
34	Lewis & Clark	73	88	+15
36	DePaul	91	105	+14
36	Georgia State	64	78	+14
36	Univ. of Washington	35	49	+14
39	Georgetown	1	14	+13
39	Ohio State	17	30	+13
41	Southwestern	135	147	+12
41	Vermont	130	142	+12
43	Akron	136	147	+11
43	Michigan State	80	91	+11
43	UNLV	56	67	+11
46	Maryland	37	47	+10
46	Northwestern	3	13	+10
46	Nova SE	137	147	+10
46	Willamette	119	129	+10
50	Golden Gate	138	147	+9
50	UCLA	6	15	+9

Here are the law schools whose U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Ranking most trails their overall U.S. News Ranking:

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2023 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings include the rankings for 13 specialty programs at 192 law schools. Here are the Top 100 law schools, determined by giving equal weight to each of the 13 separate specialty rankings:

1. Business/Corporate Law
2. Clinical Law
3. Constitutional Law
4. Contracts/Commercial Law
5. Criminal Law
6. Dispute Resolution
7. Environmental Law
8. Health Law
9. Intellectual Property Law
10. International Law
11. Legal Writing
12. Tax Law
13. Trial Advocacy

	School	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Avg.
1	Georgetown	10	1	10	11	3	20	7	7	18	4	6	2	16	8.8
2	NYU	1	3	5	4	1	20	5	44	3	1	84	1	38	16.2
3	Northwestern	14	17	14	12	17	4	38	44	19	18	31	3	16	19.0
4	UC-Berkeley	1	8	8	7	2	43	1	33	1	7	115	24	10	20.0
5	Michigan	9	8	9	7	12	70	41	17	19	7	10	6	52	20.5
6	UCLA	7	26	11	15	8	15	1	23	15	12	128	6	6	21.0
7	Harvard	1	26	1	2	3	3	7	2	15	2	182	9	38	22.4
8	Stanford	6	15	5	4	3	15	13	7	2	10	149	9	61	23.0
9	Virginia	10	64	5	7	7	22	29	29	25	6	50	5	52	23.9
10	George Washington	27	23	21	34	28	47	13	23	5	10	39	27	31	25.2
11	Duke	14	35	11	16	14	56	17	21	12	12	39	18	67	25.5
12	Penn	5	26	14	7	3	22	44	20	12	14	74	18	89	26.8
13	UC-Irvine	44	5	18	27	24	22	34	29	19	18	10	9	106	28.1
14	Texas	17	35	11	12	14	22	31	33	19	21	104	15	38	28.6
15	Columbia	1	26	3	1	8	22	7	38	15	3	174	9	89	30.5
16	American	56	3	40	45	24	43	44	16	8	7	62	55	3	31.2
17	Ohio State	39	64	21	27	12	1	56	17	36	47	21	34	52	32.8
18	Washington Univ.	20	17	19	16	32	38	68	29	45	21	74	34	20	33.3
19	UC-Hastings	32	20	33	27	32	9	21	12	28	27	160	20	26	34.4
20	Fordham	18	17	30	20	18	13	73	65	25	21	115	28	7	34.6
21	North Carolina	23	26	21	20	18	56	41	23	55	62	10	20	89	35.7
22	Yale	12	5	1	4	8	56	26	11	63	4	180	20	79	36.1
23	Arizona State	56	73	40	45	28	13	17	13	55	32	4	39	61	36.6
24	Vanderbilt	12	35	17	16	14	32	7	33	45	17	128	45	79	36.9
25	Boston Univ.	20	26	21	27	28	84	68	5	11	39	62	15	89	38.1
26	Cornell	14	46	14	12	21	22	56	55	45	14	50	34	120	38.7
27	Temple	44	57	61	45	53	56	89	23	36	18	15	28	1	40.5
28	Minnesota	23	57	26	16	21	84	26	23	55	21	62	24	89	40.5
29	William & Mary	27	73	19	23	18	38	56	75	45	32	31	67	38	41.7
30	Emory	23	104	26	23	39	70	63	23	45	32	39	39	31	42.8
31	Boston College	27	26	33	27	46	56	34	48	32	36	50	13	135	43.3
32	Chicago	7	46	3	2	8	70	63	44	36	14	178	6	89	43.5
33	Denver	69	8	61	64	46	22	21	85	66	47	6	62	10	43.6
34	UC-Davis	23	57	21	27	21	32	17	55	36	29	169	28	67	44.8
35	Univ. of Washington	44	35	61	41	32	47	31	40	28	39	50	34	106	45.2
36	Wake Forest	44	86	54	41	24	47	44	21	79	67	6	67	26	46.6
37	Maryland	56	8	40	59	39	12	13	6	87	67	115	76	31	46.8
38	Houston	44	92	71	59	66	47	21	7	6	57	62	49	31	47.1
39	Indiana (Maurer)	44	92	35	37	32	47	34	55	28	32	31	15	135	47.5
40	Florida	27	104	48	34	46	38	21	60	66	67	84	3	26	48.0
41	Loyola-L.A.	56	57	65	64	32	70	96	48	32	62	31	13	7	48.7
42	Arizona	44	64	40	53	53	77	31	40	66	42	13	70	52	49.6
43	Brooklyn	27	23	48	41	24	56	139	85	79	42	27	28	38	50.5
44	Wisconsin	41	46	35	23	32	56	44	48	72	36	104	55	89	52.4
45	Washington & Lee	32	46	48	37	39	43	89	48	72	36	84	45	67	52.8
46	Georgia	32	46	35	45	60	47	73	40	79	21	149	39	21	52.8
47	USC	18	92	26	23	46	32	38	55	45	42	149	20	120	54.3
48	Tulane	32	35	54	41	46	77	17	60	72	29	115	70	61	54.5
49	Texas A&M	69	23	84	59	111	4	38	75	6	57	50	70	67	54.8
50	Notre Dame	32	80	26	45	46	56	56	85	36	27	128	45	52	54.9
51	Colorado	44	80	40	53	32	84	12	65	45	62	62	62	89	56.2
51	Loyola-Chicago	78	86	65	84	72	38	73	3	36	57	62	55	21	56.2
53	Rutgers	69	8	54	84	39	84	80	48	79	62	13	67	49	56.6
54	Miami	56	26	54	53	53	84	44	75	66	29	104	34	61	56.8
55	Cardozo	56	35	40	53	28	4	144	108	8	47	115	55	79	59.4
56	UNLV	69	35	71	45	72	8	96	40	72	105	1	55	106	59.6
57	Chicago-Kent	69	121	65	64	72	56	80	60	12	67	39	85	7	61.3
58	Iowa	32	92	48	27	39	110	96	65	55	47	39	55	106	62.4
59	San Diego	44	121	30	45	60	96	44	65	19	47	169	24	52	62.8
60	Alabama	44	64	30	53	60	84	80	75	105	81	74	39	38	63.6
60	Utah	41	92	48	53	39	110	16	44	36	47	104	49	148	63.6
62	Case Western	63	64	65	70	80	56	44	13	36	21	84	113	120	63.8
63	Florida State	56	132	35	34	46	77	21	65	72	47	160	45	52	64.8
64	Georgia State	63	35	54	64	60	96	96	3	66	105	128	62	31	66.4
65	Howard	78	35	54	70	53	96	96	85	45	81	50	95	26	66.5
66	Pepperdine Caruso	67	46	54	70	96	1	109	102	94	39	128	28	31	66.5
67	SMU	44	64	73	70	53	47	113	55	55	57	128	49	67	67.3
68	Northeastern	93	20	73	97	60	110	96	7	45	67	27	76	106	67.5
69	BYU	22	121	48	37	80	43	56	108	55	47	128	39	120	69.5
70	Suffolk	103	15	137	97	80	22	96	60	28	128	4	119	21	70.0
71	Seattle	93	26	93	84	72	22	80	108	72	81	6	85	89	70.1
72	Illinois	32	121	35	20	39	84	73	75	55	67	128	49	135	70.2
73	Lewis & Clark	83	73	93	84	90	38	4	102	63	67	27	95	106	71.2
74	Villanova	78	46	73	70	72	110	96	108	63	81	27	39	79	72.5
75	Seton Hall	78	73	65	84	66	110	80	13	94	97	84	62	52	73.7
76	Richmond	63	132	40	59	60	70	63	96	36	91	84	62	106	74.0
77	Oregon	69	121	84	59	80	9	7	185	87	91	1	55	135	75.6
78	South Carolina	69	35	104	80	53	110	68	65	115	101	115	49	38	77.1
79	Pittsburgh	78	92	65	80	80	110	109	38	45	42	128	28	120	78.1
80	Michigan State	67	104	73	70	72	84	96	102	55	62	84	102	49	78.5
81	Santa Clara	69	113	93	92	90	77	80	96	4	42	74	76	120	78.9
82	St. John's	63	86	73	70	66	32	153	124	87	81	39	124	38	79.7
83	Hofstra	83	73	93	97	66	96	139	75	79	81	50	85	21	79.8
84	Stetson	109	73	104	97	111	22	80	108	141	101	3	95	3	80.5
85	Drexel	83	64	84	97	96	110	144	33	94	118	21	119	10	82.5
86	George Mason	41	148	40	37	80	103	122	108	19	67	169	70	89	84.1
87	Syracuse	90	113	104	105	80	110	73	85	87	81	50	102	14	84.2
88	Tennessee	39	20	84	45	96	110	109	102	141	118	74	82	79	84.5
89	Connecticut	69	113	61	64	80	96	96	65	100	57	84	70	148	84.8
90	Baltimore	119	8	104	143	66	70	68	85	94	91	39	102	120	85.3
91	DePaul	103	92	84	113	96	110	139	29	25	81	74	85	89	86.2
91	St. Louis	93	57	73	84	96	110	134	1	87	91	104	70	120	86.2
91	Wayne State	119	35	73	97	72	110	80	60	105	67	128	85	89	86.2
94	John Marshall (IL)	119	80	121	125	96	110	122	75	32	97	15	132	21	88.1
95	Kansas	83	132	73	70	96	47	63	108	105	81	84	85	120	88.2
96	Penn State-Dickinson	90	73	93	92	96	110	89	65	105	67	84	95	106	89.6
97	New Mexico	119	8	104	80	90	110	29	85	121	128	74	113	106	89.8
98	Indiana (McKinney)	93	138	84	84	119	110	96	17	100	67	15	82	170	90.4
98	Pace	109	132	137	113	111	32	1	102	141	67	128	76	26	90.4
100	Penn State-University Park	93	64	73	105	111	56	44	85	121	67	115	85	161	90.8

If anyone at a law school outside the Top 100 would like the data for their school's rank, email me.

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Whistleblower Claims Rutgers Created Fake Jobs For Graduates To Goose Business School Ranking

Following up on yesterday's post, Do The ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Rely On Dubious Data?:  Chronicle of Higher Education, Rutgers B-School Faked Jobs for Graduates to Inflate Its Rankings, Lawsuit Says:

Rutgers University’s Business School inflated its rankings by creating fake jobs for its graduates, according to an accusation leveled in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed on Friday.

Deidre White, the business school’s human-resources manager, claims in her lawsuit that the university created bogus jobs to show that the school’s graduates had no trouble finding employment. But after she exposed the purported scheme and refused to comply with it, White asserts, she faced illegal harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

The lawsuit charges that administrators at the business school used a temp agency called Adecco Employment Services Inc. to hire graduating M.B.A. students who had yet to land a job and place them in fictitious positions at the university. This created a false impression that “postgraduation employment is virtually guaranteed,” the lawsuit says.

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Colin Diver: The Rankings Farce

Chronicle of Higher Education Op-Ed:  The Rankings Farce, by Colin Diver:

‘U.S. News’ and its ilk embrace faux-precise formulas riven with statistical misconceptions. ...

On July 1, 2002, I became president of Reed College in Portland, Ore. As I began to fill the shelves in my office with mementos from my previous life as a law-school dean, I could feel the weight already lifting from my shoulders. “I’m no longer subject to the tyranny of college rankings,” I thought. “I don’t need to worry about some news magazine telling me what to do.”

Seven years before my arrival at Reed, my predecessor, Steven S. Koblik, decreed that Reed would no longer cooperate with the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings. ...

There is a growing cottage industry of college evaluators, many spurred by the commercial success of U.S. News. I call it the “rankocracy” — a group of self-appointed, mostly profit-seeking journalists who claim for themselves the role of arbiters of educational excellence in our society. It wasn’t just the U.S. News rankings that were incompatible with Reed’s values. Virtually the whole enterprise of listing institutions in an ordinal hierarchy of quality involves faux precision, dubious methodologies, and blaring best-college headlines. To make matters worse, the entire structure rests on mostly unaudited, self-reported information of dubious reliability. In recent months, for example, the data supporting Columbia’s second place U.S. News ranking have been questioned, the University of Southern California’s School of Education has discovered a “history of inaccuracies” in its rankings data, and Bloomberg’s business-school rankings have been examined for perceived anomalies. ...

I came by my rankings aversion honestly. In 1989, I became the dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s law school. The next year, U.S. News began to publish annual rankings of law schools. Over the next nine years of my deanship, its numerical pronouncements hovered over my head like a black cloud. During those years, for reasons that remained a complete mystery to me, Penn Law’s national position would oscillate somewhere between seventh and 12th. Each upward movement would be a cause for momentary exultation; each downward movement, a cause for distress.

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2023 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings include the trial advocacy programs at 187 law schools (the faculty survey had a 54% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.1	Temple
2	3.9	Baylor
3	3.8	American
3	3.8	South Texas
3	3.8	Stetson
6	3.7	UCLA
7	3.6	Chicago-Kent
7	3.6	Fordham
7	3.6	Loyola-L.A.
10	3.4	Denver
10	3.4	Drexel
10	3.4	Samford
10	3.4	UC-Berkeley
14	3.3	St. Mary's
14	3.3	Syracuse
16	3.2	Campbell
16	3.2	Georgetown
16	3.2	Northwestern
16	3.2	Pacific
20	3.0	Washington Univ.
21	2.9	Georgia
21	2.9	Hofstra
21	2.9	John Marshall (IL)
21	2.9	Loyola-Chicago
21	2.9	Suffolk
26	2.8	Florida
26	2.8	Howard
26	2.8	Pace
26	2.8	UC-Hastings
26	2.8	Wake Forest
31	2.7	Emory
31	2.7	George Washington
31	2.7	Georgia State
31	2.7	Houston
31	2.7	Maryland
31	2.7	Missouri-Kansas City
31	2.7	Pepperdine Caruso
38	2.6	Akron
38	2.6	Alabama
38	2.6	Brooklyn
38	2.6	Harvard
38	2.6	Nova SE
38	2.6	NYU
38	2.6	Ohio Northern
38	2.6	South Carolina
38	2.6	St. John's
38	2.6	Texas
38	2.6	William & Mary
49	2.5	Catholic
49	2.5	Michigan State
49	2.5	Rutgers

2022 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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Do The ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Rely On Dubious Data?

Chronicle of Higher Education, Do the ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Rely on Dubious Data?:

Researchers who submit to the publication say survey answers are subject to errors, ambiguity, and pressure to look good. ...

[There is a] complicated relationship between colleges’ data submitters and U.S. News, the best-known college-ranking system in the United States. Many resent the time and oxygen the ranking takes up. After The Chronicle asked to interview her, Christine M. Keller, executive director of the Association for Institutional Research, conducted an informal poll of the group’s members about their views of U.S. News. One major theme: Answering the magazine’s survey requires too many resources, a situation they see as taking away from internal data projects that contribute more to student success than rankings do. Yet they know that responding to the survey is an important part of their jobs, and often campus leaders are paying close attention.

Recently that relationship has undergone renewed scrutiny, as rankings-data controversies have piled up. First, a former dean of Temple University’s business school was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for leading an effort to inflate statistics his school had sent to U.S. News. Then a Columbia University mathematics professor publicized his belief that his institution is sending inaccurate data to Morse and his colleagues, a contention Columbia has denied. Finally, the University of Southern California pulled out of the rankings for its graduate program in education because it discovered it had submitted wrong data for at least five years.

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2023 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings include the legal writing programs at 186 law schools (the faculty survey had a 64% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.3	Oregon
1	4.3	UNLV
3	4.2	Stetson
4	4.1	Arizona State
4	4.1	Suffolk
6	3.9	Denver
6	3.9	Georgetown
6	3.9	Seattle
6	3.9	Wake Forest
10	3.8	Michigan
10	3.8	North Carolina
10	3.8	UC-Irvine
13	3.7	Arizona
13	3.7	Rutgers
15	3.6	Indiana (McKinney)
15	3.6	John Marshall (IL)
15	3.6	Mercer
15	3.6	Nova SE
15	3.6	Temple
15	3.6	Washburn
21	3.5	Drake
21	3.5	Drexel
21	3.5	Marquette
21	3.5	Missouri-Kansas City
21	3.5	Ohio State
21	3.5	Texas Tech
27	3.4	Brooklyn
27	3.4	Lewis & Clark
27	3.4	Northeastern
27	3.4	Villanova
31	3.3	Arkansas-Little Rock
31	3.3	Elon
31	3.3	Indiana (Maurer)
31	3.3	Loyola-L.A.
31	3.3	Northwestern
31	3.3	Pacific
31	3.3	South Texas
31	3.3	William & Mary
39	3.2	Arkansas-Fayetteville
39	3.2	Baltimore
39	3.2	Chicago-Kent
39	3.2	Duke
39	3.2	Duquesne
39	3.2	Emory
39	3.2	George Washington
39	3.2	Iowa
39	3.2	Loyola-New Orleans
39	3.2	Mitchell | Hamline
39	3.2	St. John's
50	3.1	Boston College
50	3.1	Cornell
50	3.1	Florida Int'l
50	3.1	Hofstra
50	3.1	Howard
50	3.1	Louisville
50	3.1	Syracuse
50	3.1	Texas A&M
50	3.1	Univ. of Washington
50	3.1	Virginia
50	3.1	Widener (DE)
50	3.1	Wyoming

2022 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News International Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News International Law Rankings include the international law programs at 185 law schools (the faculty survey had a 52% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.7	NYU
2	4.5	Harvard
3	4.4	Columbia
4	4.3	Georgetown
4	4.3	Yale
6	4.1	Virginia
7	4.0	American
7	4.0	Michigan
7	4.0	UC-Berkeley
10	3.9	George Washington
10	3.9	Stanford
12	3.8	Duke
12	3.8	UCLA
14	3.7	Chicago
14	3.7	Cornell
14	3.7	Penn
17	3.6	Vanderbilt
18	3.5	Northwestern
18	3.5	Temple
18	3.5	UC-Irvine
21	3.4	Case Western
21	3.4	Fordham
21	3.4	Georgia
21	3.4	Minnesota
21	3.4	Texas
21	3.4	Washington Univ.
27	3.3	Notre Dame
27	3.3	UC-Hastings
29	3.2	Miami
29	3.2	Tulane
29	3.2	UC-Davis
32	3.1	Arizona State
32	3.1	Emory
32	3.1	Indiana (Maurer)
32	3.1	William & Mary
36	3.0	Boston College
36	3.0	Washington & Lee
36	3.0	Wisconsin
39	2.9	Boston Univ.
39	2.9	Pepperdine Caruso
39	2.9	Univ. of Washington
42	2.8	Arizona
42	2.8	Brooklyn
42	2.8	Pittsburgh
42	2.8	Santa Clara
42	2.8	USC
47	2.7	BYU
47	2.7	Cardozo
47	2.7	Denver
47	2.7	Florida Int'l
47	2.7	Florida State
47	2.7	Iowa
47	2.7	Ohio State
47	2.7	Pacific
47	2.7	San Diego
47	2.7	Utah

2022 U.S. News International Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings include the intellectual property law programs at 187 law schools (the faculty survey had a 56% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.7	UC-Berkeley
2	4.6	Stanford
3	4.3	NYU
4	4.1	Santa Clara
5	4.0	George Washington
6	3.9	Houston
6	3.9	Texas A&M
8	3.7	American
8	3.7	Cardozo
8	3.7	New Hampshire
11	3.6	Boston Univ.
12	3.5	Chicago-Kent
12	3.5	Duke
12	3.5	Penn
15	3.4	Columbia
15	3.4	Harvard
15	3.4	UCLA
18	3.3	Georgetown
19	3.2	George Mason
19	3.2	Michigan
19	3.2	Northwestern
19	3.2	San Diego
19	3.2	Texas
19	3.2	UC-Irvine
25	3.1	DePaul
25	3.1	Fordham
25	3.1	Virginia
28	3.0	Indiana (Maurer)
28	3.0	Suffolk
28	3.0	UC-Hastings
28	3.0	Univ. of Washington
32	2.9	Akron
32	2.9	Boston College
32	2.9	John Marshall (IL)
32	2.9	Loyola-L.A.
36	2.8	Case Western
36	2.8	Chicago
36	2.8	Loyola-Chicago
36	2.8	Notre Dame
36	2.8	Ohio State
36	2.8	Richmond
36	2.8	Temple
36	2.8	UC-Davis
36	2.8	Utah
45	2.7	Colorado
45	2.7	Cornell
45	2.7	Emory
45	2.7	Howard
45	2.7	Northeastern
45	2.7	Pittsburgh
45	2.7	USC
45	2.7	Vanderbilt
45	2.7	Washington Univ.
45	2.7	William & Mary

2022 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings include the health care law programs at 184 law schools (the faculty survey had a 56% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.2	St. Louis
2	4.1	Harvard
3	4.0	Georgia State
3	4.0	Loyola-Chicago
5	3.9	Boston Univ.
6	3.8	Maryland
7	3.7	Georgetown
7	3.7	Houston
7	3.7	Northeastern
7	3.7	Stanford
11	3.6	Yale
12	3.5	UC-Hastings
13	3.4	Arizona State
13	3.4	Case Western
13	3.4	Seton Hall
16	3.3	American
17	3.2	Indiana (McKinney)
17	3.2	Michigan
17	3.2	Ohio State
20	3.1	Penn
21	3.0	Duke
21	3.0	Wake Forest
23	2.9	Emory
23	2.9	George Washington
23	2.9	Minnesota
23	2.9	North Carolina
23	2.9	Temple
23	2.9	UCLA
29	2.8	DePaul
29	2.8	UC-Irvine
29	2.8	Virginia
29	2.8	Washington Univ.
33	2.7	Drexel
33	2.7	Mitchell | Hamline
33	2.7	Texas
33	2.7	UC-Berkeley
33	2.7	Vanderbilt
38	2.6	Columbia
38	2.6	Pittsburgh
40	2.5	Arizona
40	2.5	Georgia
40	2.5	Univ. of Washington
40	2.5	UNLV
44	2.4	Chicago
44	2.4	Northwestern
44	2.4	NYU
44	2.4	Utah
48	2.3	Boston College
48	2.3	Loyola-L.A.
48	2.3	Nova SE
48	2.3	Quinnipiac
48	2.3	Rutgers
48	2.3	Washington & Lee
48	2.3	Wisconsin

2022 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings include the environmental law programs at 180 law schools (the faculty survey had a 61% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.4	Pace
1	4.4	UC-Berkeley
1	4.4	UCLA
4	4.3	Lewis & Clark
5	4.1	NYU
5	4.1	Vermont
7	4.0	Columbia
7	4.0	Georgetown
7	4.0	Harvard
7	4.0	Oregon
7	4.0	Vanderbilt
12	3.9	Colorado
13	3.8	George Washington
13	3.8	Maryland
13	3.8	Stanford
16	3.7	Utah
17	3.6	Arizona State
17	3.6	Duke
17	3.6	Tulane
17	3.6	UC-Davis
21	3.5	Denver
21	3.5	Florida
21	3.5	Florida State
21	3.5	Houston
21	3.5	UC-Hastings
26	3.4	Hawaii
26	3.4	Minnesota
26	3.4	Yale
29	3.3	New Mexico
29	3.3	Virginia
31	3.2	Arizona
31	3.2	Texas
31	3.2	Univ. of Washington
34	3.1	Boston College
34	3.1	Indiana (Maurer)
34	3.1	Montana
34	3.1	UC-Irvine
38	3.0	Northwestern
38	3.0	Texas A&M
38	3.0	USC
41	2.9	Michigan
41	2.9	North Carolina
41	2.9	Widener (DE)
44	2.8	American
44	2.8	Case Western
44	2.8	CUNY
44	2.8	Loyola-New Orleans
44	2.8	Maine
44	2.8	Miami
44	2.8	Penn
44	2.8	Penn State-University Park
44	2.8	San Diego
44	2.8	Wake Forest
44	2.8	Wisconsin
44	2.8	Wyoming

2022 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings include the dispute resolution programs at 109 law schools (the faculty survey had a 56% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.5	Pepperdine Caruso
1	4.5	Ohio State
3	4.4	Harvard
4	4.0	Cardozo
4	4.0	Missouri (Columbia)
4	4.0	Northwestern
4	4.0	Texas A&M
8	3.9	UNLV
9	3.8	Mitchell | Hamline
9	3.8	Oregon
9	3.8	UC-Hastings
12	3.7	Maryland
13	3.6	Arizona State
13	3.6	Fordham
15	3.5	Marquette
15	3.5	Quinnipiac
15	3.5	South Texas
15	3.5	Stanford
15	3.5	UCLA
20	3.4	Georgetown
20	3.4	NYU
22	3.3	Columbia
22	3.3	Cornell
22	3.3	Denver
22	3.3	Penn
22	3.3	Seattle
22	3.3	Stetson
22	3.3	Suffolk
22	3.3	Texas
22	3.3	UC-Irvine
22	3.3	Virginia
32	3.2	Creighton
32	3.2	Pace
32	3.2	St. John's
32	3.2	UC-Davis
32	3.2	USC
32	3.2	Vanderbilt
38	3.1	Florida
38	3.1	Lewis & Clark
38	3.1	Loyola-Chicago
38	3.1	Washington Univ.
38	3.1	William & Mary
43	3.0	American
43	3.0	BYU
43	3.0	UC-Berkeley
43	3.0	Washington & Lee
47	2.9	Baylor
47	2.9	George Washington
47	2.9	Georgia
47	2.9	Houston
47	2.9	Indiana (Maurer)
47	2.9	Kansas
47	2.9	SMU
47	2.9	Wake Forest
47	2.9	Univ. of Washington

2022 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings include the criminal law programs at 187 law schools (the faculty survey had a 51% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.6	NYU
2	4.4	UC-Berkeley
3	4.3	Georgetown
3	4.3	Harvard
3	4.3	Penn
3	4.3	Stanford
7	4.2	Virginia
8	4.1	Chicago
8	4.1	Columbia
8	4.1	UCLA
8	4.1	Yale
12	4.0	Michigan
12	4.0	Ohio State
14	3.9	Duke
14	3.9	Texas
14	3.9	Vanderbilt
17	3.8	Northwestern
18	3.7	Fordham
18	3.7	North Carolina
18	3.7	William & Mary
21	3.6	Cornell
21	3.6	Minnesota
21	3.6	UC-Davis
24	3.5	American
24	3.5	Brooklyn
24	3.5	UC-Irvine
24	3.5	Wake Forest
28	3.4	Arizona State
28	3.4	Boston Univ.
28	3.4	Cardozo
28	3.4	George Washington
32	3.3	Colorado
32	3.3	Indiana (Maurer)
32	3.3	Loyola-L.A.
32	3.3	UC-Hastings
32	3.3	Univ. of Washington
32	3.3	Washington Univ.
32	3.3	Wisconsin
39	3.2	Emory
39	3.2	Illinois
39	3.2	Iowa
39	3.2	Maryland
39	3.2	Rutgers
39	3.2	Utah
39	3.2	Washington & Lee
46	3.1	Boston College
46	3.1	Denver
46	3.1	Florida
46	3.1	Florida State
46	3.1	Notre Dame
46	3.1	Tulane
46	3.1	USC

2022 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings include the contracts/commercial law programs at 187 law schools (the faculty survey had a 45% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.6	Columbia
2	4.5	Chicago
2	4.5	Harvard
4	4.4	NYU
4	4.4	Stanford
4	4.4	Yale
7	4.3	Michigan
7	4.3	Penn
7	4.3	UC-Berkeley
7	4.3	Virginia
11	4.2	Georgetown
12	4.1	Cornell
12	4.1	Northwestern
12	4.1	Texas
15	4.0	UCLA
16	3.9	Duke
16	3.9	Minnesota
16	3.9	Vanderbilt
16	3.9	Washington Univ.
20	3.7	Fordham
20	3.7	Illinois
20	3.7	North Carolina
23	3.6	Emory
23	3.6	USC
23	3.6	William & Mary
23	3.6	Wisconsin
27	3.5	Boston College
27	3.5	Boston Univ.
27	3.5	Iowa
27	3.5	Ohio State
27	3.5	UC-Davis
27	3.5	UC-Hastings
27	3.5	UC-Irvine
34	3.4	Florida
34	3.4	Florida State
34	3.4	George Washington
37	3.3	BYU
37	3.3	George Mason
37	3.3	Indiana (Maurer)
37	3.3	Washington & Lee
41	3.2	Brooklyn
41	3.2	Tulane
41	3.2	Wake Forest
41	3.2	Univ. of Washington
45	3.1	American
45	3.1	Arizona State
45	3.1	Georgia
45	3.1	Notre Dame
45	3.1	San Diego
45	3.1	Temple
45	3.1	Tennessee
45	3.1	UNLV

2022 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings include the constitutional law programs at 187 law schools (the faculty survey had a 47% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.8	Harvard
1	4.8	Yale
3	4.7	Chicago
3	4.7	Columbia
5	4.6	NYU
5	4.6	Stanford
5	4.6	Virginia
8	4.5	UC-Berkeley
9	4.4	Michigan
10	4.3	Georgetown
11	4.2	Duke
11	4.2	Texas
11	4.2	UCLA
14	4.1	Cornell
14	4.1	Northwestern
14	4.1	Penn
17	3.8	Vanderbilt
18	3.7	UC-Irvine
19	3.6	Washington Univ.
19	3.6	William & Mary
21	3.5	Boston Univ.
21	3.5	George Washington
21	3.5	North Carolina
21	3.5	Ohio State
21	3.5	UC-Davis
26	3.4	Emory
26	3.4	Minnesota
26	3.4	Notre Dame
26	3.4	USC
30	3.3	Alabama
30	3.3	Fordham
30	3.3	San Diego
33	3.2	Boston College
33	3.2	UC-Hastings
35	3.1	Florida State
35	3.1	Georgia
35	3.1	Illinois
35	3.1	Indiana (Maurer)
35	3.1	Wisconsin
40	3.0	American
40	3.0	Arizona
40	3.0	Arizona State
40	3.0	Cardozo
40	3.0	Colorado
40	3.0	George Mason
40	3.0	Maryland
40	3.0	Richmond
48	2.9	Brooklyn
48	2.9	BYU
48	2.9	Florida
48	2.9	Iowa
48	2.9	Utah
48	2.9	Washington & Lee

2022 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings include the clinical training law programs at 173 law schools (the faculty survey had a 60% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.6	CUNY
1	4.6	Georgetown
3	4.4	American
3	4.4	NYU
5	4.2	District of Columbia
5	4.2	UC-Irvine
5	4.2	Yale
8	4.1	Baltimore
8	4.1	Denver
8	4.1	Maryland
8	4.1	Michigan
8	4.1	New Mexico
8	4.1	Rutgers
8	4.1	UC-Berkeley
15	4.0	Stanford
15	4.0	Suffolk
17	3.9	Fordham
17	3.9	Northwestern
17	3.9	Washington Univ.
20	3.8	Northeastern
20	3.8	Tennessee
20	3.8	UC-Hastings
23	3.7	Brooklyn
23	3.7	George Washington
23	3.7	Texas A&M
26	3.6	Boston College
26	3.6	Boston Univ.
26	3.6	Columbia
26	3.6	Harvard
26	3.6	Miami
26	3.6	North Carolina
26	3.6	Penn
26	3.6	Seattle
26	3.6	UCLA
35	3.5	Cardozo
35	3.5	Duke
35	3.5	Georgia State
35	3.5	Howard
35	3.5	South Carolina
35	3.5	Texas
35	3.5	Tulane
35	3.5	Univ. of Washington
35	3.5	UNLV
35	3.5	Vanderbilt
35	3.5	Wayne State
46	3.4	Chicago
46	3.4	Cornell
46	3.4	Georgia
46	3.4	Loyola-New Orleans
46	3.4	Memphis
46	3.4	Mitchell | Hamline
46	3.4	Pepperdine Caruso
46	3.4	St. Thomas (MN)
46	3.4	Villanova
46	3.4	Washington & Lee
46	3.4	Wisconsin

2022 U.S. News Clinical Law Rankings 

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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2023 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings include the business/corporate law programs at 187 law schools (the faculty survey had a 52% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.6	Columbia
1	4.6	Harvard
1	4.6	NYU
1	4.6	UC-Berkeley
5	4.5	Penn
6	4.4	Stanford
7	4.3	Chicago
7	4.3	UCLA
9	4.2	Michigan
10	4.1	Georgetown
10	4.1	Virginia
12	4.0	Vanderbilt
12	4.0	Yale
14	3.9	Cornell
14	3.9	Duke
14	3.9	Northwestern
17	3.8	Texas
18	3.7	Fordham
18	3.7	USC
20	3.6	Boston Univ.
20	3.6	Washington Univ.
22	3.5	BYU
23	3.4	Emory
23	3.4	Minnesota
23	3.4	North Carolina
23	3.4	UC-Davis
27	3.3	Boston College
27	3.3	Brooklyn
27	3.3	Florida
27	3.3	George Washington
27	3.3	William & Mary
32	3.2	Georgia
32	3.2	Illinois
32	3.2	Iowa
32	3.2	Notre Dame
32	3.2	Tulane
32	3.2	UC-Hastings
32	3.2	Washington & Lee
39	3.1	Ohio State
39	3.1	Tennessee
41	3.0	George Mason
41	3.0	Utah
41	3.0	Wisconsin
44	2.9	Alabama
44	2.9	Arizona
44	2.9	Colorado
44	2.9	Houston
44	2.9	Indiana (Maurer)
44	2.9	San Diego
44	2.9	SMU
44	2.9	Temple
44	2.9	UC-Irvine
44	2.9	Univ. of Washington
44	2.9	Wake Forest
44	2.9	Widener (DE)

2022 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings 

2023 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:

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U.S. News Rankings Get it Right On Law Libraries

TaxProf Blog op-ed:  U.S. News Rankings Get it Right on Law Libraries, by Amanda Runyon (Pennsylvania; Google Scholar), Leslie A. Street (William & Mary), & Amanda Watson (Houston):

US News has released the 2023 Best Law School rankings, and for the second consecutive year altered the methodology for law library data. After the 2022 rankings were released, we expressed our deep concern that the methodology for law library data was overly rigid and incentivized conformity to the detriment of law libraries and law schools. In part, we said “[l]aw libraries should be seen through their contributions within … larger US News measures, rather than perpetuating outdated views that we are separate from our broader institutions.” The new metrics focus on the types of inputs that every school has available: librarians and budget. Law libraries and law schools are now freed to assess their needs and missions and use those resources in the best way for their particular circumstances.

The 2022 US News methodology weighted multiple library metrics at 1.75% of the overall ranking (including library hours, reference hours, databases, titles, number of professional and paraprofessional staff, seats, and presentations). After considerable discussion within the academic law library community, a new task force of librarians submitted recommendations for revised data collection from law libraries to US News.[1] Based on these recommendations, US News altered the methodology for the 2023 rankings, dropping the seven previously used indicators in place of one metric: the ratio of full-time equivalent professional librarians[2] to the full-time equivalent of students, accounting for 1% of the total score. Although this is now the only scoring metric that is solely composed of library data, it is worth noting that total library expenditures also contribute to the law school’s total instructional expenditures calculation, which counts as 9% of the law school’s overall score. 

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2023 U.S. News Tax Rankings

The new 2023 U.S. News Tax Rankings include the tax programs at 186 law schools (the faculty survey had a 59% response rate). Here are the Top 50:

Rank	Score	School
1	4.8	NYU
2	4.4	Georgetown
3	4.2	Florida
3	4.2	Northwestern
5	4.0	Virginia
6	3.9	Chicago
6	3.9	Michigan
6	3.9	UCLA
9	3.8	Columbia
9	3.8	Harvard
9	3.8	Stanford
9	3.8	UC-Irvine
13	3.7	Boston College
13	3.7	Loyola-L.A.
15	3.6	Boston Univ.
15	3.6	Indiana (Maurer)
15	3.6	Texas
18	3.5	Duke
18	3.5	Penn
20	3.4	North Carolina
20	3.4	UC-Hastings
20	3.4	USC
20	3.4	Yale
24	3.3	Minnesota
24	3.3	San Diego
24	3.3	UC-Berkeley
27	3.2	George Washington
28	3.1	Brooklyn
28	3.1	Fordham
28	3.1	Pepperdine Caruso
28	3.1	Pittsburgh
28	3.1	Temple
28	3.1	UC-Davis
34	3.0	Cornell
34	3.0	Miami
34	3.0	Ohio State
34	3.0	Univ. of Washington
34	3.0	Washington Univ.
39	2.9	Alabama
39	2.9	Arizona State
39	2.9	BYU
39	2.9	Emory
39	2.9	Georgia
39	2.9	Villanova
45	2.8	Florida State
45	2.8	Notre Dame
45	2.8	Vanderbilt
45	2.8	Washington & Lee
49	2.7	Houston
49	2.7	Illinois
49	2.7	Kentucky
49	2.7	SMU
49	2.7	South Carolina
49	2.7	Utah

Among the law schools in the tax rankings last year, here are the biggest upward moves:

• +19: Pittsburgh (#28)
• +11: Fordham (#28), Pepperdine Caruso (#28), Temple (#28)
• +8: BYU (#39)
• +5: North Carolina (#20)

Here are the biggest downward moves:

• -17: Florida State (#45)
• -11: Arizona State (#39), Washington & Lee (#45)
• -6: Yale (#20), Cornell (#34), Miami (#34), Washington University (#34), Vanderbilt (#45)
• -5: Emory (#39), Villanova (#39)
• -4: UC-Hastings (#20)

Here are the rankings of law schools with graduate tax programs:

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Pepperdine’s Place In The 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings

By now many of you have seen the news that Pepperdine Caruso Law ranks #52 in the 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings. This is the fourth year in a row that Pepperdine Caruso Law has been ranked between #46-#52, an increase of at least 20 spots from its #72 ranking in 2018.

We do not chase rankings at Pepperdine Caruso Law. Every decision we make is guided by a single question: what is in the best interest of our students? Often those decisions produce a rankings benefit as well, and we gladly reap those results. I am pleased that we received the highest ranking in our history in several components of the 2023 rankings, including academic peer reputation, student selectivity (median LSAT scores, median undergraduate GPAs, and admissions acceptance rate), and average student loan debt.

Pepperdine Caruso Law also was recognized by U.S. News with Top 50 rankings in five specialty programs based on our reputation among faculty in those fields:  #1 in dispute resolution, #28 in tax law, #31 in trial advocacy, #39 in international law, and #46 in clinical training, as well as a #54 ranking in constitutional law. This is the 14th time in the past 18 years that the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution has been recognized as the top ADR program in the country. 

We are proud of our past, excited by all we have accomplished thus far, and exhilarated at what we will be able to achieve in the future with the additional resources provided by Rick J. Caruso's $50 million naming gift.

• Pepperdine’s Place In The 2022 U.S. News Law School Rankings
• Pepperdine's Place In The 2021 U.S. News Law School Rankings
• Pepperdine’s Place In The 2020 U.S. News Law School Rankings
• Pepperdine’s Place In The 2019 U.S. News Law School Rankings
• More On Pepperdine's Place In The 2019 U.S. News Law School Rankings

2023 U.S. News Law School Peer Reputation Rankings (And Overall Rankings)

Continuing a TaxProf Blog tradition (see links below for 2009-2022), here is the full list of the 192 law schools ranked by academic peer reputation, as well as their overall rank, in the new 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings (methodology):

Peer Rank	Peer Score	School	Overall Rank
1	4.7	Harvard	4
1	4.7	Stanford	2
3	4.6	Chicago	3
3	4.6	Columbia	4
3	4.6	NYU	7
3	4.6	Yale	1
7	4.5	UC-Berkeley	9
8	4.4	Michigan	10
8	4.4	Penn	6
8	4.4	Virginia	8
11	4.2	Cornell	12
11	4.2	Duke	11
11	4.2	Georgetown	14
11	4.2	Northwestern	13
11	4.2	UCLA	15
16	4.1	Texas	17
17	4.0	Vanderbilt	17
18	3.8	Washington Univ.	16
19	3.7	USC	20
20	3.6	Boston Univ.	17
20	3.6	Emory	30
20	3.6	Minnesota	21
20	3.6	UC-Irvine	37
24	3.5	George Washington	25
24	3.5	North Carolina	23
24	3.5	UC-Davis	37
27	3.4	Boston College	37
27	3.4	Iowa	28
27	3.4	Notre Dame	25
27	3.4	William & Mary	30
31	3.3	Arizona State	30
31	3.3	Florida	21
31	3.3	Fordham	37
31	3.3	Ohio State	30
31	3.3	Wisconsin	43
36	3.2	Alabama	25
36	3.2	Arizona	45
36	3.2	Colorado	49
36	3.2	Georgia	29
36	3.2	Illinois	35
36	3.2	Indiana (Maurer)	43
36	3.2	UC-Hastings	51
36	3.2	Univ. of Washington	49
36	3.2	Washington & Lee	35
45	3.1	Maryland	47
45	3.1	Tulane	55
47	3.0	American	73
47	3.0	Cardozo	52
47	3.0	Florida State	47
47	3.0	Utah	37
47	3.0	Wake Forest	37
52	2.9	BYU	23
52	2.9	Connecticut	64
52	2.9	Howard	98
52	2.9	San Diego	64
56	2.8	Denver	78
56	2.8	Georgia State	78
56	2.8	Houston	58
56	2.8	Loyola-L.A.	67
56	2.8	Oregon	67
56	2.8	Pepperdine Caruso	52
56	2.8	Richmond	52
56	2.8	Temple	63
56	2.8	Texas A&M	46
65	2.7	Brooklyn	98
65	2.7	Case Western	78
65	2.7	George Mason	30
65	2.7	Loyola-Chicago	73
65	2.7	Miami	73
65	2.7	Rutgers	86
65	2.7	SMU	58
65	2.7	Villanova	56
73	2.6	Chicago-Kent	94
73	2.6	Hawaii	91
73	2.6	Kansas	67
73	2.6	Northeastern	73
73	2.6	Pittsburgh	78
73	2.6	South Carolina	84
73	2.6	Tennessee	56
73	2.6	UNLV	67
81	2.5	Baylor	58
81	2.5	Indiana (McKinney)	98
81	2.5	Kentucky	67
81	2.5	Michigan State	91
81	2.5	Missouri (Columbia)	67
81	2.5	Oklahoma	88
81	2.5	Penn State-Dickinson	58
81	2.5	Penn State-University Park	64
81	2.5	Santa Clara	133
81	2.5	Seton Hall	73
91	2.4	Arkansas-Fayetteville	86
91	2.4	Cincinnati	88
91	2.4	Lewis & Clark	88
91	2.4	Nebraska	78
91	2.4	New Mexico	91
91	2.4	Seattle	116
91	2.4	St. Louis	98
91	2.4	Syracuse	103
91	2.4	Wayne State	58
100	2.3	CUNY	133
100	2.3	DePaul	105
100	2.3	Drexel	78
100	2.3	Hofstra	118
100	2.3	Marquette	105
100	2.3	St. John's	84
106	2.2	Arkansas-Little Rock	Tier 2
106	2.2	Catholic	94
106	2.2	Louisiana State	105
106	2.2	Louisville	94
106	2.2	Loyola-New Orleans	133
106	2.2	Mississippi	111
106	2.2	Missouri-Kansas City	114
106	2.2	New Hampshire	105
106	2.2	Stetson	111
106	2.2	SUNY-Buffalo	94
116	2.1	Baltimore	122
116	2.1	Florida Int'l	98
116	2.1	Gonzaga	116
116	2.1	Idaho	142
116	2.1	John Marshall (IL)	Tier 2
116	2.1	Maine	114
116	2.1	Pace	142
116	2.1	Suffolk	122
116	2.1	Washburn	105
116	2.1	West Virginia	118
126	2.0	Albany	122
126	2.0	Drake	111
126	2.0	Montana	103
126	2.0	New York Law School	129
126	2.0	Pacific	133
126	2.0	St. Thomas (MN)	127
126	2.0	Texas Tech	105
126	2.0	Tulsa	118
126	2.0	Vermont	142
126	2.0	Willamette	129
136	1.9	Cleveland-Marshall	127
136	1.9	Creighton	139
136	1.9	Duquesne	129
136	1.9	Memphis	142
136	1.9	Mercer	122
136	1.9	Mitchell | Hamline	Tier 2
136	1.9	Quinnipiac	Tier 2
136	1.9	San Francisco	Tier 2
136	1.9	Southwestern	Tier 2
136	1.9	Toledo	Tier 2
136	1.9	Widener (DE)	Tier 2
136	1.9	Wyoming	129
148	1.8	Akron	Tier 2
148	1.8	Chapman	118
148	1.8	Dayton	122
148	1.8	Detroit Mercy	139
148	1.8	District of Columbia	Tier 2
148	1.8	Florida A&M	Tier 2
148	1.8	North Dakota	Tier 2
148	1.8	Northern Illinois	Tier 2
148	1.8	South Dakota	133
148	1.8	St. Mary's	Tier 2
158	1.7	Cal-Western	Tier 2
158	1.7	Elon	Tier 2
158	1.7	North Carolina Central	Tier 2
158	1.7	Roger Williams	Tier 2
158	1.7	Samford	139
158	1.7	South Texas	Tier 2
158	1.7	Southern	Tier 2
158	1.7	Southern Illinois	Tier 2
158	1.7	Widener (PA)	Tier 2
167	1.6	Massachusetts	Tier 2
167	1.6	Mississippi College	Tier 2
167	1.6	Nova SE	Tier 2
167	1.6	Oklahoma City	Tier 2
167	1.6	St. Thomas (FL)	Tier 2
167	1.6	Texas Southern	Tier 2
167	1.6	Touro	Tier 2
174	1.5	Belmont	133
174	1.5	Campbell	Tier 2
174	1.5	Golden Gate	Tier 2
174	1.5	New England	Tier 2
174	1.5	Northern Kentucky	Tier 2
174	1.5	Ohio Northern	Tier 2
174	1.5	Western New England	Tier 2
181	1.4	Capital	Tier 2
181	1.4	Charleston	Tier 2
181	1.4	John Marshall (GA)	Tier 2
184	1.3	Appalachian	Tier 2
184	1.3	Faulkner	Tier 2
184	1.3	Lincoln Memorial	Tier 2
184	1.3	Regent	142
184	1.3	Western Michigan	Tier 2
189	1.2	Ave Maria	Tier 2
189	1.2	Barry	Tier 2
189	1.2	Liberty	Tier 2
189	1.2	Western	Tier 2

• ABA Journal, US News Releases Its 2023 Law School Rankings; Who Switched Spots?
• Above the Law, 6 Deep Thoughts About The New U.S. News Law School Rankings
• Above the Law, The 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here: A Big Change in the T14 and Some of the Largest Rankings Tumbles and Gains
• Above the Law, Harvard Law’s Fall From Grace In The U.S. News Law School Rankings
• Law.com, Significant Shakeup Among 2023 US News Law School Rankings as Harvard Drops Out of Top 3
• Reuters, Harvard Drops Out of Top 3 in Annual Law School Rankings
• Mike Spivey, 2023 USNWR Law School Rankings: This Year vs. Last Year (+/-)

Prior Years' U.S. News Peer Reputation And Overall Rankings:

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NY Times: U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, But A Math Professor Has His Doubts

Following up on my previous post, Columbia Math Professor Questions University's #2 U.S. News Ranking: 'A Web Of Illusions':

New York Times, U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, but a Math Professor Has His Doubts:

Everyone knows that students buff their résumés when applying to college. But a math professor is accusing Columbia University of buffing its own résumé — or worse — to climb the all-important U.S. News & World Report rankings of best universities.

Michael Thaddeus, who specializes in algebraic geometry at Columbia, has challenged the university’s No. 2 ranking this year with a statistical analysis that found that key supporting data was “inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading.”

In a 21-page blistering critique on his website, Dr. Thaddeus is not only challenging the rating but redoubling the debate over whether college rankings — used by millions of prospective college students and their parents — are valuable or even accurate.

Columbia said it stood by its data. Officials said there was no accepted industry standard for the data that goes into college rankings — every rankings project does it differently — and they strove to meet the technical requirements as set by U.S. News. But, they said, the university was not necessarily defending the process. ...

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March Madness Law School Bracket: Duke, Michigan, USC, Yale in Final Four

Here is the March Madness Law School Bracket, with outcomes determined by the 2022 U.S. News Law School Rankings (using academic peer reputation as the tiebreaker). The Final Four are Yale (1), Duke (10), Michigan (10), and USC (19), with Yale beating Michigan in the championship game.

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Spivey: Changes In U.S. News Methodology Will Lead To Volatility In The 2023 Law School Rankings To Be Released March 29

Mike Spivey, 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings Methodology:

U.S. News & World Report recently released the embargoed version of their 2023 (2022 release) rankings, and we can confirm that there have been changes to the methodology used to calculate schools' overall ranking.

First, U.S. News has increased the weight allocated to its bar passage metric. Previously the bar passage score was assigned a 2.25% weight; that has been increased to 3%.

Second, U.S. News has changed how the bar passage metric is scored. ...

The third change U.S. News made was to the library metrics that were introduced in last year's 2022 edition of the rankings. Previously there had been 7 such metrics, each weighted at 0.25%. Now, U.S. News has consolidated those 7 into a single metric, the ratio of full-time equivalent professional librarian positions to students. That single metric is weighted at 1%. ...

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2022 Law School Rankings By Graduates In BigLaw Jobs

Law.com, The Top 50 Go-To Law Schools:

We have ranked the 50 law schools that sent the highest percentage of their 2021 juris doctor graduates into associate positions at the largest 100 law firms in the country.  Columbia Law School tops the list for the ninth straight year, with 64% of its recent graduate class now working in Big Law. The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School comes in at No. 2, followed by Cornell Law School at No. 3. 

1. Columbia
2. Penn
3. Cornell
4. Northwestern
5. Duke
6. NYU
7. Virginia
8. UC-Berkeley
9. Chicago
10. Harvard
11. Georgetown
12. USC
13. Vanderbilt
14. Michigan
15. Boston College
16. UCLA
17. Boston University
18. Texas
19. Fordham
20. Stanford

Columbia Tops List for 9th Straight Year, But There's Some Reshuffling Near the Top
Law.com ranked the 50 law schools that sent the highest percentage of their 2021 juris doctor graduates into associate positions at the largest 100 law firms in the country.

Go-To Law Schools: All Schools Data
See hiring stats for every law school that sent a 2021 graduate to one of the largest 100 firms.

Go-To Law Schools: Search By School
Search our Go-To Law Schools data by school to see the firms where 2021 graduates found associate jobs.

Go-To Law Schools: Search By Firm
Search our Go-To Law Schools hiring data by firm to see the schools from which they hired new associates.

Explore the Data Behind The Go-To Law Schools
Our interactive database allows you to delve into all the Go-To Law Schools School associate hiring and alumni partner promotion data.

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Four Days Before Pre-Release Of New U.S. News Grad School Rankings, Former Temple Dean Sentenced To 14 Months In Federal Prison For Rankings Fraud

A cautionary note four days before the pre-release of the new 2023 U.S. News graduate school rankings:  Philadelphia Inquirer, Temple’s Former Business School Dean Was Sentenced to 14 Months in Rankings Scandal Fraud:

The former dean of Temple University’s Fox School of Business was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison Friday for orchestrating a complex fraud scheme to propel his college to the top of national rankings and defraud its students and donors based on that unearned reputation.

Moshe Porat — who led the school for more than two decades until he was fired for the misrepresentations in 2018 — did not apologize or even acknowledge the students harmed by his crimes as he addressed the judge moments before his punishment was announced. Instead, he pleaded with U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert to keep him out of prison so he could care for his ailing wife.

Pappert balked, calling Porat’s obsession with driving the Fox School of Business to the No. 1 spot “maniacal” and marveled that he had spent much of Friday’s hearing smirking and muttering under his breath.

“He still doesn’t think he did anything wrong. He has never accepted any responsibility,” the judge said. “He blames everyone else.” ...

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Columbia Math Professor Questions University's #2 U.S. News Ranking: 'A Web Of Illusions'

Michael Thaddeus (Professor of Mathematics, Columbia), An Investigation of the Facts Behind Columbia’s U.S. News Ranking:

Like other faculty members at Columbia University, I have followed Columbia’s position in the U.S. News ranking of National Universities with considerable interest. It has been gratifying to witness Columbia’s steady rise from 18th place, on its debut in 1988, to the lofty position of 2nd place which it attained this year, surpassed only by Princeton and tied with Harvard and MIT.

Can we be sure that the data accurately reflect the reality of life within the university? Regrettably, the answer is no. As we will see, several of the key figures supporting Columbia’s high ranking are inaccurate, dubious, or highly misleading. In what follows, we will consider these figures one by one.

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Florida House Passes ‘Markel’ Grandparent Visitation Bill

Florida Politics, House Passes ‘Markel’ Grandparent Visitation Bill:

'Out of our tragedy, we hope to create something meaningful for other families to visit their grandchildren.'

Today, the Florida House passed a bill with profound meaning for Florida children and grandparents who become estranged from one another after a tragedy.

HB 1119 says grandparents can ask a court to consider visitation rights if their child was killed and their grandchild’s other living parent was found responsible for this death by a civil or criminal court. The bill passed with a vote of 112-3.

The conditions are narrow but powerful, applying to families where a child has lost one parent due to the intentional wrongdoing of the other parent and then suffered another loss by being cut off from their deceased parent’s family. In such cases, under HB 1119 and its companion SB 1408, courts will have the authority to hear petitions for visitation with grandparents.

The bill was inspired in part by the 2014 murder of FSU law professor Dan Markel, who was hunted down and shot in the head by a hitman shortly after dropping his two sons off at preschool.

Prosecutors have publicly identified Markel’s ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, as an alleged “co-conspirator” to the murder, along with her mother and brother. Law enforcement says Adelson’s motive was to relocate to South Florida amid custody battles with Markel. While Adelson family members have not been arrested yet, three others have — the hitman, who was found guilty and sentenced to life; his accomplice, who pleaded guilty and confessed who had hired them; and their intermediary, who faces a retrial in May.

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2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings

U.S. News & World Report has announced that the new 2023 law school rankings will be released on Tuesday, March 29. Here is my coverage of the current 2022 law school rankings:

• March Madness Law School Bracket (Mar. 16, 2021)
• Mike Spivey, The New U.S. News Law School Rankings Methodology: Implications And Predictions (Mar. 22, 2021)
• Seth Barrett Tillman (National University of Ireland, Maynooth Faculty of Law), U.S. News Denies Report That It Will Replace The 40% Reputation Component With HeinOnline Citations In Next Year's Law School Rankings (Mar. 22, 2021)
• Karen Sloan (Law.com), U.S. News Makes Last-Minute Changes to Law School Rankings, Fueling Criticism And Concern (Mar. 26, 2021)
• Rob Willey (George Mason) & Melanie Knapp (George Mason), How To Juice Your Citations In The HeinOnline/U.S. News Rankings (Mar. 29, 2021)
• Philadelphia Inquirer, Former Temple Dean Faces Criminal Charges For Submitting False Data To Inflate U.S. News Ranking (Mar. 29, 2021)
• U.S. News Issues THIRD Version Of Law School Rankings In Advance Of Their Public Release On Tuesday (12:01 AM ET) (Mar. 29, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Law School Peer Reputation Rankings (And Overall Rankings) (Mar. 30, 2021)
• Amanda Runyon (Penn), Leslie Street (William & Mary), & Amanda Watson (Houston), U.S. News Ranking Metrics Stifle Law Libraries, Tie Hands of Law Schools (Mar. 30, 2021)
• Brian Leiter (Chicago), US News Releases Yet a 4th "Corrected" Ranking, Retracting the One Issued on Tuesday! (Mar. 30, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Tax Rankings (Mar. 30, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings (Mar. 31, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings (Mar. 31, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings (Apr. 1, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings (Apr. 1, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings (Apr. 2, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings (Apr. 2, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings (Apr. 5, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings (Apr. 5, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings (Apr. 6, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News International Law Rankings (Apr. 6, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings (Apr. 7, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings (Apr. 7, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings (Apr. 8, 2021)
• 2022 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings v. Overall Rankings (Apr. 9, 2021)

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Preview Of The 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings: Admissions

The 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings (based in part on 2021 admissions data) will be released in March (the 2022 rankings are here). In the current methodology, law school admissions count 21% in the overall ranking. I previously blogged the ABA data comprising the three components of the admissions ranking:

• Acceptance Rate (1%)
• Median Undergraduate GPA (8.75%)
• Median LSAT (11.25%) (omits GRE due to lack of data)

Below are two admissions rankings. The first is a simple ranking using the above weights. The second uses Z-scores with the above weights to better approximate the U.S. News methodology.

	Law School	Acceptance Rate Rank	UPGA Rank	LSAT Rank	Weighted Ranks
1	Yale	1	1	1	1.0
2	Harvard	3	4	1	2.3
3	Stanford	2	5	4	4.3
4	Chicago	8	5	4	4.6
5	Virginia	5	5	7	6.1
6	NYU	15	10	4	7.0
7	Penn	4	8	7	7.3
8	Columbia	7	17	1	8.0
9	Northwestern	12	10	7	8.5
10	Cornell	17	10	7	8.7
11	Washington Univ.	20	3	13	9.2
12	Georgetown	9	14	7	10.0
13	Michigan	6	17	7	11.1
14	Vanderbilt	13	9	16	12.9
15	Duke	14	22	13	16.8
16	UCLA	18	22	13	17.0
16	Florida	22	10	22	17.0
18	UC-Berkeley	11	20	16	17.4
19	Alabama	60	1	31	19.9
20	USC	10	22	20	20.4
21	Texas	16	29	16	21.4
22	George Washington	31	20	22	21.6
23	Arizona State	30	14	27	21.7
24	BYU	94	14	22	22.1
25	Boston Univ.	26	35	16	24.4
26	Georgia	28	22	27	25.0
27	Emory	43	29	22	25.9
28	Notre Dame	23	35	20	26.4
29	Minnesota	44	29	27	28.6
30	George Mason	42	28	34	31.9
31	Pepperdine	37	29	34	32.1
32	Texas A&M	27	17	45	32.5
33	Fordham	24	45	27	34.4
34	Florida State	32	22	45	34.8
35	UC-Irvine	21	53	22	34.9
36	Utah	38	22	45	35.1
36	William & Mary	57	34	34	35.1
38	Indiana (Maurer)	79	35	34	36.6
39	North Carolina	19	43	34	37.0
40	UC-Davis	49	45	31	37.7
41	Cardozo	59	42	34	38.5
42	Boston College	33	53	31	40.3
43	Ohio State	66	33	45	41.0
44	SMU	72	38	45	43.4
45	Washington	39	60	34	45.1
46	Illinois	55	62	34	46.7
47	Penn State-Univ. Park	77	38	54	48.4
48	Villanova	25	45	54	48.9
49	Wisconsin	80	65	34	49.1
50	Iowa	105	53	45	51.2

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2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings Predictions

Spivey Consulting 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings Modeled Predictions:

We have analyzed the available law school data to calculate our predicted 2023 (to be released March 2022) U.S. News & World Report law school rankings.

Here are the predicted rankings changes among the Top 29 law schools:

School	2022 Ranking	2023 Projection	Difference
Alabama	25	21	+4
BYU	29	26	+3
Michigan	10	9	+1
Cornell	13	12	+1
Georgetown	15	14	+1
North Carolina	24	23	+1
George Washington	27	26	+1
Iowa	29	28	+1
Columbia	4	5	-1
Duke	10	11	-1
Minnesota	22	23	-1
Notre Dame	22	23	-1
Georgia	27	28	-1
Texas	16	18	-2

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2020-21 Moot Court Rankings

UC Hastings Takes Moot Court Crown, Nat'l Jurist, Fall 2021, at 18:

According to an annual ranking by University of Houston Law Center’s Blakely Advocacy Institute, UC Hastings racked up 127.5 points in moot court competitions during the 2020-21 academic year. (The score takes into account the quality of the competitions, their size and the school’s performance.) By comparison, second-place University of Georgia School of Law earned 97.5 points. That’s pretty far back in the rear view mirror.

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2021 Religious Law School Rankings

The Most Devout Law Schools, preLaw (Winter 2021):

Every two years, preLaw magazine spotlights the country’s Most Devout Law Schools [2019 ranking here]. ... Forty-six law schools in the U.S. have ties to faith. ... 28 law schools ... are associated with the Catholic religion. Many others are rooted to other Christian faiths, and two are Jewish institutions — Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City and Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip, N.Y.

METHODOLOGY
preLaw magazine bases its Most Devout honor roll on information gathered from law schools and other sources, including: percentage and activity of students and faculty who belong to the faith; 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 mission of the law school.

Most Devout Catholic Law Schools:

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I highlighted the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Yesterday, I blogged the Top 50 law school professor rankings, giving equal weight (50%) to the Professors: Teaching and Professors: Accessibility rankings.

Today, in my concluding post, I blog the Princeton Review's overall law school rankings, giving equal weight (20%) to each of the Admissions Selectivity, Academic Experience, Professors: Teaching, Professors: Accessibility, and Career Rating rankings:

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Professors (Teaching And Accessibility)

Update:  2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I will highlight the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Here are the Top 50 law school professor rankings, giving equal weight (50%) to the Professors: Teaching and Professors: Accessibility rankings:

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Career Rating

Update:  2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I will highlight the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Career Rating:  This rating measures the confidence students have in their school's ability to lead them to fruitful employment opportunities, as well as the school's own record of having done so. This rating takes into account both student survey responses and school-reported statistical data. We ask students about how much the law program encourages practical experience; the opportunities for externships, internships, and clerkships; and how prepared to practice law they expect to feel after graduating. We ask law schools for the median starting salaries of graduating students; the percentage employed in a job that requires bar passage (and not employed by the school); and the percentage of these students who pass the bar exam the first time they take it. This rating is on a scale of 60–99.

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The Best Law Schools For Practical Training

The Best Law Schools For Practical Training, preLaw (Spring 2021):

Schools have managed to do incredible work, even during a pandemic when face-to-face clinical work and externship opportunities were disrupted. ... This year, we’re honoring 65 schools, but every law school invests in 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.

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Professors (Accessibility)

Update:  2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I will highlight the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Professors: Accessible:  This rating is based on how law students rate the accessibility of law faculty members at their school. The rating is on a scale of 60 to 99. 

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The 50 Most Downloaded U.S. Tax Law Professors Of 2021

1. Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan):  8,299 downloads
2. Daniel Hemel (Chicago):  5,211 downloads
3. Lily Batchelder (NYU):  4,417 downloads
4. Bridget Crawford (Pace):  4.240 downloads
5. David Kamin (NYU):  3,999 downloads
6. Kimberley Clausing (UCLA):  3,821 downloads
7. Kyle Rozema (Washington University):  3,432 downloads
8. Dhammika Dharmapala (Chicago): 3,279 downloads
9. Ruth Mason (Virginia):  3,014 downloads
10. Richard Ainsworth (Boston University):  2,693 downloads
11. David Gamage (Indiana):  2,661 downloads
12. Zachary Liscow (Yale):  2,515 downloads
13. Margaret Ryznar (Indiana-Indianapolis):  2,469 downloads
14. Robert Sitkoff (Harvard):  2,427 downloads
15. Darien Shanske (UC-Davis):  2,305 downloads
16. Dan Shaviro (NYU):  2,241 downloads
17. Louis Kaplow (Harvard):  1,970 downloads
18. Francine Lipman (UNLV):  1,849 downloads
19. Brad Borden (Brooklyn):  1,831 downloads
20. Ari Glogower (Ohio State):  1,804 downloads
21. Yariv Brauner (Florida):  1,735 downloads
22. Hugh Ault (Boston College):  1,730 downloads
23. Gregg Polsky (Georgia):  1,586 downloads
24. Victor Fleischer (UC-Irvine):  1,488 downloads
25. Shu-Yi Oei (Boston College):  1,381 downloads
26. Michael Simkovic (USC):  1,357 downloads
27. Leandra Lederman (Indiana-Bloomington):  1,352 downloads
28. Omri Marian (UC-Irvine):  1,321 downloads
29. Paul Caron (Pepperdine):  1,270 downloads
30. Diane Ring (Boston College):  1,321 downloads
31. Rebecca Kysar (Fordham):  1,192 downloads
32. Cliff Fleming (BYU):  1,187 downloads
33. Brian Galle (Georgetown):  1,136 downloads
34. Joshua Blank (UC-Irvine):  1,124 downloads
35. Steven Dean (Brooklyn):  1,123 downloads

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The 50 Most Downloaded U.S. Law Professors Of 2021

1. Cass Sunstein (Harvard):  33,029 downloads
2. Michael Klausner (Stanford):  29,220 downloads
3. Michael Ohlrogge (NYU):  28,562 downloads
4. Daniel Solove (George Washington):  26,998 downloads
5. Orin Kerr (UC-Berkeley):  17,527 downloads
6. Mark Lemley (Stanford):  15,871 downloads
7. Saule Omarova (Cornell):  15,026 downloads
8. Lucian Bebchuk (Harvard):  14,884 downloads
9. Danielle Keats Citron (Virginia):  13,550 downloads
10. Brian Frye (Kentucky):  12,001 downloads
11. Dan Kahan (Yale):  10,785 downloads
12. Eric Goldman (Santa Clara):  10,254 downloads
13. Herbert Hovenkamp (Penn):  9,801 downloads
14. Brian Leiter (Chicago):  9,781 downloads
15. Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan):  8,299 downloads
16. James Duane (Regent):  8,004 downloads
17. Robert Chesney (Texas):  7,269 downloads
18. Woodrow Hartzog (Northeastern):  7,244 downloads
19. Brian Slocum (McGeorge):  7,118 downloads
20. Jack Balkin (Yale):  7,029 downloads
21. William McGeveran (Minnesota):  6,787 downloads
22. Wulf Kaal (St. Thomas-MN):  6,723 downloads
23. Josh Blackman (South Texas):  6,567 downloads
24. Jesse Fried (Harvard):  6,347 downloads
25. Jeremy Waldron (NYU):  6,328 downloads
26. Richard Albert (Texas):  6,312 downloads
27. Richard Hasen (UC-Irvine):  6,284 downloads
28. Andrew Selbst (UCLA):  6,250 downloads
29. Neil Richards (Washington University):  6,235 downloads
30. Nancy Levit (UMKC):  6,171 downloads
31. Jorge Contreras (Utah):  6,134 downloads
32. Peter Menell (UC-Berkeley):  6,129 downloads
33. Eric Posner (Chicago):  6,017 downloads
34. Ian Ayres (Yale):  5,929 downloads
35. Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA):  5,806 downloads

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Professors (Teaching)

Update:  2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I will highlight the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Professors: Interesting:  This rating is based on how students rate the quality of teaching at their law school. This rating is on a scale of 60-99.

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Academic Experience

Update:  2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I will highlight the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Academic Experience:  This rating measures the quality of the school's learning environment on a scale of 60 to 99. Factors taken into consideration include the Admissions Selectivity Rating, as well as how students rate each of the following: the quality of teaching and the accessibility of their professors, the research resources at their school, the range of available courses, the balance of curricular emphasis on legal theory and practical lawyering, the tolerance for diverse opinions in the classroom, and the degree of intellectual challenge that the coursework presents.

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2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Admissions Selectivity

Update:  2022 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Overall Ranking

I previously blogged the lists of the Top 5 law schools in fourteen categories in the 2022 edition of the Princeton Review's Best Law Schools. In a series of posts, I will highlight the Top 50 schools in the five categories for which the Princeton Review provides individual law school data:

• Admissions Selectivity
• Academic Experience
• Professors: Teaching
• Professors: Accessibility
• Career Rating

Admissions Selectivity:  This rating measures the competitiveness of admissions at each law school on a scale of 60–99. Factors taken into consideration include the median LSAT score and undergraduate GPA of entering 1L students, the percentage of applicants who are accepted, and the percentage of applicants who are accepted and ultimately enroll. 

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