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Law School Rankings are a specific subset of ] that deal specifically with law schools. Like college and university rankings, Law School Rankings can be based on subjectively perceived "quality," on some combination of empirical statistics, or on surveys of educators, scholars, students, prospective students, or others. Such rankings are often consulted by prospective ]s as they choose which schools they will apply to or which school they will attend.
]
'''Law school rankings''' are a specific subset of ] dealing specifically with ]s. Like college and university rankings, law school rankings can be based on ], subjectively-perceived ] (often ] of ]s, ]s, ]s, ]s, or others), or some combination of these. Such rankings are often consulted by prospective students as they choose which schools they will apply to or which school they will attend.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}} There are several different law school rankings, each of which has a different emphasis and methodology.


==''U.S. News & World Report'' rankings==
The most recognized ranking of Law Schools is the annual version from ] magazine. Beyond this popular and mainstream list, there are numerous other rankings of law schools, which include:
'']'' (''USNWR''), then a widely read ], began early rankings in the 1980s. It now organizes rankings into two main sections: the first is a "Top 145" listing the top 145 schools in order from highest to lowest ranked. ''U.S. News'' groups the remaining schools, or the bottom 25 percent of those that are ranked, into a "Rank Not Published" group.<ref name=":0">{{cite web | title=Methodology: 2023 Best Law Schools Rankings | website=US News & World Report | date=10 May 2023 | url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/law-schools-methodology| access-date=3 August 2023}}</ref> Schools that fall into this category are listed alphabetically and not by actual ranking. ''U.S. News'' also ranks each school's specialty programs using a similar method, if applicable. ''U.S. News'' ranked 196 schools in 2016. Each school's ''U.S. News'' ranking tends to fluctuate annually.
* Leiter Rankings
* Sullivan's Law School Job Placement Report
* Indiana University's "The Ranking Game"
* Thomas M. Cooley's "Judging the Law Schools"


''U.S. News'' published its first attempt at ranking U.S. law schools in 1987.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schmalbeck |first=Richard |date=December 1998 |title=The Durability of Law School Reputation |url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1085&context=faculty_scholarship |journal=Journal of Legal Education |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=571 |via=]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Solorzano |first1=Lucia |last2=Walsh |first2=Maureen |last3=Taylor |first3=Ronald A. |last4=Work |first4=Clemens P. |last5=Kalb |first5=Deborah |last6=Blaug |first6=Elizabeth |last7=Golden |first7=Sharon F. |last8=Burke |first8=Sarah |last9=Hiotas |first9=Cecilia |last10=Rosenfeld |first10=David |last11=Yuill |first11=Barbara |title=Special Report: America's Best Professional Schools - Law Schools: Brains for the Bar |journal=U.S. News & World Report |date=2 November 1987 |volume=103 |issue=18 |pages=72–73}}</ref> The magazine has continuously published updated rankings on an annual basis since 1990. There has been great consistency at the top of the ''U.S. News'' rankings since their inception, with ] consistently ranking first.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/us_news_rankings_are_released_pepperdines_mistake_costs_it_a_ranking |title=US News law school rankings are released; Pepperdine's mistake costs it a ranking |last=Weiss |first=Debra Cassens |date=March 20, 2018 |website=ABA Journal |language=en |access-date=2018-09-13}}</ref> While Yale, ], and ] have historically clustered at the top of the list,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Top Law School Rankings From US News |url=https://7sage.com/top-law-school-rankings/ |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=7Sage LSAT |language=en-US}}</ref> Harvard was recently replaced by the University of Chicago in the third place spot.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 28, 2022 |title=2023 Best Law Schools |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings |access-date=March 28, 2022 |website=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref>


==Criticisms of Law School Rankings== === Top 14 law schools ===
{{redirects|Top Fourteen|the rugby union league in France|Top 14}}
The or ABA has consistently refused to support or participate in law school rankings.{{ref|ABAoppposed}} Likewise, the has similarly shown opposition to rankings.{{ref|LSACopposed}} The has also voiced complaints; their executive director went so far as to say "these rankings are a misleading and deceptive, profit-generating commercial enterprise that compromises U.S. News and World Report's journalistic integrity."{{ref|carlmonk}} Among the criticisms of law school rankings is that they are arbirtary in the characteristics they measure and the value given to each one. Another complaint is that a prospective law student should take into account the "fit" and appropriateness of each school himself, and that there is thus not a "one size fits all" ranking. Others complain that common rankings shortchange schools due to geographical or demographical reasons. Some of the complaints are outlined in an . One critic has gone so far as to create a website, , that sarcastically ranks US magazines. US News is placed alone in the "Third Tier."
{{Location map+ |USA |float= right |width= 700 |caption="T14" law schools, historically (public schools in blue) |places=
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{{Location map~ |USA |lat= 40.7305 |long= -73.9995 |label= ] }}
{{Location map~ |USA |lat= 41.8963 |long= -87.6174 |label= ] }}
{{Location map~ |USA |lat= 37.424167 |long= -122.167778 |label= ] |position= bottom }}
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{{Location map~ |USA |lat= 39.953938 |long= -75.192085 |label= ] }}
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{{Location map~ |USA |lat= 38.035 |long= -78.505 |label= ] | mark = Blue pog.svg }}
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}}There exists an informal and unofficial category known as the "Top Fourteen", "Top 14", or "T14", which has historically referred to the institutions that most frequently claim the top 14 spots in the yearly ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranking of American law schools,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reynolds |first=William L. |date=2011 |title=Back to the Future in Law Schools Symposium: The Profession and the Academy: Addressing Major Changes in Law Practice |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/mllr70&div=22&id=&page= |journal=Maryland Law Review |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=451 |via=DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law}}</ref> with T14 schools remaining the only ones to have ever placed within the top ten spots in these rankings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://abovethelaw.com/2017/03/is-t14-dead-is-it-t15-t13-was-t14-an-arbitrary-ranking-all-along/ |title=Is T14 Dead? Is It T15? T13? Was T14 An Arbitrary Ranking All Along? |last1=Mystal |first1=Elie |last2=Patrice |first2=Joe |website=Above the Law |date=15 March 2017 |language=en-US |access-date=2018-09-05}}</ref> Although "T14" is not a designation used by ''U.S. News'' itself, the term is "widely known in the legal community".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-12-20 |title=In 2013 Best Law School Rankings, Top Schools Switch Spots - US News and World Report |url=http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2012/03/13/in-2013-best-law-school-rankings-top-schools-switch-spots |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220121523/http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2012/03/13/in-2013-best-law-school-rankings-top-schools-switch-spots |archive-date=2012-12-20 |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=]}}</ref> While these schools have seen their position within the highest-rated group shift frequently, they have consistently placed within the top 14 of the ''U.S. News'' annual rankings. Schools that have most frequently taken the top 14 spots are commonly referred to as the "Top 14" by published books on law school admissions,<ref name="books">See, for example, books by , , , and </ref> undergraduate university pre-law advisers,<ref name="advisors">E.g. and an </ref> professional law school consultants, and newspaper articles on the subject.<ref>E.g. {{Cite news |last=Ivey |first=Anna |author-link=Anna Ivey |date=April 6, 2005 |title=Career Advice |newspaper=] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27714-2005Apr5.html |access-date=December 12, 2022}}</ref>


The schools that most frequently have appeared at the top of the ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranking of American law schools, commonly known as the "Top 14" or "T14" are, in alphabetical order<ref name="usnewslawrank">See the complete {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718232040/http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings|date=2014-07-18}} on the ''U.S. News'' website.</ref>
As a response to the prevalence of law school rankings, the ABA and the LSAC publish an annual law school guide. This guide, which does not seek to rank or sort law schools by any criteria, instead seeks to provide the reader with a set of standard, important data on which to judge law schools. It contains information on all 190 ABA-Approved Law Schools. This reference, called is provided free online and also in print for a small cost. A similar guide for Canadian Law Schools is also published by the Law School Admission Council and is called . These guides seek to serve as an alternative to the US News Rankings and Law School Rankings in General.
<!--in alphabetical order, ignoring terms denoting the type of school, such as "University"-->


* ]
US News has not allowed this criticism to go unanswered. They regularly outline and justify their methodology alongside the rankings, and have even published responses to serious criticism.{{ref|washletter}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


== Academic Ranking of World Universities ==
==Power and Importance of Law School Rankings==
Despite these criticisms, Law School Rankings in general and those by US News in particular play a very dramatic role in the world of legal eduction. When a schools ranking drops, fewer admitted applicants accept spots at the school. Likewise, when a schools rises in the rankings, the school often accidentally overenrolls. When rankings drop, people get fired.{{ref|fxrank}} This pressure has also resulted in various schools "gaming the rankings." Some law schools reject applicants whose high LSAT scores indicate that they'll probably go elsewhere anyway, in order to appear more selective.{{ref|gaming}} Other schools, in an attempt to increase the amount of money spent per student, increase tuition and return it to the students as financial aid.{{ref|gaming}}


In 2017, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released its rankings of world universities in the subject of law by taking into account only the academic strength of the institution. In 2021, ARWU ranked all T14 US Law Schools within the world's top 20 law schools.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/gras/2021/RS0503|title=ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021 - Law|date=2021|website=Academic Ranking of World Universities|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811220450/http://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/gras/2021/RS0503|archive-date=August 11, 2021|access-date=August 29, 2021}}</ref>
==The Rankings by US News and World Report==
As is noted above, the most recognized rankings are those by US News and World Report. The Law School Rankings are organized into three main sections: The first is a "Top 100" that lists the top hundred schools in order from highest ranked to lowest ranked. After that, US News groups the remaining 80 accredited law schools into two roughly unranked groups called "Third Tier" and "Fourth Tier" (note that the Top 100 includes both the first and second "tier").


==''National Law Journal''{{'}}s Go-To Law School Rankings==
===Methodology===
Each school is assigned an overall rank, which is normalized so that it is out of 100. This rank takes into account Quality Assesment (measured by opinion surveys), Selectivity (measured by incoming student profiles and the acceptance rate), Placement Success (measured by bar passage and employment rates), Faculty Resources (measured by expenditures, library volumes, and student/faculty ratio). The magazine gives 40 percent to reputation, 25 percent to selectivity, 20 percent to placement success and 15 percent to faculty resources, thus combinging these factors into an overall score.{{ref|methodology}}


Several ranking systems are explicitly designed to focus on employment outcomes at or shortly after graduation, including rankings by the '']''<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202589189668&interactive=true | title=Ranking the Go-To Law Schools}}</ref> and Law.com.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Another Law School Ranking System: Any Good?|url=https://blog.blueprintprep.com/lsat/another-law-school-ranking-system-any-good/|access-date=2022-12-12|website=Blueprint Prep|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brophy |first1=Alfred |author1-link=Alfred Brophy |title=Ranking Law Schools with LSATs, Employment Outcomes, and Law Review Citations |journal=Indiana Law Journal Supplement 55 |date=1 January 2016 |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=55–86 |url=https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol91/iss5/6/ |access-date=12 December 2022 |issn=0019-6665}}</ref>
===Other Rankings===
The annual issue also includes special rankings of specific programs, including Clinical Training and Dispute Resolution. These are based more on opinion surveys.


The ''National Law Journal'' ranks the top 50 law schools by the percentage of juris doctor graduates who took jobs at NLJ 250 firms, the nation's largest by headcount as identified by ''The National Law Journal''{{'}}s annual survey. It provides an alternative comparison of its own employment-based rankings to the ''U.S. New''s rankings.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202589192814&interactive=true | title=Go-To vs. 'U.S. News'| newspaper=National Law Journal}}</ref>
==Alternatives to the US News Rankings==
There are a number of alternative Law School Rankings that have been prepared, often in response to those by US News. The Internet Legal Research Group has compiled links and background on many of these rankings at .


===Leiter Rankings=== == QS World University Rankings ==
The 2020 QS World University Rankings for Law ranked 14 U.S. institutions in the top 50 worldwide. The U.S. institutions in the top 10 were ], which ranked first, with ] ranked fourth, ] ranked fifth, ] ranked sixth, ] ranked seventh, and ] ranked tenth. Every other law school in ''U.S. News & World Report''{{'}}s T14 rankings except ] made the QS Top 50.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2018/law-legal-studies|access-date=29 March 2018|publisher=QS Quacquarelli Symonds|title=QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018: Law|date=2018-02-22}}</ref>
Brian Leiter, a law professor at University of Texas School of Law, has prepared a set of various rankings that he dubs . These various rankings judge schools on factors similar to those used by US News--like incoming student LSAT/GPA profiles--but also on faculty reputation and scholarly research. This, he notes, puts the focus "exclusively on the three factors central to a good legal education: the quality of the faculty, the quality of the student body, and the quality of teaching." Among the criticisms of the Leiter Rankings is that they include various lists of schools ranked by individual factors, but no attempt is made to create a combined or overall ranking.


==Social Science Research Network==
===Hylton Rankings===
]—a repository for draft and completed scholarship in law and the social sciences—publishes monthly rankings of law schools<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://hq.ssrn.com/rankings/Ranking_Display.cfm?TMY_gID=2&TRN_gID=13 | title=SSRN - SSRN Top 350 U.S. Law Schools}}</ref> based on the number of times faculty members' scholarship was downloaded. Rankings are available by total number of downloads, total number of downloads within the last 12 months, and downloads per faculty member to adjust for the size of different institutions. SSRN also provides rankings of individual law school faculty members on these metrics.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://hq.ssrn.com/rankings/Ranking_Display.cfm?TMY_gID=2&TRN_gID=6 | title=SSRN - SSRN Top 3,000 Law Authors}}</ref>
Another new set of rankings which has prompted attention recently is the Hylton Rankings. Using US News data "without the clutter", the survey measures only LSAT (converted median) and peer assessment (by law professors). It should be noted that the T14 schools, though ordered differently, remain the same peer set. {{ref|hylton}}


==Criticisms of rankings==
===Cooley Rankings===
Among the criticisms of law school rankings is that they are arbitrary in the characteristics they measure and the value given to each one. Another complaint is that a prospective law student should take into account the "fit" and appropriateness of each school, and that there is not a "one size fits all" ranking. Others complain that common rankings shortchange schools due to geographical or demographic reasons.
''The Cooley rankings are sometimes called the Brennan rankings, in reference to the President of Cooley Law School who is involved in their creation.''
], a school consistently placed in the fourth tier by US News due to its low reputations scores and abysmal placement rates, struck back by creating its own set of rankings. The first edition of these rankings, called "Judging the Law Schools" was published in 1996 by ], founder and president of the Cooley Law School.{{ref|cooleyfirst}} This online publication, now in its seventh edition, measures things such as library square footage and number of minority students, among dozens of other measures. This controversial list places Cooley above such prestigious law schools as ] and the ]. It is available on .


An article by Espeland and Sauder (2007),<ref>Espeland, W. N., & Sauder, M. (2007). Rankings and reactivity: How public measures recreate social worlds. American journal of sociology, 113(1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1086/517897</ref> published in the ], discusses the increasing use of public measures for evaluating the performance of individuals and organizations, highlighting their significant social impact on accountability and governance. Using media rankings of law schools as a case study, it emphasizes the concept of reactivity—how people change their behavior in response to being evaluated. The authors demonstrate that these measures have numerous unintended consequences and identify mechanisms like self-fulfilling prophecy and commensuration that drive reactivity. They outline effects such as redistribution of resources, redefinition of work, and proliferation of gaming strategies. The article suggests that the growing influence of these measures necessitates more systematic scholarly investigation due to their profound negative impact on institutions and the potential to perpetuate inequalities. Lastly, it raises ethical concerns about the implications of these measures, noting their influence on the redistribution of resources and the reinforcement of inequalities.
===Law School 100===
The Law School 100 refers to a website listing "America's Top Law Schools" from 1-100, supplemented with the remaining ABA-Approved schools listed alphabetically in a "second tier." This list is supposedly "based on qualitative, rather than quantitative, criteria." Despite this claim, however, the ad-riddled website hasn't been updated since 2004 and gives absolutely no description of its methodology or criteria. Given these shortcomings, these rankings have not achieved any degree of renown, popularity, or respect.{{ref|law100}}


The ], which has consistently refused to support or participate in law school rankings, has issued disclaimers on law school rating systems, and encourages prospective law students to consider a variety of factors in making their choice among schools.<ref name="americanbar.org">{{Cite web | url=http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/aba_approved_law_schools.html | title=ABA-Approved Law Schools}}</ref> Further, the ] has also voiced criticisms of ''U.S. News''{{'}}s ranking system. Carl Monk, its former executive director, once went so far as to say "these rankings are a misleading and deceptive, profit-generating commercial enterprise that compromises ''U.S. News & World Report''<nowiki/>'s journalistic integrity."<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/19/nyregion/judge-not-law-schools-demand-of-a-magazine-that-ranks-them.html | title=Judge Not, Law Schools Demand of a Magazine That Ranks Them| newspaper=The New York Times| date=1998-02-19| last1=Hoffman| first1=Jan}}</ref>
===Gourman Report===
Dr. Jack Gourman is credited with being the first ranker of law schools. He is a professor at California State University--Northridge. The Gourman Report, a print book published by Princeton Review, ranks undergraduate and graduates schools. The lastest edition to include law school rankings was published in 1997. Rankings Among the criticisms particular to the Gourman Report rankings is that it favors large, public universities and the use of an opaque methodology that prevents the reader from careful analysis.{{ref|gourcrit}}


As a response to the prevalence of law school rankings, the ABA and the LSAC publish an annual law school guide. This guide, which does not seek to rank or sort law schools by any criteria, instead seeks to provide the reader with a set of standard, important data on which to judge law schools. It contains information on all 200 ABA-Approved Law Schools. This reference, called The Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools is provided free online and also in print for a small cost. A similar guide for Canadian Law Schools is also published by the Law School Admission Council and is called Official Guide to Canadian Law Schools. These guides seek to serve as an alternative to the ''U.S. News'' Rankings and law school rankings in general.
===Insider's Guide to Law Schools===


Additionally, the ] issued the ] in 1992, which outlined many fundamental problems with modern legal education and called for reform in American law schools.<ref></ref> While the report was hailed as a "template for modern legal education", its practice-oriented tenets have met resistance by law schools continually ranked in the "top 13."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michbar.org/journal/article.cfm?articleID=141&volumeID=12&viewType=archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928093717/http://michbar.org/journal/article.cfm?articleID=141&volumeID=12&viewType=archive|url-status=dead|title=Crossing the Bar – Law Schools and Their Disciples|archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref>


Ranking systems, most prominently that of ''U.S. News'', has not allowed these criticisms to go unanswered. They regularly outline and justify their methodology alongside the rankings, and have even published defenses of their value.<ref name="defense">{{Cite web|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/norc.cary.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709163820/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/norc.cary.html|url-status=dead|title=U.S. News Defense of Law School Rankings|archive-date=9 July 2006}}</ref> Additionally, law professors William Henderson and Andrew Morriss have come out with a study criticizing law schools' (and the ABA's) refusal to adopt any better objective comparison method for the continued widespread reliance on ''U.S. News''.<ref name=rankling> {{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''American Lawyer'', Jun. 18, 2007; see also , Morriss and Henderson, ] abstract.</ref> Henderson and Morriss allege that law schools' attempts to "game" their ''U.S. News'' ranking by manipulating postgraduation employment statistics or applicant selectivity have led ''U.S. News'' to adjust its methodology accordingly, resulting in a counter-productive cycle.<ref name=rankling/> They go on to suggest that the ABA should use its accreditation power to mandate greater transparency in law schools' statistical reporting.<ref name=rankling/>
==External Links==

#
In March 2011, ] Dean Victor Gold in Los Angeles penned an op-ed in the '']'', accusing ''U.S. News & World Report'' of "refus to consider diversity as a factor in its ranking system."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-03-21|title=What's Really Behind U.S. News' Refusal to Consider Diversity?|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/whats-really-behind-us-ne_b_838580|access-date=2022-12-12|website=HuffPost|language=en}}</ref> Gold asserted that "here is a broad consensus among law school deans and professors that diversity enriches law school education." Loyola, which has a large Asian student body, claims 37% of its students are "minorities", but it does not provide any specifics.
#

#
Between November and December 2022, 12 of the 14 "T14" law Schools announced that they would no longer participate in the ''U.S. News'' rankings by declining to submit admissions data, with University of Chicago Law School and Cornell Law School continuing to do so.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Esaki-Smith |first=Anna |title=University Of Chicago, Cornell Law Schools To Continue With U.S. News Rankings |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/annaesakismith/2022/11/30/university-of-chicago-cornell-law-schools-to-continue-with-us-news-rankings/ |access-date=2023-05-16 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> One of their criticisms was that the rankings don't give enough credit to programs that train lawyers interested in ].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Song |first1=Zijia |title=Top Law Schools Snub 'US News' Rankings, Marking Shift in Legal Industry |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-12/top-law-schools-us-news-rankings-snub-marks-legal-industry-change |access-date=12 December 2022 |work=] |date=12 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Patrice |first1=Joe |title=Law Schools Dropping Out Of US News Rankings Like It's A Crypto Exchange |url=https://abovethelaw.com/2022/11/law-schools-dropping-out-of-us-news-rankings/ |access-date=12 December 2022 |work=] |date=18 November 2022}}</ref> In response, ''U.S. News'' pledged to modify its law school rankings to capture the individual nuances of each school.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Maglione |first1=Francesca |title=US News to Change Law School Rankings After Yale, Harvard Quit |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-03/us-news-to-change-law-school-rankings-after-yale-harvard-quit |access-date=3 January 2023 |work=] |date=3 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Additionally, the magazine said that it will continue ranking all fully accredited law schools, regardless of whether schools agree to submit their data.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Morse |first1=Robert |title=U.S. News Best Law Schools Rankings Will Continue to Inform Prospective Students |url=https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/articles/2022-11-17/u-s-news-best-law-schools-rankings-will-continue-to-inform-prospective-students |access-date=12 December 2022 |work=] |date=November 17, 2022}}</ref>
# (A collection of various criticisms of the US News Law School Rankings)

# (A listing of various published articles on Law School Rankings, compiled by University of Texas-Austin Professor Brian Leiter)
==Impact of rankings==
# (Wbsite for national symposium on law school rankings, including copies of papers and abstracts).
Despite these criticisms, law school rankings in general and those by ''U.S. News'' in particular play a role in the world of legal education. This pressure has also resulted in various schools "gaming the rankings".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Law.com|url=https://www.law.com/?id=1113555914350|access-date=2022-12-12|website=Law.com|language=en}}</ref> In a March 2003 article in ''Student Lawyer'', Jane Easter Bahls stated that, in order to appear more selective, some law schools reject applicants whose high LSAT scores indicate that they probably would go somewhere else.<ref name="gaming">{{Cite web|title=American Bar Association Website/ABA for Law Students|url=http://www.abanet.org/lsd/stulawyer/mar03/rankinggame.html |access-date=2022-12-12|website=ABA for Law Students|language=en-US}}{{deadlink|date=December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stake |first1=Jeffrey Evans |title=The Interplay between Ranking Criteria and Effects: Toward Responsible Rankings |journal=] |date=7 April 2005 |volume=81 |issue=5 |page=229 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.700862 |url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=700862 |access-date=12 December 2022 |series=Symposium on the Next Generation of Law School Rankings |ssrn=700862 |language=en}}</ref> Other schools, in an attempt to increase the amount of money spent per student, increase tuition and return it to the students as financial aid.<ref name="gaming" />


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}}
#{{note|LSACopposed}} against rankings on the LSAC Website

#{{note|ABAopposed}} s.v. "Rating of Law Schools"
]
#{{note|books}} See, for example, books by , , , and
]
#{{note|advisors}} e.g. and an
#{{note|consultants}} e.g. and
#{{note|newspapers}} e.g.
#{{note|boards}}Search for the terms "t14", "top fourteen", or "top 14" at , , and
#{{note|t14}} Previous rankings can be found in back issues of the US News and World Report since 1989, or can be viewed together in a
#{{note|supct}}
#{{note|fxrank}} http://www.deloggio.com/usnews/usnews.htm
#{{note|gaming}} and
#{{note|hylton}}
#{{note|cooleyfirst}}See the complete first edition of "Judging the Law Schools" at .
#{{note|carlmonk}}"Deans Question Relevance of Law School Rankings in the
#{{note|law100}}
#{{note|methodology}}
#{{note|gourcrit}}
#{{note|washlater}}

Latest revision as of 06:11, 26 November 2024

Yale Law School

Law school rankings are a specific subset of college and university rankings dealing specifically with law schools. Like college and university rankings, law school rankings can be based on empirical data, subjectively-perceived qualitative data (often survey research of educators, law professors, lawyers, students, or others), or some combination of these. Such rankings are often consulted by prospective students as they choose which schools they will apply to or which school they will attend. There are several different law school rankings, each of which has a different emphasis and methodology.

U.S. News & World Report rankings

U.S. News & World Report (USNWR), then a widely read news magazine, began early rankings in the 1980s. It now organizes rankings into two main sections: the first is a "Top 145" listing the top 145 schools in order from highest to lowest ranked. U.S. News groups the remaining schools, or the bottom 25 percent of those that are ranked, into a "Rank Not Published" group. Schools that fall into this category are listed alphabetically and not by actual ranking. U.S. News also ranks each school's specialty programs using a similar method, if applicable. U.S. News ranked 196 schools in 2016. Each school's U.S. News ranking tends to fluctuate annually.

U.S. News published its first attempt at ranking U.S. law schools in 1987. The magazine has continuously published updated rankings on an annual basis since 1990. There has been great consistency at the top of the U.S. News rankings since their inception, with Yale Law School consistently ranking first. While Yale, Harvard, and Stanford have historically clustered at the top of the list, Harvard was recently replaced by the University of Chicago in the third place spot.

Top 14 law schools

"Top Fourteen" redirects here. For the rugby union league in France, see Top 14. Law school rankings in the United States is located in the United StatesBerkeleyBerkeleyColumbiaColumbiaCornellCornellDukeDukeHarvardHarvardNYUNYUNorthwesternNorthwesternStanfordStanfordChicagoChicagoMichiganMichiganPennPennGeorgetownGeorgetownVirginiaVirginiaYaleYaleclass=notpageimage| "T14" law schools, historically (public schools in blue)

There exists an informal and unofficial category known as the "Top Fourteen", "Top 14", or "T14", which has historically referred to the institutions that most frequently claim the top 14 spots in the yearly U.S. News & World Report ranking of American law schools, with T14 schools remaining the only ones to have ever placed within the top ten spots in these rankings. Although "T14" is not a designation used by U.S. News itself, the term is "widely known in the legal community". While these schools have seen their position within the highest-rated group shift frequently, they have consistently placed within the top 14 of the U.S. News annual rankings. Schools that have most frequently taken the top 14 spots are commonly referred to as the "Top 14" by published books on law school admissions, undergraduate university pre-law advisers, professional law school consultants, and newspaper articles on the subject.

The schools that most frequently have appeared at the top of the U.S. News & World Report ranking of American law schools, commonly known as the "Top 14" or "T14" are, in alphabetical order

Academic Ranking of World Universities

In 2017, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released its rankings of world universities in the subject of law by taking into account only the academic strength of the institution. In 2021, ARWU ranked all T14 US Law Schools within the world's top 20 law schools.

National Law Journal's Go-To Law School Rankings

Several ranking systems are explicitly designed to focus on employment outcomes at or shortly after graduation, including rankings by the National Law Journal and Law.com.

The National Law Journal ranks the top 50 law schools by the percentage of juris doctor graduates who took jobs at NLJ 250 firms, the nation's largest by headcount as identified by The National Law Journal's annual survey. It provides an alternative comparison of its own employment-based rankings to the U.S. News rankings.

QS World University Rankings

The 2020 QS World University Rankings for Law ranked 14 U.S. institutions in the top 50 worldwide. The U.S. institutions in the top 10 were Harvard Law School, which ranked first, with Yale Law School ranked fourth, Stanford Law School ranked fifth, NYU School of Law ranked sixth, UC Berkeley School of Law ranked seventh, and Columbia Law School ranked tenth. Every other law school in U.S. News & World Report's T14 rankings except University of Virginia School of Law made the QS Top 50.

Social Science Research Network

Social Science Research Network—a repository for draft and completed scholarship in law and the social sciences—publishes monthly rankings of law schools based on the number of times faculty members' scholarship was downloaded. Rankings are available by total number of downloads, total number of downloads within the last 12 months, and downloads per faculty member to adjust for the size of different institutions. SSRN also provides rankings of individual law school faculty members on these metrics.

Criticisms of rankings

Among the criticisms of law school rankings is that they are arbitrary in the characteristics they measure and the value given to each one. Another complaint is that a prospective law student should take into account the "fit" and appropriateness of each school, and that there is not a "one size fits all" ranking. Others complain that common rankings shortchange schools due to geographical or demographic reasons.

An article by Espeland and Sauder (2007), published in the American Journal of Sociology, discusses the increasing use of public measures for evaluating the performance of individuals and organizations, highlighting their significant social impact on accountability and governance. Using media rankings of law schools as a case study, it emphasizes the concept of reactivity—how people change their behavior in response to being evaluated. The authors demonstrate that these measures have numerous unintended consequences and identify mechanisms like self-fulfilling prophecy and commensuration that drive reactivity. They outline effects such as redistribution of resources, redefinition of work, and proliferation of gaming strategies. The article suggests that the growing influence of these measures necessitates more systematic scholarly investigation due to their profound negative impact on institutions and the potential to perpetuate inequalities. Lastly, it raises ethical concerns about the implications of these measures, noting their influence on the redistribution of resources and the reinforcement of inequalities.

The American Bar Association, which has consistently refused to support or participate in law school rankings, has issued disclaimers on law school rating systems, and encourages prospective law students to consider a variety of factors in making their choice among schools. Further, the Association of American Law Schools has also voiced criticisms of U.S. News's ranking system. Carl Monk, its former executive director, once went so far as to say "these rankings are a misleading and deceptive, profit-generating commercial enterprise that compromises U.S. News & World Report's journalistic integrity."

As a response to the prevalence of law school rankings, the ABA and the LSAC publish an annual law school guide. This guide, which does not seek to rank or sort law schools by any criteria, instead seeks to provide the reader with a set of standard, important data on which to judge law schools. It contains information on all 200 ABA-Approved Law Schools. This reference, called The Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools is provided free online and also in print for a small cost. A similar guide for Canadian Law Schools is also published by the Law School Admission Council and is called Official Guide to Canadian Law Schools. These guides seek to serve as an alternative to the U.S. News Rankings and law school rankings in general.

Additionally, the American Bar Association issued the MacCrate Report in 1992, which outlined many fundamental problems with modern legal education and called for reform in American law schools. While the report was hailed as a "template for modern legal education", its practice-oriented tenets have met resistance by law schools continually ranked in the "top 13."

Ranking systems, most prominently that of U.S. News, has not allowed these criticisms to go unanswered. They regularly outline and justify their methodology alongside the rankings, and have even published defenses of their value. Additionally, law professors William Henderson and Andrew Morriss have come out with a study criticizing law schools' (and the ABA's) refusal to adopt any better objective comparison method for the continued widespread reliance on U.S. News. Henderson and Morriss allege that law schools' attempts to "game" their U.S. News ranking by manipulating postgraduation employment statistics or applicant selectivity have led U.S. News to adjust its methodology accordingly, resulting in a counter-productive cycle. They go on to suggest that the ABA should use its accreditation power to mandate greater transparency in law schools' statistical reporting.

In March 2011, Loyola Law School Dean Victor Gold in Los Angeles penned an op-ed in the Huffington Post, accusing U.S. News & World Report of "refus to consider diversity as a factor in its ranking system." Gold asserted that "here is a broad consensus among law school deans and professors that diversity enriches law school education." Loyola, which has a large Asian student body, claims 37% of its students are "minorities", but it does not provide any specifics.

Between November and December 2022, 12 of the 14 "T14" law Schools announced that they would no longer participate in the U.S. News rankings by declining to submit admissions data, with University of Chicago Law School and Cornell Law School continuing to do so. One of their criticisms was that the rankings don't give enough credit to programs that train lawyers interested in public service. In response, U.S. News pledged to modify its law school rankings to capture the individual nuances of each school. Additionally, the magazine said that it will continue ranking all fully accredited law schools, regardless of whether schools agree to submit their data.

Impact of rankings

Despite these criticisms, law school rankings in general and those by U.S. News in particular play a role in the world of legal education. This pressure has also resulted in various schools "gaming the rankings". In a March 2003 article in Student Lawyer, Jane Easter Bahls stated that, in order to appear more selective, some law schools reject applicants whose high LSAT scores indicate that they probably would go somewhere else. Other schools, in an attempt to increase the amount of money spent per student, increase tuition and return it to the students as financial aid.

References

  1. "Methodology: 2023 Best Law Schools Rankings". US News & World Report. May 10, 2023. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  2. Schmalbeck, Richard (December 1998). "The Durability of Law School Reputation". Journal of Legal Education. 48 (4): 571 – via Duke Law Scholarship Repository.
  3. Solorzano, Lucia; Walsh, Maureen; Taylor, Ronald A.; Work, Clemens P.; Kalb, Deborah; Blaug, Elizabeth; Golden, Sharon F.; Burke, Sarah; Hiotas, Cecilia; Rosenfeld, David; Yuill, Barbara (November 2, 1987). "Special Report: America's Best Professional Schools - Law Schools: Brains for the Bar". U.S. News & World Report. 103 (18): 72–73.
  4. Weiss, Debra Cassens (March 20, 2018). "US News law school rankings are released; Pepperdine's mistake costs it a ranking". ABA Journal. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  5. "Top Law School Rankings From US News". 7Sage LSAT. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  6. "2023 Best Law Schools". U.S. News & World Report. March 28, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  7. Reynolds, William L. (2011). "Back to the Future in Law Schools Symposium: The Profession and the Academy: Addressing Major Changes in Law Practice". Maryland Law Review. 70 (2): 451 – via DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law.
  8. Mystal, Elie; Patrice, Joe (March 15, 2017). "Is T14 Dead? Is It T15? T13? Was T14 An Arbitrary Ranking All Along?". Above the Law. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  9. "In 2013 Best Law School Rankings, Top Schools Switch Spots - US News and World Report". U.S. News and World Report. December 20, 2012. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  10. See, for example, books by Richard Montauk, Anna Ivey, Robert H. Miller, and Susan Estrich
  11. E.g. University of Dayton Prelaw Advising Website and an SUNY Binghamton press release
  12. E.g. Ivey, Anna (April 6, 2005). "Career Advice". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  13. See the complete list Archived 2014-07-18 at the Wayback Machine on the U.S. News website.
  14. "ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021 - Law". Academic Ranking of World Universities. 2021. Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  15. "Ranking the Go-To Law Schools".
  16. "Another Law School Ranking System: Any Good?". Blueprint Prep. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  17. Brophy, Alfred (January 1, 2016). "Ranking Law Schools with LSATs, Employment Outcomes, and Law Review Citations". Indiana Law Journal Supplement 55. 91 (5): 55–86. ISSN 0019-6665. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  18. "Go-To vs. 'U.S. News'". National Law Journal.
  19. "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018: Law". QS Quacquarelli Symonds. February 22, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  20. "SSRN - SSRN Top 350 U.S. Law Schools".
  21. "SSRN - SSRN Top 3,000 Law Authors".
  22. Espeland, W. N., & Sauder, M. (2007). Rankings and reactivity: How public measures recreate social worlds. American journal of sociology, 113(1), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1086/517897
  23. "ABA-Approved Law Schools".
  24. Hoffman, Jan (February 19, 1998). "Judge Not, Law Schools Demand of a Magazine That Ranks Them". The New York Times.
  25. The MacCrate Report
  26. "Crossing the Bar – Law Schools and Their Disciples". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
  27. "U.S. News Defense of Law School Rankings". Archived from the original on July 9, 2006.
  28. ^ Rankling Rankings , American Lawyer, Jun. 18, 2007; see also Measuring Outcomes: Post-Graduation Measures of Success in the U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings, Morriss and Henderson, SSRN abstract.
  29. "What's Really Behind U.S. News' Refusal to Consider Diversity?". HuffPost. March 21, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  30. Esaki-Smith, Anna. "University Of Chicago, Cornell Law Schools To Continue With U.S. News Rankings". Forbes. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  31. Song, Zijia (December 12, 2022). "Top Law Schools Snub 'US News' Rankings, Marking Shift in Legal Industry". Bloomberg News. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  32. Patrice, Joe (November 18, 2022). "Law Schools Dropping Out Of US News Rankings Like It's A Crypto Exchange". Above the Law. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  33. Maglione, Francesca (January 3, 2023). "US News to Change Law School Rankings After Yale, Harvard Quit". Bloomberg News. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  34. Morse, Robert (November 17, 2022). "U.S. News Best Law Schools Rankings Will Continue to Inform Prospective Students". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  35. "Law.com". Law.com. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  36. ^ "American Bar Association Website/ABA for Law Students". ABA for Law Students. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  37. Stake, Jeffrey Evans (April 7, 2005). "The Interplay between Ranking Criteria and Effects: Toward Responsible Rankings". Indiana Law Journal. Symposium on the Next Generation of Law School Rankings. 81 (5): 229. doi:10.2139/ssrn.700862. SSRN 700862. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
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