Law School Rankings Released By US News

Latest Law School Rankings

The latest law school rankings are out, and they are a welcome distraction from inflation, the job market, bank failures and other issues that the country is dealing with on a daily basis. Braggadocio-loving lawyers, many “working from home” in a new remote work world, will now be dropping not-too-subtle references to their law school’s performance on Zoom calls and dunking on their colleagues’ law schools that did not fare as well. Yes, lawyers are not a shy bunch. This year, there was an added layer of issues that actually impacted the rankings, as not only did the methodology change for the ranking system, but many schools opted out of providing data in a coordinated boycott. Unlike prior years, the new rankings emphasize bar passage rates and employment outcomes over LSAT scores and college GPAs. This has led to some significant shifts – and many are not happy with the results – and this is both within the Top 20 and generally in the law school universe:

“The year’s rankings shakeup was most apparent outside the elite schools, however. Sixty-two law schools saw their ranks increase or decrease by double digits this year, compared with 27 schools last year. And 27 schools saw their ranks change by 20 spots or more this year — up from four schools the previous year. Duquesne University Thomas R. Kline School of Law saw the single largest increase, moving up 40 spots to No. 89. Florida International University College of Law was next with an increase of 38 spots to land No. 60.”

Many deans of law schools that dropped in the new rankings are reaching out to alumni with their opinions on the new ranking methodology and the reasons for their school’s drop. These range from criticisms that the employment calculation apparently includes lawyers employed at jobs at the law schools themselves as well as students who are pursuing another degree after law school (if your outstanding loans don’t reach at least $300,000 are you really trying to educate yourself?). Further, despite the spiraling costs of higher education, the rankings apparently exclude a school’s student aid program from the ranking calculations.

Take this new list with a grain of salt as, once you get your first law school job, you will find that other factors, such as being indispensable, are much more important than where you suffered for three years. And based on the ruckus and consternation that the changing US News methodology has caused, expect more changes in the future which may very well result in larger year to year changes!

Read: Revamped US News Rankings Yield Major Shifts at Reuters