Despite a boycott by leading law schools of U.S. News & World Report's popular rankings and a revamp of its methodology, Yale Law School has retained its position as the top law school in the country. This year, however, it shares the No. 1 spot with Stanford Law School. In an unexpected move, U.S. News revealed the top 14 schools on its latest law and medical school rankings on Tuesday, a week before the complete orders covering all 199 American Bar Association-accredited law schools are set to be released.
Requests for comment about the early release of the top schools from U.S. News were not immediately responded to by a spokeswoman on Tuesday. This year, around 25% of law schools, including 12 of the top 14 schools, declined to provide U.S. News with any internal data for its rankings, citing concerns that the publication's methodology adversely affected student diversity and affordability. In response to the boycott, U.S. News revised its law school ranking methodology to rely heavily on ABA data, prioritize bar passage and employment, and reduce the emphasis on LSAT scores. The law schools in the top 14 saw little change from the previous year, with the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law ousting Georgetown University Law Center from the No. 14 spot, as it did two years ago.
In the top 14 law schools, there were some significant changes. Duke Law School moved up five spots to tie with the New York University School of Law at No. 6, while Columbia Law School fell four to No. 8, connecting with the University of Virginia School of Law. Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law gained three spots and tied at No. 10 with the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and the University of Michigan Law School. Harvard Law School held steady at No. 4, and the University of Chicago Law School retained its No. 3 spot, while Cornell Law School fell one place to No. 13.
Although U.S. News has disclosed the broad changes in its methodology, it has not specified the weights assigned to each metric within the new method. As a result, it is difficult to determine why Columbia dropped four spots. According to law school admissions consultant Mike Spivey, the allocation of weights is still being determined, making it impossible to explain.
