As prospective law students apply to and consider offers from law schools, they frequently make decisions based the ranking of the different schools. The major source for information on the ranking of a law schools has been from US News and World Report the major source for over 20 years.
The National Jurist, in its February 2013 edition, examined the way in which the rankings are determined by US News and offered a new way to rank law schools that is believed to be consistent with measuring the quality of a legal education. Among the criticisms offered at the current system is the belief that for many law schools increases in rankings come at the expense of legal education. The authors believe that spending more money leads to an increase in rankings but these funds do not necessarily translate into a better legal education. Another criticism of the current system is that US News has no competition- they decide the rankings based on criteria chosen by the magazine. In addition, LSAT scores which are used to determine rankings were often inflated according to the editors and not necessarily reflective of ability.
The goal of the National Jurist is “to provide an alternative ranking that was focused more on results and service, and that would provide legal education with admirable incentives”. To that end, the magazine looked at 4 categories not necessarily part of the review used by US News.
The first category examined was postgraduate success. Looking at employment rates and bar passage, this category received the highest percentage of the ranking. Employment rates nine months after graduation were considered to be the most important factor. Overall, postgraduate success accounted for 50% of a school’s ratings.
The next factor of importance is the number of partners at large law firms. Recognizing the need for public interest lawyers and jobs in other sectors, the ranking acknowledged that most law graduates aspire to jobs in large law firms and the number of students from a law school getting those top positions was a factor in a law school’s ranking.
The number of Super Lawyers from a given law school was factored into this new rating system. Also, the number of students passing the bar was a factor in the ratings.
A major factor in a school’s ratings, just under employment success, was student satisfaction, which accounted for 35% of the ratings. In determining student satisfaction, the editors looked at how students ranked professors. Using ratemyprofessor.com and the Princeton Review’s “The Best 168 Law Schools”, the editors wanted to use student satisfaction as a measure of consumer satisfaction.
The last factors used in the rankings were diversity and affordability. The editors acknowledge the importance of affordability and they admit to wanting law schools to be efficient and cost-effective; these criteria accounted for 10% of the rankings. In addition, the editors recognized the importance of diversity and gave this factor 5% of the rankings.
The rankings that the editors of the National Jurist gave to law schools differ from those awarded by US News and World Report. Yale, which tops US News’ list, came in at number 16, and Harvard which is usually in the top 5, was number 24. The top law school on the National Jurist list was Stamford, followed by the University of Virginia’s law school and then Duke’s. Rounding out the top 5 were the law schools at the University of Chicago and Northwestern.
It is not clear yet what affect this new methodology and new ranking system will have on the current system. But at the least it is another measure to help prospective law students decide which law school to attend.
For the full list of law schools and their rankings as well as the entire article, click here:
