Ranking Law Schools
Law Schools and Reputation
Many people will tell you to apply to the schools that take students in your GPA and LSAT ranges, and then enroll in the best one that accepts you. However, law school quality can be assessed in a number of ways.
There is a hierarchy of law schools based on reputation, job placement success, strength of faculty, and the prestige of the parent institution (if there is one). In fact, a study done at one university suggests that undergraduate students perceive schools not only in terms of a hierarchy but also in terms of hierarchical clusters. In other words, certain schools are grouped together in terms of equivalent quality and prestige. Also, there are books or magazine articles that assign law schools purported numerical quality rankings.
However, according to the ABA:
No rating of law schools beyond the simple statement of their accreditation status is attempted or advocated by the official organizations in legal education. Qualities that make one kind of school good for one student may not be as important to another. The American Bar Association and its Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar have issued disclaimers of any law school rating system. Prospective law students should consider a variety of factors in making their choice among schools.1
Since there is no official ranking authority, you should be cautious in using such rankings. The factors that make up a law school’s reputation—strength of curriculum, faculty, career services, ability of students, quality of library facilities, and the like—don’t lend themselves to quantification. Even if the rankings were more or less accurate, the school’s reputation is only one factor among many for you to consider.
What’s in a Name?
While going to a "name" school may mean that you will have an easier time finding your first job, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get a better legal education than if you go to a lesser-known law school. Some schools that were at their peaks years ago are still riding on the wave of that earlier reputation. Others have greatly improved their programs and have recruited talented faculty but have not yet made a name for themselves.
Once admitted, applicants should consider a variety of factors, such as the contacts you may acquire at a school in the area where you hope to practice, the size of the school, and cost. The substantive differences between schools should be your focus when making this important choice rather than the school’s reputed ranking.
The Parent University
About 90 percent of ABA-approved law schools are part of a larger university. There may be some advantages to attending a law school that is part of a university. Such law schools may have more options for joint-degree programs or for taking a non-law school course or two. They also may have more academic and social activities, campus theater groups, sports teams, and everything else that comes with university life. Perhaps most important, the university can act as a support system for the law school by providing a wealth of facilities, including student housing and support for career services.
National, Regional, and Local Schools
A national school will generally have an applicant population and a student body that draws almost indistinguishably from the nation as a whole and will have many international students as well. A regional school is likely to have a population that is primarily from the geographic region of its location, though many regional schools have students from all over the country; a number of regional schools draw heavily from a particular geographical area, yet graduates may find jobs all over the country. Generally speaking, a local school is drawing primarily on applicants who either come from or want to practice in the proximate area in which the school is located. Many local law schools have excellent reputations and compete with the national schools in faculty competence, in research-supporting activities, and in resources generally. Check the school’s catalog or talk with the admission and placement staff to get a clear breakdown on where their students come from and where they are finding jobs.
1ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure of Approval for Law Schools 2008-2009, Council Statement 5, p. 143, American Bar Association, Chicago, IL, 2008.
