Many "best of" lists consist of someone's opinion about hair-metal bands or local pizza choices. A notable exception is the annual U.S. News rankings of the top law schools in America. Based on the data it collects (for schools that have not opted out of providing it) the report uses a complex formula to rank institutions.
The best schools vie for a spot in the vaunted "T14," or top 14 ranked law schools. While there was some movement in the T14, the top four spots remained the same. But given the pushback by top law schools on the methodology used, does the U.S. News ranking still carry as much weight as it used to for prospective law students looking to find the next step of their higher education journey?
The Madness Behind the Method
U.S. News started publishing its law school rankings in 1987, with the list becoming annual in 1990. Responding to criticism from most T14 schools, in 2022 U.S. News revamped its formula, emphasizing publicly available data from the American Bar Association (ABA) and less on reputational surveys.
Under the current ranking system, placement success and bar passage combine to carry more than 50% of the ranking weight. The two-year average of positions acquired within 10 months of graduation has the highest influence. Passing the bar exam on the first try is more than twice as influential as doing so on a later attempt. Results are also broken down by jurisdiction to account for some bar exams being more difficult than others.
Quality assessment, which accounts for about a quarter of the ratings, is evenly split between peer assessment and ratings provided by legal professionals. Based on reviews from law school deans, faculty chairs, and recently tenured law professors, peer assessment determines a quality rating for the school's program. It averaged about a 56% response rate from those surveyed in 2024 and early 2025.
The survey return rate for attorneys, judges, and hiring partners came in significantly lower at 43.5%.
The 10% of the rating calculation concerned with selectivity is broken up into three categories. Median LSAT and GRE scores are worth half the selectivity weight, with the scales adjusted by the proportion of test-takers for each exam. The median undergraduate grade point average is slightly less influential than test scores, and acceptance rates for each school carry very little impact compared to other factors.
Finally, the remaining 7% of the criteria used by U.S. News to rank law schools concerns faculty and library resources. The ratio of faculty to students is accessed using a modified version of the Common Data Set Initiative. The final bit of data uses the ratio of librarians to students. Both focus on full-time students and faculty/staff.
Dings Against the Rankings
In addition to questioning U.S. News rankings, almost all of the T14 schools chose to no longer share internal data with U.S. News after 2021. Some cited issues with the lack of weight being given to specialties and the fact that the rankings allow some programs to jack up their tuitions.
Others have pointed out that the desire to acquire students with higher LSAT scores and GPAs can lead to scholarship money going to them instead of those with greater financial needs. There are also concerns that too much importance is being placed on "in-demand" jobs with large firms as opposed to those who opt for public service or smaller firms.
May I Have the Envelope, Please?
U.S. News insists that its rankings are intended to be part of a choice process and not the only factor to be considered. The top 90% of schools are presented in their ranking order. The lowest-scoring 10% of programs are instead listed in alphabetical order.
The 2025 edition kept the same four schools on top: Stanford and Yale tied for first, while the law schools at the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia were third and fourth respectively. The rest of the T14 law schools - actually T17 due to a four-way tie for 14th place - are ranked in order as follows: University of Pennsylvania (5th); Duke and Harvard (tied for 6th); New York University and University of Michigan (tied for 8th); Columbia and Northwestern University (tied for 10th); UCLA; UC Berkeley; and Georgetown University, University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and Washington University - St. Louis (tied for 14th).
It Is What It Is
The U.S. News law school rankings may have diminished somewhat in influence. By U.S. News' own accord, it shouldn't be a prospective student's primary source for determining where they want to go. Still, the rankings are at least part of the conversation, and the schools at the top have a stellar reputation.
Related Resources
- Paying for Law School (FindLaw's Choosing a Law School)
- The Law School Shuffle: New School Rankings (FindLaw's Practice of Law)
- Do Law School Rankings Matter? (FindLaw's Law Students)
