A recent study measured the scholarly impact of the top third of ABA-accredited law school faculty nationwide. University of St. Thomas Law School professor Gregory Sisk releases the study every three years. It measures the mean and median of law journal citations made by tenured faculty members over the previous five years, called the "Scholarly Impact Ranking." This was conceived by Brian Leiter of the University of Chicago and is widely considered one of the few suitable measures of faculty impact on the legal profession. The study found that, once again, Yale Law School came out on top.
This ranking is not to be confused with U.S. News & World Report's Best Law Schools, an annual list of the best law schools in the country as judged by successful job placement after graduation, faculty resources, the achievements of incoming students, and academics. Yale dropped to second place on that list in 2024.
Which Law School Faculty Fared Best?
The study ranks the top-third of law schools accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). This year, Yale Law School was ranked number one, followed by the University of Chicago, Harvard Law School, New York University, Columbia University, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania, which moved up to seventh place.
Stanford University is ranked number eight, Vanderbilt University is ranked number nine, and the University of Virginia remains ranked number ten. Law schools that do not do as well on U.S. News' annual ranking sometimes perform better when measuring faculty impact. For example, the University of California at Berkeley is not in the top 10 for U.S. News' rankings but came in sixth for its Scholarly Impact Rating.
The purpose of measuring scholarly impact is to evaluate law school faculty based on their contributions to the field. Academic influence, as measured by scholarly work, is directly related to the caliber of a law school's legal scholarship, academics, and faculty.
Should Law Students Take Note?
Law students spend hours upon hours of their three-year journey researching and writing. Every law school has at least one law review publication run by students with a faculty advisor. A well-respected law review article can have a large impact on emerging or disputed areas of the law and can often find its way into citations in judicial opinions. Law reviews can also influence public policy at the state and national levels. A well-received law review article can be a boon to law students in their early careers, so having a faculty advisor who is respected in their field can be a great benefit.
Of course, like all such rankings, it should be taken with a grain of salt, as law professors from across the country contribute in significant ways to legal scholarship, even if they aren't published in the Yale Law Journal. But if you're going for reputation, it's still hard to beat being on the Yale Law School faculty.
Related Resources
- The Law School Shuffle: The New 2024-2025 Law School Rankings (FindLaw's Practice of Law)
- ABA Proposes Greater Course Uniformity Across Law Schools. Many Deans Opposed. (FindLaw's Practice of Law)
- Do Law School Rankings Matter? (FindLaw for Law Students)
