LAW SCHOOL RANKING CHAPTER SUMMARY

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.           Albert Einstein (1879-1955), attributed From the Notices of the American Mathematical Society 53(2006)1049.

In the April 7-14, 2008 issue of U.S. News & World Report, USN gave an ordering of of their TOP 104 LAW SCHOOLS. Elsewhere they considered the 80 law schools BELOW THE TOP 104.

Using LSAT and GPA data from 2007 (involving 180 law schools), we partition these law schools into two tiers: THE HUNDRERD MOST SELECTIVE LAW SCHOOLS and THE EIGHTY LEAST SELECTIVE LAW SCHOOLS.

The PRESTIGIOUS LAW SCHOOLS are, by definition, rated highly by law school deans, law faculty, lawyers, and judges while the corresponding university is also rated highly. A prestigious law schools, by definition, limits itself to the highest achieving applicants; the ones with a high UGPA and a high LSAT.

For NINE SPECIALTIES, U S News & World Report gives their ranking of the top ten in that specialty.

Read about THE TOP FORTY LAW SCHOOLS OF THE NINETIES AND THE TOP FORTY LAW SCHOOLS OF THIS MILLENIUM

The original US News Law School Ranking ranked the TOP TWENTY (1987). The top ten and the top sixteen of the November 1987 ranking of law schools are the same (albeit their order has changed).

We make some suggestions for IMPROVING RANKINGS.