2018 USNews Law School Rankings Arrive!!!

Spivey Consulting, which last year successfully obtained The USNWR’s annual ranking of the top law schools ahead of time, released a preview again today. While we can’t say with 100% certainty that these are the real rankings, it seems very likely that they are. Let’s see which law school admissions committees have reason to celebrate, and which will be left scrambling. We provide some analysis!

1) Yale
2) Stanford
3) Harvard (-1)
4) U Chicago
5) Columbia (-1)
6) NYU
7) Penn
8) Michigan
8) UVA
10) Duke (+1)
10) Northwestern (+2)
12) Berkeley (-4)
13) Cornell
14) UT Austin (+1)

The big stories here are three-fold:

• U Chicago beating out Columbia rather than tying. With Harvard’s downward move, it seems possible that schools with smaller class sizes are currently outperforming the big schools within the Top 5.
• A big downward move for Berkeley, possibly a consequence of the wider school’s well-known budget trouble in recent times.
• Texas popping into the T14. Hardly surprising given the health of the Texas economy that they feed into, plus efforts for many years of work now building and retaining a strong faculty and student cohort.

15) Georgetown (-1)
15) UCLA (+2)
17) Vanderbilt (-1)
18) WUSTL
19) USC
20) Iowa
20) Notre Dame (+2)
22) Emory
23) Boston U (-3)
23) U Minnesota (-1)
25) Arizona State
26) Boston College (+4)
26) Alabama (+2)
28) UC Irvine
28) Washington and Lee (+12)
30) GWU (-5)
30) Indiana U Bloomington (-5)
30) Ohio State
30) U Georgia (+3)
30) U Washington (+3)
30) U Wisconsin Madison (+3)

Here there is less of interest. Washington and Lee, which has slid a lot in recent years, is moving back up to reclaim its former glory. Alabama climbs even further, continuing a good run as of late. In general, the sizeable presence of public universities at top of tier 1 (the highest ranked schools outside the top 14) is worth noting. They and other large universities typically did a good job weathering the declining interest in law school that we are only now peeking out from.

Here is the rest of the pack, where generally there are a lot more ties: Josh pointed out that it is starting to look like a golf tournament leaderboard:

36) Fordham (+1)
36) U Colorado Boulder (+4)
36) Wake Forest (+4)
39) UC Davis (-9)
39) UNC (-1)
41) William and Mary (-8)
41) George Mason (+4)
41) U Florida (+7)
44) U Illinois Urbana-Champaign (-4)
44) U Utah (+1)
46) BYU (-8)
46) SMU (-1)
48) FSU (+2)
48) U Arizona (-8)
48) U Maryland
51) Baylor (+4)
51) Tulane (-1)
53) Temple (-3)
54) UC Hastings (-4)
54) U Connecticut (+11)
54) U Houston (-4)
57) Seton Hall (+8)
57) U Kentucky (+3)
57) U Nebraska Lincoln
57) U Richmond (-2)
57) U Tennessee Knoxville (+8)
62) Case Western (-5)
62) Rutgers (+30)
62) U Nevada Las Vegas (+16)
65) Georgia State (-8)
65) Loyola Marymount
65) Northeastern (+17)
65) Penn State Dickinson (+21)
65) U Kansas
65) U Missouri
65) Cardozo (+9)
72) Pepperdine (-7)
72) St. John’s (+2)
72) U Cincinnati (-12)
72) U Oklahoma (-12)
76) U Denver (-4)
77) U Arkansas Fayetteville (+9)
77) U Miami (-17)
77) U New Mexico (-17)
77) U San Diego (-3)
77) Villanova (-3)
82) Loyola Chicago (-10)
82) Penn State University Park (+4)
82) U Pittsburgh (-4)
82) U Tulsa (+4)
86) American U (-8)
86) U Oregon (-8)
88) Brooklyn (+9)
88) Indiana U Indianapolis (+12)
88) St. Louis U (-6)
88) U South Carolina (+4)
92) Chicago-Kent (-6)
92) Syracuse (-6)
92) Texas A&M (+19)
92) U Louisville
96) LSU (-14)
96) Michigan State (+4)
96) Stetson (+7)
96) WVU (+1)
100) Florida International (+3)
100) Lewis and Clark (-8)
100) Marquette (+23)
100) U Hawaii Manoa (-8)
100) U New Hampshire (-18)
100) Wayne State (-3)