In case you guys are interested, the US News presents a "sneak peek" of the 2012 ranking game, "in alphabetical order", here are the top 10 highest-ranked law schools:

Columbia University (NY)
Harvard University (MA)
New York University
Stanford University (CA)
University of California--Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Virginia
Yale University (CT)

Below you can find a link to the article:

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2011/03/14/2012-best-graduate-schools-preview-top-10-law-schools

Hi ppl,
maybe I will be little bit out of the topic, but Oldtimer mentioned (Sat Mar 12, 2011 01:51 PM), that there is no serious ranking on LLM programs. I found some ranking (http://www.auap.com/llm.html). Do you know if it is confidential??
Thx to all

Hi ppl,
maybe I will be little bit out of the topic, but Oldtimer mentioned (Sat Mar 12, 2011 01:51 PM), that there is no serious ranking on LLM programs. I found some ranking (http://www.auap.com/llm.html). Do you know if it is confidential??
Thx to all

A look 10 and 20 years in the past:

1991
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Chicago
4 Stanford
5 Columbia
6 Michigan
7 NYU
8 UVA
9 Duke
10 Penn
11 Georgetown
12 Berkeley
13 Cornell
14 Northwestern
15 UT Austin
16 USC
17 Vanderbilt
18 UCLA
19 Univ. of Iowa
20 UC Hastings

2001
1 Yale
2 Stanford
3 Harvard
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 Chicago
7 Michigan
7 UVA
9 Berkeley
10 Duke
10 Penn
12 Cornell
13 Northwestern
14 Georgetown
15 UT
16 UCLA
17 Vanderbilt
18 USC
19 Minnesota
20 Iowa
20 Washington & Lee

Source: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=213

Hi ppl,
maybe I will be little bit out of the topic, but Oldtimer mentioned (Sat Mar 12, 2011 01:51 PM), that there is no serious ranking on LLM programs. I found some ranking (http://www.auap.com/llm.html). Do you know if it is confidential??
Thx to all

@Krampik: that is precisely why I said "serious" ranking... Unlike Leitner and US News, this purported LLM ranking does not give too many details on the methodology and it looks quite fishy. Call me crazy, brainwashed and biased, but I just don't see Tulane being above Yale! And how come the ranking is never updated?

To make things worse, they promise to "subscribe to your SELECTION + GUARANTEED ADMISSION PROGRAM ($2500)". Alarm bells anyone?

A look 10 and 20 years in the past:

1991
1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Chicago
4 Stanford
5 Columbia
6 Michigan
7 NYU
8 UVA
9 Duke
10 Penn
11 Georgetown
12 Berkeley
13 Cornell
14 Northwestern
15 UT Austin
16 USC
17 Vanderbilt
18 UCLA
19 Univ. of Iowa
20 UC Hastings

2001
1 Yale
2 Stanford
3 Harvard
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 Chicago
7 Michigan
7 UVA
9 Berkeley
10 Duke
10 Penn
12 Cornell
13 Northwestern
14 Georgetown
15 UT
16 UCLA
17 Vanderbilt
18 USC
19 Minnesota
20 Iowa
20 Washington & Lee

Source: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=213

The new rankings are out... and I did not notice any change.... The only development, it seems, is the University of Texas - Austin, cracking into the sacred Top14 (tied with Georgetown)

But the specialty rankings do show some changes. For example, for some reason Columbia fell to 4th place on international law, down from the second place.

Let the speculation and paranoia begin!

Well, Berkeley lost some ground, falling from 7th to 9th. Which I regret, by the way, I always liked Berkeley.

The 2011 US News rankings will be released in about 2 days: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools

I have long sustained that LLM decisions should not be based purely on these rankings (see http://www.llm-guide.com/board/87303), but it is undeniable that they play an important role in the decision of which school to attend.

In what may be a sign of changes to come, a March 2011 note by US news said that the survey of hiring partners put, for the first time, Harvard ahead of Yale:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2011/03/07/law-firm-recruiters-rank-best-law-schools

The table below highlights the top 25 law schools as ranked by hiring partners at the U.S. News-Best Lawyers Best Law Firms. To see the complete list of more than 100 schools, visit usnews.com on March 15.

Rank School Average Reputation Score (5.0=highest)
1. Harvard University 4.9
2. Stanford University 4.8
2. Yale University 4.8
4. Columbia University 4.7
4. University of Michigan--Ann Arbor 4.7
6. New York University 4.6
6. University of Virginia 4.6
8. Cornell University 4.5
8. Duke University 4.5
8. Northwestern University 4.5
8. University of California--Berkeley 4.5
8. University of Chicago 4.5
13. Georgetown University 4.4
13. University of Pennsylvania 4.4
15. Vanderbilt University 4.3
15. Washington University in St. Louis 4.3
17. University of Texas--Austin 4.2
18. Boston University 4.1
18. Emory University 4.1
18. University of California--Los Angeles 4.1
18. University of Minnesota--Twin Cities 4.1
18. University of Notre Dame 4.1
18. University of Southern California 4.1
18. Washington and Lee University 4.1
25. Boston College 4.0
25. University of Iowa 4.0
25. University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill 4.0
(Note: due to ties, there are more than 25 schools listed here.)

Again, THIS IS NOT THE NEW RANKING, but solely one of its components!
EDIT: PROF. LEITNER ACCUSES US NEWS OF FRAUD: http://leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2011/03/us-news-rankings-fraud-watch.html

Feel free to express your opinion and please post the new RANKINGS as soon as you see them!

THE top 100 universities
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/10/world-top-100-universities-reputation-rankings-reputation-times-higher-education


1 Harvard University 1 US
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3 US
3 University of Cambridge 7 UK
4 University of California, Berkeley 8 US
5 Stanford University 4 US
6 University of Oxford 7 UK
7 Princeton University 5 US
8 University of Tokyo 27 Japan
9 Yale University 10 US
10 California Institute of Technology 2 US
11 Imperial College London 9 UK
12 University of California, Los Angeles 11 US
13 University of Michigan 15 US
14 Johns Hopkins University 13 US
15 University of Chicago 12 US
16 Cornell University 14 US
17 University of Toronto 17 Canada
18 Kyoto University 57 Japan
19 University College London 22 UK
19 University of Massachusetts 57 US
21 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 33 US
22 University of Pennsylvania 19 US
23 Columbia University 18 US
24 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich 15 Switzerland
25 University of Wisconsin 43 US
26 University of Washington 23 US
27 National University of Singapore 34 Singapore
28 Carnegie Mellon University 20 US
29 McGill University 35 Canada
30 University of California, San Diego 32 US
31 University of British Columbia 30 Canada
31 University of Texas at Austin US
33 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian Federation
34 University of California, San Francisco US
35 Tsinghua University 58 China
36 Duke University 24 US
37 London School of Economics and Political Science 87 UK
38 University of California, Davis 54 US
39 Georgia Institute of Technology 27 US
40 Northwestern University 25 US
41 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 30 US
42 University of Hong Kong 21 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
43 Peking University 37 China
43 University of Minnesota 52 US
45 University of Edinburgh 40 UK
45 University of Melbourne 37 Australia
47 Purdue University US
48 University of Munich 61 Germany
49 Delft University of Technology Netherlands
50 Osaka University Japan
51-60 Australian National University 43 Australia
51-60 Karolinska Institute 43 Sweden
51-60 New York University 60 US
51-60 Ohio State University 67 US
51-60 Seoul National University Republic of Korea (South Korea)
51-60 Tohoku University Japan
51-60 Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan
51-60 University of California, Santa Barbara 29 US
51-60 University of Pittsburgh 64 US
51-60 University of Sydney 71 Australia
61-70 Boston University 59 US
61-70 École Polytechnique 39 France
61-70 King's College London UK
61-70 Pennsylvania State University 19 US
61-70 Technical University of Munich 61 Germany
61-70 University of Florida US
61-70 University of Manchester 87 UK
61-70 University of Maryland College Park 98 US
61-70 University of Zurich 90 Switzerland
61-70 Uppsala University Sweden
71-80 École Polytechnique Federale of Lausanne 48 Switzerland
71-80 Humboldt University of Berlin Germany
71-80 Lund University 89 Sweden
71-80 Michigan State University 15 US
71-80 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey US
71-80 University of Arizona 95 US
71-80 University of Colorado 67 US
71-80 University of Southern California 73 US
71-80 Utrecht University Netherlands
71-80 Washington University Saint Louis US
81-90 Catholic University of Leuven Belgium
81-90 Indiana University US
81-90 Leiden University Netherlands
81-90 National Taiwan University Taiwan
81-90 Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg 83 Germany
81-90 Texas A&M University US
81-90 University of Amsterdam Netherlands
81-90 University of Bristol 68 UK
81-90 University of Leeds UK
81-90 University of Queensland, Australia 81 Australia
91-100 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 41 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
91-100 Indian Institute of Science India
91-100 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology 79 Republic of Korea (South Korea)
91-100 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine UK
91-100 Nanyang Technological University Singapore
91-100 University of Helsinki Finland
91-100 University of Paris, Pantheon-Sorbonne France
91-100 University of Sheffield UK
91-100 University of Vienna Austria
91-100 University of Waterloo Canada

UT Austin T14 - excellent

BU IP Law - 7 oh dear...

I don't care that much about rankings more about the actual program but there has to be a reason for this so getting slightly worried about BU (without even having been accepted, granted).

Was anybody crazy enough to buy the premium package on US News who can access and possibly accidentally copy/paste in the whole IP speciality ranking? ;) (uh oh, people will associate me with Zu Guttenberg now).

Would be appreciated, thanks!