To the rankings fans: other than the US News', what are the reliable rankings?

Well, Brian Leiter's ranking seems to be based on sound methodology and quantifiable data.

Try this site: http://www.cooley.edu/rankings/judging2003.htm and this one: http://www.cooley.edu/rankings/overall2005.htm

The merit of this ranking is to be based on a wide variety of objective criteria identified as significant to consumers by the American Bar Association (ABA), the organization that does the accrediting. It used used only those identified as significant by the ABA.

Following are other quotes from the same site:

Brennan, a former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and Cooleys Founder in 1972, said he began this publication because, like just about everyone else in legal education, I was sick and tired of the U.S. News and World Reports annual opinion poll on American law schools, and the inordinate impact it was having on the choices that young people were making about where to go to law school.

Cooleys Founder noted that the U.S. News, which at one time at least could have claimed that it was performing a public service with its annual rankings, has become a purely commercial enterprise that now requires the purchase of a separate and expensive book if one seeks the full information provided. The magazine article is now a tease, clearly intended to induce sales of the rankings book. (Every time that a site asked you to pay to get information as it is the case of USNews please, one must be careful!)

Despite valid criticism of its methodology, growing dismay at its subjectivity, and increasing disgust with its shameless commercialism, the U.S. News has increased its hold on the law schools, LeDuc said. We offer our rankings as a counterpoint and as a way to compare law schools more objectively. (I read many articles against USNews or against the consequences of it - the way students chose their schools; a lot of deans and other people of the legal profession are opposed to it.)

All schools have their individual qualities, possess unique strengths and weaknesses, and provide services and programs that make them better suited to some students than to others.

No ranking is perfect. It confirms that one must not base his choice only on rankings. I read some posts in which people advised other to go to University A because it is ranked one spot higher than University B! That it is not very smart from lawyers.

I know already that some people wont like it; they think there is only USNews and wont like to have their truth a little bit tainted. I would hope they are more critical minded as it is a quality looked for by law schools!

Cooley is crap. The ranking is done by the founder of the Cooley Law School. For a comment on this ranking and an interesting mix of several rankings with respect to different perspectives see www.prelawhandbook.com. As usual, the rankings are made for J.D.s.

What I wanted to show is simple : rankings are not science and many of them I made by people who have something to sell. That is why one must be careful and not chose his school only on rankings.

I agree with Cindy in choosing your law school and I agree with Yps, " cooley is just crap". Imagine turning down Chicago or Duke (where I´ll be next August) to go to Cooley Law School!

Cooley ranking is crap, but Cindy is of course correct in emphasizing the difficulties with "objective" rankings. But what should one then do? Choose law school based on its location? That would be stupid. Choose one, because a friend recommends it. Well, he, too, might be selling something. Besides, he may not know any other school in depth. Choosing law school seems to be difficult business. What is your criterion, dear reader?

I think the best way is to look at some rankings to have a general idea and then do your homework. Rankings are only one tool.
Personally, I spent many hours on the internet reading sites of law schools! But as an American lawyer told me, I am lucky because when he selected his schools, internet did not exist and finding information was harder.

This is from the LSAC site. It is a letter endorsed by deans of law schools (including Harvard and Yale). It is about criteria to chose a law school. Through this letter, deans of law schools (I did not count them, but I think they are all there - you are free to do the counting) give their thoughts about USNews. Hope it helps (at least for those who did not visit the LSAC site).

Dear Law School Applicant:

Choosing the best law school for you is critically important to your short-term and long-term future. Getting quality information about the schools that interest you will require some time and effort, but you will be rewarded by expending that time and effort now.

Several commercial enterprises promote "ranking" systems that purport to reduce a wide array of information about law schools to one simple number that compares all 190 ABA-approved law schools with each other. These ranking systems are inherently flawed because none of them can take your special needs and circumstances into account when comparing law schools. According to students, the factors listed below are among the most important in influencing their choices of law school. These factors are excluded entirely or severely undervalued by all of the numerical ranking systems.

Breadth and support of alumni network
Breadth of curriculum
Clinical programs
Collaborative research opportunities with faculty
Commitment to innovative technology
Cost
Externship options
Faculty accessibility
Intensity of writing instruction
Interdisciplinary programs
International programming

Law library strengths and services

Loan repayment assistance for low-income lawyers
Location
Part-time enrollment option
Public interest programs
Quality of teaching
Racial and gender diversity within the faculty and student body
Religious affiliation
Size of first-year classes
Skills instruction
Specialized areas of faculty expertise


The absence of any consideration of these factors, combined with the arbitrary weighting of numerical factors, makes ranking systems an unreliable guide to the differences among law schools that should be important to you. As Newsweek editor Kenneth Auchincloss said, "Rankings generate huge hype, which is far more likely to serve the publisher's purpose than the readers'.... Applicants need help in widening their knowledge of schools that may be right for them, not narrowing their choices according to a ranking system."

A ranking system that exemplifies the shortcomings of all "by the numbers" schemes is the one produced annually by US News & World Report. While ignoring the variables listed above, as do all numbers-based ranking systems, the US News rankings purport to be derived from mathematical formulae based on data common to all law schools. The "weights" attached to the variables are arbitrary and reflect only the view of the magazine's editors. For example, according to the magazine, 40 percent of the rankings is based on each school's "reputation." The reputation ranking is derived from a survey of a modest number of legal academics, lawyers, and judges across the country which asks them to rate comparatively all ABA-approved law schools. Reputation is an important factor in choosing a school, but schools with excellent reputations within their communities, states, or regions may not be well known in other parts of the country. None of us has adequate knowledge about more than a tiny handful of law schools so as to permit us, with confidence, to compare them with each other.

The idea that all law schools can be measured by the same yardstick ignores the qualities that make you and law schools unique, and is unworthy of being an important influence on the choice you are about to make. As the deans of schools that range across the spectrum of several rating systems, we strongly urge you to minimize the influence of rankings on your own judgment. In choosing the best school for you, we urge you to get information about all the schools in which you might have some interest. An abundance of information, far more information than is used in any ranking system, is available from the sources noted in the box below. The next step is to seek information directly from the law schools, including catalogs or bulletins and other materials that will answer the specific questions relating to your special needs and interests. Finally, there is no substitute for on-site visits to the law schools that most interest you as you reach the end of the admission process. Law schools may all have met the same standards of quality to become accredited, but they are quite different from each other. The unique characteristics of each law school will inform you why one school may be best for you and another school best for someone else. We want you to make the best choice for you.

"There is no doubt that Yale is the number one law school in the land and any ranking that disagrees with this is suspect. There is very little doubt that Harvard is the number two law school and Stanford is the number
three law school. The numbers four, five, and six law schools are, very likely, Columbia, NYU, and Chicago in some order with Columbia ranking higher than NYU. The only law school that appears, at the present, to have the p
possibility of breaking into the top six is UC Berkeley. "

I cannot agree more.

Paul, where are you quoting the opinion from?

Thanks Cindy for your excellent post. Just a quick aside: Deans listed gender and race diversity as one variable to be taken into account. Why not political diversity, too? Do mostly liberal law schools have something to hide in this respect? Well, it's Chicago, Virginia, and George Mason for conservatives and all others for liberals.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawrank_brief.php
1. Yale University (CT)
2. Stanford University (CA)
3. Harvard University (MA)
4. Columbia University (NY)
4. New York University
6. University of Chicago
7. University of Pennsylvania
8. University of CaliforniaBerkeley
8. University of MichiganAnn Arbor
8. University of Virginia
11. Duke University (NC)
12. Northwestern University (IL)
13. Cornell University (NY)
14. Georgetown University (DC)
15. University of CaliforniaLos Angeles
16. University of TexasAustin
17. University of Southern California (Gould)
17. Vanderbilt University (TN)
19. George Washington University (DC)
19. University of MinnesotaTwin Cities
19. Washington University in St. Louis
22. Boston University
22. University of Iowa
22. University of Notre Dame (IN)
22. Washington and Lee University (VA)
26. Emory University (GA)
27. Boston College
27. College of William and Mary (Marshall-Wythe) (VA)
27. University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign
27. University of North CarolinaChapel Hill
27. University of Washington
32. Fordham University (NY)
32. University of WisconsinMadison
34. Brigham Young University (Clark) (UT)
34. University of CaliforniaDavis
34. University of Georgia
37. George Mason University (VA)
37. Indiana UniversityBloomington
39. Ohio State University (Moritz)
39. Wake Forest University (NC)
41. University of Florida (Levin)
42. University of Maryland
43. American University (Washington College of Law) (DC)
43. Southern Methodist University (TX)
43. Tulane University (LA)
43. University of AlabamaTuscaloosa
43. University of Arizona (Rogers)
43. University of California (Hastings)
43. University of ColoradoBoulder
50. University of Connecticut

but aren't alll those rankings based just on the JD programs? Its not a rating of the LLMS which is what we're interested in. And surely the most important thing is the opinion of the people who work where you want to work? I choose NYU on the recommendation of several NYU LLM alumni now working in the International Court of Justice. Surely the same is true for those interested in tax, Ip, corporate etc.? just ask someone in the firm where you want to work how they consider the school you have choosen.

No. That's why NYU is #1 for Internationa Law... Sorry, but the USNews ranking is widely recognised among lawyers, partners, professors. If you tell a partner of a US firm that your school is ranked 10 to 20 but it is better than Yale, Stanford or Harvard b/c the USNews ranking is not applicable to LLMs, he is going to laugh at you....