Top 2011 Law School Rankings

Top Law Schools consolidates all of the 2011 law school rankings available, thereby giving you the necessary information to determine which law schools you should apply to. The variability in these rankings should illustrate that the 2011 law school rankings can act only as a guide, and that you should be the final evaluator of what law school is best for you.

After acceptance, we recommend that you personally visit each law school that you are seriously considering attending. Which law school you attend not only impacts where you will spend three enjoyable and educational years, but also where you will get a job and probably settle down.

Below the 2011 Law School Rankings is a short description of all of the law school ratings listed below. A* indicates that this school is tied with another law school for that position.

Please click on the links of several law schools, which are our exclusive, in-depth profiles of these schools.

2011 USN Rank (March, 2011)	2010 USN Rank	2009 USN Rank	Law School	Gourman Report	Educational Quality Rankings	2011 GPA 25th-75th Percentile	2011 LSAT 25th-75th Percentile
1	1	1	Yale U (CT)	3	1	3.83-3.96	170-177
2	2	2	Harvard U (MA)	1	2*	3.78-3.97	171-176
3	3	3	Stanford U (CA)	6	4	3.74-3.94	167-173
4	4	4	Columbia U (NY)	7	5	3.6-3.8	170-175
5	5	6*	U Chicago	4	2*	3.71-3.94	167-173
6	6	5	New York U	11	6	3.6-3.9	170-174
7*	9	9	U Michigan-Ann Arbor	2	8	3.59-3.87	167-170
7*	7*	8	U Pennsylvania	9	11	3.58-3.93	166-171
9*	7*	6*	UC Berkeley (Boalt)	5	7	3.62-3.88	164-169
9*	10	10*	U Virginia	16	10	3.51-3.92	166-171
11	11*	10*	Duke U (NC)	8	17	3.62-3.84	167-171
12	11*	10*	Northwestern U (IL)	14	14*	3.4-3.9	165-171
13	13	13	Cornell U (NY)	10	14*	3.55-3.8	166-169
14*	14	14	Georgetown U (DC)	17	12	3.45-3.78	168-172
14*	15*	15*	U Texas-Austin	12	10*	3.56-3.8	165-170
16*	15*	15*	UCLA	13	14*	3.55-3.88	164-169
16*	17	17	Vanderbilt U (TN)	15	18	3.48-3.84	165-170
18*	18	18	U Southern California	27	12	3.54-3.77	165-167
18*	19	19	Washington U (MO)		29*	3.2-3.8	162-169
20*	20	28*	George Washington U	32	22*	3.39-3.87	162-168
20*	22*	20*	U Minnesota-Twin Cities	19	21	3.41-3.9	157-167
22	22*	20*	Boston U		19*	3.52-3.83	164-167
23*	27	23*	Indiana U-Bloomington		40*	3.47-3.89	156-164
23*	28*	35*	UC Davis		32*	3.47-3.74	161-165
23*	21	23*	U Illinois (UIUC)		22*	3.3-3.9	163-168
23*	22*	23*	U Notre Dame (IN)	18	46*	3.45-3.74	162-167
27*	28*	26*	Boston College		32*	3.5-3.77	162-166
27*	28*	28*	William and Mary (VA)		37*	3.46-3.82	161-167
27*	26	26*	U Iowa		19*	3.51-3.81	158-164
30*	22*	20*	Emory U (GA)		29*	3.4-3.79	159-166
30*	34*	30*	Fordham U (NY)		26*	3.36-3.76	163-168
30*	28*	30*	U North Carolina		32*	3.33-3.69	161-165
30*	34*	30*	U Washington			3.44-3.82	161-166
30*	34*	30*	Washington & Lee U		32*	3.5-3.8	159-165
35*	34*	35*	Ohio State U	8	32*	3.45-3.81	159-165
35*	38*	30*	U Alabama			3.42-3.94	158-167
35*	28*	35*	U Georgia		31	3.4-3.8	162-166
35*	28*	35*	U Wisconsin-Madison		22*	3.34-3.78	158-165
39	38*	40	Wake Forest U (NC)			3.2-3.8	160-164
40*	38*	55*	Arizona State U		40*	3.4-3.8	160-165
40*	42*	41*	George Mason U (VA)		26*	3.27-3.82	158-165
42*	42*	41*	Brigham Young U (UT)			3.57-3.87	160-167
42*	42*	43*	U Arizona (Rogers)		40*	3.21-3.73	158-163
42*	42*	39	UC (Hastings)	11	29*	3.38-3.73	157-165
42*	48*	43*	U Maryland			3.3-3.7	157-163
42*	42*	45*	U Utah			3.41-3.72	157-163
47*	48*	45*	Tulane U (LA)		40*	3.4-3.75	158-163
47*	38*	45*	U Colorado-Boulder		40*	3.3-3.74	161-166
47*	47	51	U Florida		46*	3.43-3.82	160-164
50*	48*	45*	American U (DC)		46*	3.24-3.59	159-163
50*	54*	51	Florida State U			3.3-3.7	161-164
50*	48*	49*	Southern Methodist U			3.29-3.82	156-165
50*	52*	49*	Yeshiva U (Cardozo)		28	3.41-3.73	160-166
54*	56*	71*	Loyola (Los Angeles)			3.32-3.67	158-163
54*	52*	55*	Pepperdine U (CA)			3.33-3.78	158-165
56*	64*	65*	Baylor U (TX)			3.53-3.9	162-163
56*	54*	52*	U Connecticut			3.21-3.64	157-163
56*	60*	59*	U Houston			3.16-3.61	157-163
56*	60*	59*	U Tennessee-Knoxville			3.23-3.75	156-162
60	72*	65*	Pennsylvania State U			3.3-3.8	156-161
61*	56*	55*	Case Western Reserve			3.26-3.64	157-162
61*	60*	65*	Georgia State U			3.2-3.75	159-162
61*	80*	77*	IIT (Chicago-Kent)		37*	3.09-3.66	155-162
61*	72*	77*	Seton Hall U (NJ)			3.31-3.67	157-162
61*	72*	65*	Temple U (PA)			3.16-3.56	158-163
61*	56*	52*	U Cincinnati			3.36-3.80	155-162
67*	67*	61*	Brooklyn Law School		46*	3.21-3.58	161-165
67*	64*	61*	Lewis and Clark (OR)			3.2-3.68	157-163
67*	86*	77*	U Richmond (VA)			3.27-3.72	160-164
67*	56*	61*	U San Diego		22*	3.24-3.59	158-162
71*	78*	87*	Loyola U Chicago			3.13-3.57	156-162
71*	86*	94*	Northeastern U (MA)			3.24-3.64	154-163
71*	64*	55*	U Kentucky			3.32-3.80	155-161
71*	78*	75*	U Nevada-Las Vegas			3.12-3.64	157-161
71*	72*	71*	U Oklahoma			3.2-3.7	157-161
71*	67*	71*	U Pittsburgh			3.07-3.63	157-161
77*	80*	77*	U Denver (Sturm)			3.19-3.64	155-161
77*	60*	71*	U Miami (FL)			3.18-3.57	156-160
79*	98*	94*	Catholic U (DC)			3.07-3.45	151-161
79*	86*	87*	Indiana U-Indianapolis			3.25-3.72	154-160
79*	67*	65*	U Kansas			3.2-3.67	155-160
79*	67*	77*	U New Mexico			3.05-3.69	152-161
79*	80*	77*	U Oregon			3.17-3.6	157-160
84*	98*	87*	DePaul U (IL)			3.13-3.58	154-160
84*	86*	100*	Hofstra University			3.18-3.67	156-160
84*	80*	75*	Louisiana State U			3.14-3.6	155-160
84*	80*	77*	Rutgers-Camden (NJ)			3.1-3.6	157-161
84*	80*	87*	Rutgers-Newark (NJ)			3.17-3.61	155-160
84*	93*	85*	Santa Clara U (CA)			3.07-3.49	158-162
84*	86*	77*	Seattle U			3.1-3.5	154-160
84*	>100	85*	U at Buffalo-SUNY			3.36-3.7	154-158
84*	86*	94*	U of Arkansas-Fayetteville			3.29-3.8	153-160
84*	93*	>100	U Nebraska-Lincoln			3.35-3.84	153-160
84*	67*	61*	Villanova U (PA)			3.36-3.69	157-161
95*	>100	87*	Marquette U (WI)			3.03-3.59	154-159
95*	>100	>100	Michigan State			3.22-3.74	152-160
95*	72*	87*	St. John's U (NY)			3.18-3.69	154-162
95*	72*	>100	U Hawaii			3.15-3.55	154-160
95*	93*	>100	West Virginia University			3.2-3.7	151-156
100*	86*	>100	Syracuse University			3.1-3.56	153-157
100*	>100	98*	U Louisville (KY)			3.2-3.68	152-158
100*	98*	98*	U of San Francisco			3.21-3.66	157-162
100*	98*	>100	University of the Pacific			3.09-3.57	155-160
>100	93*	>100	Chapman University (CA)			3.29-3.71	154-160
>100	93*	65*	U Missouri-Columbia			3.18-3.7	156-161
>100	98*	>100	William Mitchell College of Law (MN)			3.16-3.62	150-159
>100	>100	87*	U South Carolina			3.07-3.63	155-160
>100	>100	94*	St. Louis U			3.13-3.58	151-158
>100	>100	100*	Gonzaga University			3.15-3.51	153-157
>100	>100	100*	University of Maine			3.18-3.6	153-159

For another excellent source on law school rankings, visit the Prelaw Handbook which lists the most prestigious law schools and also includes law school rankings on selectivity and other factors.

US News law school rankings - the most well known and controversial of all national law school rankings, this report has defined what are perceived as the top law schools.

Gourman Report - the originator of law school ratings, the Gourman Report is an established academic report that measures the academic quality of graduate and undergraduate schools. Dr. Gourman is a professor at California State University - Northridge. Unfortunately, the latest Gourman Report rankings came out in 1997.

Educational Quality Rankings ("EQR") - are published by Brian Leiter, a professor at the University of Texas law school. These recently updated law school rankings focus "exclusively on the three factors central to a good legal education: the quality of the faculty, the quality of the student body, and the quality of teaching."

A * indicates that this school is tied with another law school for that position. Links are to the in-depth profiles we have written on several top law schools.

With law school admissions becoming increasingly competitive, be prepared and spend time on every aspect of your law school application. The best book I have found for increasing your chances of admission is How to Get Into the Great Law Schools. We also recommend several other excellent books for law school applicants.

A final note of caution on the 2011 law school rankings - what is the best law school is a personal choice and should not be solely determined by national law school ratings but instead by what school best suits all of your desires. For example, because I wanted to live and practice law in California, I choose to attend the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) over other top law schools that were ranked higher.

The best advice, personally visit the law schools you are seriously thinking of attending after you have been accepted. Put time and thought in to what is one of the most important decisions of your life.