Top 2010 Law School Rankings

Top Law Schools consolidates all of the 2010 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 2010 law school rankings can only act 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 2010 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.

2010 USN Rank (April, 2009)	Law School	Gourman Report	Educational Quality Rankings	2008 GPA 25th-75th Percentile	2008 LSAT 25th-75th Percentile	2008 Student/ Faculty Ratio
1	Yale U (CT)	3	1	3.81-3.97	169-177	6.8
2	Harvard U (MA)	1	2*	3.74-3.95	170-176	10.0
3	Stanford U (CA)	6	4	3.76-3.94	168-172	8.6
4	Columbia U (NY)	7	5	3.58-3.82	170-175	9.3
5	New York U	11	6	3.56-3.85	169-173	9.6
6*	UC Berkeley (Boalt)	5	7	3.70-3.92	164-170	12.3
6*	U Chicago	4	2*	3.57-3.79	169-173	9.7
8	U Pennsylvania	9	11	3.46-3.88	166-171	11.6
9	U Michigan-Ann Arbor	2	8	3.54-3.82	166-170	12.4
10*	Duke U (NC)	8	17	3.55-3.85	165-170	10.2
10*	Northwestern U (IL)	14	14*	3.40-3.81	166-172	9.1
10*	U Virginia	16	10	3.56-3.89	166-171	13.5
13	Cornell U (NY)	10	14*	3.24-3.84	166-168	9.9
14	Georgetown U (DC)	17	12	3.43-3.79	166-170	12.1
15*	UCLA	13	14*	3.49-3.87	164-169	11.6
15*	U Texas-Austin	12	10*	3.42-3.82	164-168	12.9
17	Vanderbilt U (TN)	15	18	3.52-3.86	164-169	13.4
18	U Southern California	27	12	3.48-3.71	165-167	11.5
19	Washington U (MO)		29*	3.20-3.70	162-168	11.1
20*	Boston U		19*	3.48-3.82	163-166	11.8
20*	Emory U (GA)		29*	3.42-3.71	164-166	10.7
20*	U Minnesota-Twin Cities	19	21	3.29-3.82	163-167	12.6
23*	Indiana U-Bloomington		40*	3.39-3.85	156-165	10.0
23*	U Illinois (UIUC)		22*	3.20-3.80	160-167	12.3
23*	U Notre Dame (IN)	18	46*	3.42-3.78	163-166	13.4
26*	Boston College		32*	3.49-3.77	162-165	13.5
26*	U Iowa		19*	3.36-3.83	158-164	14.3
28*	William and Mary (VA)		37*	3.35-3.79	160-166	12.2
28*	George Washington U	32	22*	3.28-3.83	162-168	15.0
(estimated)	UC Irvine
30*	Fordham U (NY)		26*	3.32-3.72	161-166	13.9
30*	U Alabama			3.22-3.83	158-165	10.1
30*	U North Carolina		32*	3.40-3.77	157-163	15.4
30*	U Washington			3.52-3.85	159-166	11.6
30*	Washington & Lee U		32*	3.27-3.70	160-166	9.5
35*	Ohio State U	8	32*	3.36-3.78	159-164	13.2
35*	UC Davis		32*	3.45-3.75	158-163	12.1
35*	U Georgia		31	3.39-3.82	159-164	14.4
35*	U Wisconsin-Madison		22*	3.39-3.76	157-163	13.2
39*	UC (Hastings)	11	29*	3.38-3.72	161-165	14.9
40	Wake Forest U (NC)			3.30-3.70	160-165	10.3
41*	Brigham Young U (UT)			3.51-3.88	161-166	17.2
41*	George Mason U (VA)		26*	3.31-3.79	160-165	14.2
43*	U Arizona (Rogers)		40*	3.36-3.76	159-164	12.0
43*	U Maryland			3.37-3.77	160-165	11.9
45*	American U (DC)		46*	3.17-3.59	159-163	13.3
45*	Tulane U (LA)		40*	3.33-3.76	159-163	15.1
45*	U Colorado-Boulder		40*	3.41-3.79	160-165	12.6
45*	U Utah			3.38-3.79	157-162	9.5
49*	Southern Methodist U			3.29-3.85	154-165	15.0
49*	Yeshiva U (Cardozo)		28	3.29-3.72	159-165	16.0
51	U Florida		46*	3.30-3.70	156-162	15.4
52*	Florida State U			3.31-3.72	157-161	14.6
52*	U Cincinnati			3.25-3.79	156-162	9.7
52*	U Connecticut			3.17-3.64	156-162	11.3
55*	Arizona State U		40*	3.38-3.77	156-162	9.1
55*	Case Western Reserve			3.28-3.68	156-160	12.5
55*	Pepperdine U (CA)			3.36-3.77	158-162	15.2
55*	U Kentucky			3.29-3.84	157-162	15.8
59*	U Houston			3.12-3.67	157-163	13.4
59*	U Tennessee-Knoxville			3.34-3.78	154-161	13.8
61*	Brooklyn Law School		46*	3.22-3.66	162-165	18.6
61*	Lewis and Clark (OR)			3.19-3.67	157-163	10.1
61*	U San Diego		22*	3.10-3.55	158-162	13.5
61*	Villanova U (PA)			3.19-3.64	160-163	18.0
65*	Baylor U (TX)			3.39-3.79	156-162	15.4
65*	Georgia State U			3.12-3.70	158-162	11.9
65*	Pennsylvania State U			3.34-3.76	154-159	10.3
65*	Temple U (PA)			3.23-3.65	159-164	12.8
65*	U Kansas			3.15-3.77	154-160	11.6
65*	U Missouri-Columbia			3.24-3.71	156-160	18.4
71*	Loyola (Los Angeles)			3.17-3.61	158-163	15.4
71*	U Miami (FL)			3.17-3.68	155-160	16.6
71*	U Oklahoma			3.28-3.77	154-160	13.3
71*	U Pittsburgh			3.13-3.66	157-161	13.1
75*	Louisiana State U			3.25-3.75	154-159	16.9
75*	U Nevada-Las Vegas			3.20-3.71	155-160	16.8
77*	IIT (Chicago-Kent)		37*	3.25-3.74	157-163	11.6
77*	Rutgers-Camden (NJ)			3.14-3.71	157-160	13.2
77*	Seattle U			3.17-3.60	154-160	13.5
77*	Seton Hall U (NJ)			3.11-3.65	154-160	14.7
77*	U Denver (Sturm)			3.21-3.64	155-160	15.4
77*	U New Mexico			3.04-3.61	150-157	11.0
77*	U Oregon			3.11-3.61	157-160	16.9
77*	U Richmond (VA)			3.11-3.55	159-162	13.7
85*	Santa Clara U (CA)			3.11-3.56	157-161	17.2
85*	U at Buffalo-SUNY			3.18-3.71	154-160	14.5
87*	DePaul U (IL)			2.99-3.58	156-161	14.2
87*	Indiana U-Indianapolis			3.07-3.71	151-159	16.4
87*	Loyola U Chicago			3.11-3.67	154-162	14.5
87*	Marquette U (WI)			3.12-3.60	154-159	16.3
87*	Rutgers-Newark (NJ)			2.99-3.56	155-160	19.2
87*	St. John's U (NY)			3.20-3.72	155-161	16.8
87*	U South Carolina			3.05-3.67	156-160	13.5
94*	Catholic U (DC)			3.04-3.52	155-159	14.8
94*	Northeastern U (MA)			3.18-3.60	154-162	17.0
94*	St. Louis U			3.20-3.67	153-159	17.6
94*	U of Arkansas-Fayetteville			3.25-3.73	153-159	13.0
98*	U Louisville (KY)			3.20-3.75	155-160	14.8
98*	U of San Francisco			2.98-3.51	156-161	15.8
100*	Gonzaga University			3.20-3.61	153-156	14.6
100*	Hofstra University			2.99-3.54	152-158	15.2
100*	University of Maine			3.11-3.50	155-159	14.0

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 2009 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.