Top Law Schools

Hi TLS,

Was wondering if anyone could clear up my confusion on the ranking system of "specializations" of law. I'm in Missouri and visited SLU and they spent a lot of time touting their #1 health care law program in the nation, but, honestly what is that really worth? Is it worth anything at all? I know these specializations are talked about ad nauseum by the respective schools (especially among lower ranked schools) and I just am curious do people actually make law school decisions based on these rankings? Or do I have it wrong and people actually should be looking into these sub-rankings of specialized fields of law?

Thanks!!

midwestlawl wrote:Hi TLS,

Was wondering if anyone could clear up my confusion on the ranking system of "specializations" of law. I'm in Missouri and visited SLU and they spent a lot of time touting their #1 health care law program in the nation, but, honestly what is that really worth? Is it worth anything at all? I know these specializations are talked about ad nauseum by the respective schools (especially among lower ranked schools) and I just am curious do people actually make law school decisions based on these rankings? Or do I have it wrong and people actually should be looking into these sub-rankings of specialized fields of law?

Thanks!!

disregard specialty rankings. they are essentially meaningless.

That's what I had always thought. Are these rankings literally a marketing tool? Is that their entire purpose?

midwestlawl wrote:That's what I had always thought. Are these rankings literally a marketing tool? Is that their entire purpose?

pretty much. i guess they might have some value when comparing schools that are otherwise very similar, but specialty rankings should pretty much be ignored 99% of the time. the whole thing is a gimmick.

They benefit professors who do research in the field, since that's essentially what the rankings measure. They're assessments of the profs at the schools and the research they're doing in that field, by other professors in the field, not really an assessment of what the school can offer students going into practice.

Tax law may be an exception.

Eh, mostly if you go for an LLM. The University of San Diego is ranked above Columbia and Harvard in the tax specialty rankings, but I would never tell anyone to go to USD over H or C for anything.

Edit: sorry, I realized you probably mean that doing the specialization is helpful, rather than the rankings. It can be, but I think you can take the same tax courses at pretty much any decent school, so I wouldn't pick one school over another for its tax specialization. You're right that as specializations go, it's probably a more useful one, though.