Top Law Schools

I seperated the T14 schools into a Nation-wide region because of graduates ability to find jobs in all regions of the U.S. With the National T14 seperated, I developed a list of Regional T14's based off US News Regional Map (Meaning Midwest, North, South, and West). It may be helpful to create a list that has more specific regions, but I thought this would be helpful to have. Let me know if I left anything out, or if you think different schools should be placed on the lists.

Law School Regional Ranking

National:

1. Yale University
2. Stanford University
3. Harvard University
4. Columbia University
5. University of Chicago
6. New York University
7. University of California – Berkeley
8. University of Pennsylvania
9. University of Virginia
10. University of Michigan
11. Duke University
12. Northwestern University
13. Georgetown University
14. Cornell University

Midwest:

1. University of Minnesota
2. University of Notre Dame
3. Washington University in Saint Louis
4. Indiana University – Bloomington
5. University of Iowa
6. University of Illinois
7. University of Wisconsin
8. Ohio State University
9. Illinois Institute of Technology
10. Case Western Reserve University
11. Loyola University – Chicago
12. University of Cincinnati
13. University of Missouri – Columbia
14. Michigan State University

North:

1. George Washington University
2. Boston University
3. Boston College
4. Fordham University
5. University of Maryland
6. Yeshiva University
7. Temple University
8. University of Connecticut
9. Brooklyn Law School
10. Pittsburgh University
11. Seton Hall University
12. Pennsylvania State University
13. Northeastern University
14. Saint John’s University

South:

1. Vanderbilt University
2. Emory University
3. Washington & Lee University
4. University of Alabama
5. University of Georgia
6. College of William & Mary
7. University of North Carolina
8. George Mason University
9. Wake Forest University
10. University of Florida
11. American University
12. Tulane University
13. Florida State University
14. Georgia State University

West:

1. University of California – Los Angeles
2. University of Texas
3. University of Southern California
4. University of Washington
5. Arizona State University
6. University of California – Davis
7. Brigham Young University
8. University of Arizona
9. University of California – Hastings
10. University of Colorado
11. University of Utah
12. Pepperdine University
13. Southern Methodist University
14. Loyola University – Los Angeles

This is dumb because all schools, even the t14, are regional to some degree, and some non-T14 schools place a substantial portion of their classes out of the "region." Vandy comes to mind. HTH.

What is this I don't even

But seriously, this ranking is a joke. You're assuming that (1) US News rankings correlates to where a school should rank in a hierachy in the region and (2) you're assuming that you can effectively compare 2 regional schools several states apart and claim that 1 is superior than the other.

Possible solutions:
1. Rank in clusters
2. Don't try to do what you are tyring to do

The former may be more useful to you, while the latter is probably more appropriate.

Also you assume that USNWR rankings are largely worthwhile. They're not. HTH.

rad lulz wrote:Also you assume that USNWR rankings are largely worthwhile. They're not. HTH.

Also, this.

Aberzombie1892 wrote:

rad lulz wrote:Also you assume that USNWR rankings are largely worthwhile. They're not. HTH.

Also, this.

I concur.

Better approach would be to rank schools for each market, and include the T14s.

Yale
Harvard
Stanford
Local T14
Superregional
State flagship
Local TT
Local TTT
Local TTTT

Better idea would be to stop trying to rank law schools because 95% of them suck ass.

Some of my points have already been covered, so forgive me for reiterating a couple of things.

I don't think that we should retain the USN&R's fav 14 as national schools in this list unless we present evidence showing that their placement outside of their regions is significant enough to count them as national.

Also, there may be a difference between schools that place well in all regions (Yale?) and those that just place well in a couple (Berkeley?). I am not sure if such a difference exists, but I've never heard evidence for or against this hypothesis.

When doing the Regional Rankings, I agree with the other posters who suggested that we must include the "national" schools in them. The "West" ranking probably needs Stanford in it for it to be useful. We also wouldn't want to assume that a school that is nationally ranked nessecarily does the best within its region. A school might place highly across the country while not being the top powerhouse within its region.

Regional rankings should also not be too large geographically. The "West" ranking seems too large to me, what with it comparing Washington to Arizona.

Lastly, we should qualify each group of rankings by saying what aspects of the schools are we ranking them upon. Employment is a big concern, of course, but there are other aspects of schools that it would be interesting to rank as well. For example, political power: how well schools' graduates do at obtaining prestigious appointments and winning elections. The quality of the professors' research is another interesting factor. And, I think we all would want to see rankings comparing how Bro various law schools are.

bjsesq wrote:Better idea would be to stop trying to rank law schools because 95% of them suck ass.

+1

Reading the categories: EAST WEST NORTH SOUTH MIDWEST definitely made me lol.

5. University of Maryland
8. University of Connecticut
9. Brooklyn Law School
10. Pittsburgh University
11. Seton Hall University
12. Pennsylvania State University
13. Northeastern University
14. Saint John’s University

No WAY most of these should be above Rutgers Newark. I don't care WHAT the USN rankings say. While SH is on par job wise with RU N it costs twice as much and should be lower for that reason alone. The law market in CT sucks unless you want DUI defense, NE and St Johns? Really?????? Pitt does fine IN Pitt but leave the area and life gets tough so if by regional you mean a single city, then OK. PSU and St J are way to far down the pecking order their respective states to even be considered.

Apollo...JC.....

DON'T FEED THE TROLL! (NOM NOM NOM)

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Apollo...JC.....

DON'T FEED THE TROLL! (NOM NOM NOM)

Sorry, had a weak moment.....

Apparently UT is a West Coast powerhouse but is completely off the map in the south. Who knew?

2014 wrote:Apparently UT is a West Coast powerhouse but is completely off the map in the south. Who knew?

This thread is pointless, but it was an effort to identify the highest-ranked law schools in each region, not the best schools to attend to work in each market.

.

JCFindley wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:

2014 wrote:Apparently UT is a West Coast powerhouse but is completely off the map in the south. Who knew?

This thread is pointless, but it was an effort to identify the highest-ranked law schools in each region, not the best schools to attend to work in each market.

Is it still that time of the month for you Bildungs? Or are you this moody all the time?

Oh I get it.

Cause of period, right?

Bildungsroman wrote:

2014 wrote:Apparently UT is a West Coast powerhouse but is completely off the map in the south. Who knew?

This thread is pointless, but it was an effort to identify the highest-ranked law schools in each region, not the best schools to attend to work in each market.

Oh I'm well aware, I was being sarcastic. I was more intrigued that the OP arbitrarily assigned UT to the west when you can just as easily call it midwest or south or hell make a new category for Texas.

Legal markets are a lot more segmented than cardinal directions. HTH.

HeavenWood wrote:Legal markets are a lot more segmented than cardinal directions. HTH.

East North East?

r6_philly wrote:

HeavenWood wrote:Legal markets are a lot more segmented than cardinal directions. HTH.

East North East?

North by Northwest