End Of An Era: Yale Booted From No. 1 Spot In Historic U.S. News Law School Rankings Shakeup

The U.S. News & World Report law school rankings are here, and let us be one of the first to say that lawyers and law students are going to be in an absolute tizzy over the state of the T14. This edition of the rankings brings us an historic shakeup at the very top, complete with a brand-new No. 1 for the first time ever. If you thought the hierarchy of elite law schools was untouchable, it’s time to think again. What on earth is going on here?

Before we get to that, here’s the methodology for the latest edition of the rankings, which may explain some of the wild gains and losses you’re about to see:

Employment: 33% First-Time Bar Passage: 18% Ultimate Bar Passage: 7% Peer Assessment: 12.5% Lawyer/Judge Assessment: 12.5% LSAT/GRE: 5%UGPA: 4%Acceptance Rate: 1%Student-Faculty Ratio: 5%Library Resources: 2%

Here is the new-and-improved T14, featuring some pretty major moves:

Well, it finally happened: Yale Law School is no longer No. 1 in the U.S. News law school rankings. Stanford has overtaken Yale to become the best law school in the nation, with the former leader falling to No. 2 — in a tie with Chicago, no less! Yale has resided in the No. 1 spot since the inception of the U.S. News law school rankings, so this change is indeed historic. So, what should everyone do? Panic? Mourn? Shrug? If the rankings are as meaningless as some claim, this shouldn’t mean anything, but if it does mean something, then welcome back to caring an awful lot about a list we all pretend not to believe in.

Getting back to the T14, Harvard remains outside of the Top 5, Cornell has officially returned to the (bottom of the) top, and now we’ve got a three-way tie at No. 13. This time around, we’ve got 15 schools included in the ranking of the top 14 law schools in the nation. Congratulations to Vanderbilt and Wash U. on staying among the top schools, and a fond farewell to UC-Berkeley, Georgetown, and UT-Austin. Let’s see how long these law schools will be able to retain their places at the tippy top of the rankings.

Now, let’s take a gander at the law schools outside of the T14. Like years past, we’re faced with yet another rankings orgy, with nothing but ties, ties, and more ties. There are five ties in this segment of the rankings alone (three ties and two three-way ties), with more to follow. Here are the schools ranked 16–30:

The biggest winners here were BC (up five places, and into the Top 20) and BYU (up four places, and into the Top 25). The biggest loser here of course was UC Berkeley, which finds itself out of the T14 for the first time since the 90s. Georgetown has once again been evicted from the top law schools in the country, while UT-Austin was able to enjoy a brief moment in the sun. Better luck next year.

Now, for the rest of the law schools in the Top 50, where there are seven ties (noticing a trend within these rankings yet?). As you can see, there was A LOT of movement here:

The biggest winners here were Alabama (+10), Baylor (+9), and Pepperdine (+9). The biggest loser here was Utah (-13). Whatever some of the schools here are doing, they’d better shape up, because some have almost been shipped out of the Top 50.

The rest of the rankings are available on the next page.