In a surprise turn of events, Yale Law School came in 13th in the newest rankings released by National Jurist Magazine.
Instead of considering students’ GPA and LSAT scores, the magazine’s system provides “an alternative ranking that was focused more on results and service,” according to the rankings. The final list ranks Stanford Law School first, followed by the University of Virginia School of Law and UC Berkeley School of Law. The magazine ranks the University of Alabama School of Law above both Yale and Harvard law schools.
But in examining the criteria the National Jurist used to rank the schools, TaxProf — a blog that offers news and resources to tax professors — found that the magazine bases 20 percent of a school’s overall score on data from the website RateMyProfessors.com., a “free-for-all” website that allows students to evaluate professors based on personal experience. According to University of Chicago Law School professor Brian Leiter, the website fails to designate all law professors as law professors, which, in part, invalidates the magazine’s ranking system.
Check out the full list below:
- Stanford Law School
- University of Virginia School of Law
- UC Berkeley School of Law
- Vanderbilt Law School
- University of Alabama School of Law
- Harvard Law School
- Columbia Law School
- University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Texas Tech University School of Law
- University of North Carolina School of Law
- Louisiana State University Law School
- Duke University School of Law
- Yale Law School
- George Washington University
- University of Oklahoma