US News recently modified their law school rankings in response to widespread protest from schools that say this closely monitored list impedes their diversity and affordability. Under its revised system, employment rates and bar pass rates now receive greater consideration while reputational surveys completed by law professors receive less weight.
Selectivity
This year’s rankings reflect more rigorous student outcomes metrics. Of note is an increase in weight given to law schools’ successes placing graduates into jobs 10 months post graduation – from 14% last year up to 33% this year! That metric also gives less credit to jobs which do not require bar passage for full time employment or long-term placement.
An important shift this year is that overall reputation now accounts for 10% of a school’s rankings, up from 3% previously. Reputational assessments take place through surveys with law professors, deans, judges and legal professionals as well as student feedback.
These changes should make it harder for law schools to dramatically fluctuate their rankings from year to year, and may encourage law schools to reflect more deeply on the amount of debt students take on when attending law schools – an effort which could prove helpful, yet students should still choose wisely when selecting their law schools.
Academic Performance
Emory Law School was recently recognized in the latest rankings as being among the top law schools based on academic performance, including faculty quality and course difficulty; accessibility for students with disabilities; faculty reputation (which carries more weight), clinical training (students’ ability to practice law in real world settings) and clinical training (4th overall).
Other measures that contribute to ranking include average LSAT scores and first year law school grades. Students entering their first year are also asked to predict their class rank at the end of first year, then compare this prediction with actual placement at graduation time.
Student assessments of teachers and programs are submitted anonymously via anonymous surveys. Ratings from these surveys are weighted and then compared against all other law schools’ mean and standard deviation, in order to generate U.S. News rankings that also account for factors like part-time student enrollment statistics, job placement statistics, bar pass rates and graduation rates.
Bar Pass Rate
Bar passage rates provide an accurate assessment of a school’s ability to prepare its students for legal practice. Schools with higher pass rates usually offer more comprehensive educational programs that equip graduates with all of the skills and knowledge they require to pass both bar exams and practice law effectively; schools with consistently lower bar passage rates must be evaluated more thoroughly with regards to curriculum and support systems.
U.S. News’ new method for calculating its bar passage rate ranking factor involves comparing first-time, ABA-accredited law school graduate pass rates against overall state first time pass rates in each jurisdiction where their graduates took the bar exam, providing more granular and consistent measurement, taking into account whether schools are sending graduates to states with particularly high or low first-time pass rates; additionally, this indicator accounts for attrition/transfer rates that may alter a school’s bar passage rate ranking factor.
Employment Rate
Many law schools emphasize job placement and their rankings reflect this emphasis by ranking how successful graduates were in finding employment after graduation. This part of their score takes into account multiple metrics that measure different types of employment roles available post-graduation such as full-time status, required bar passage status and length of employment history.
The ranking utilizes data provided by lawyers and judges who provide ratings of law school programs based on criteria like whether the curriculum encourages diverse viewpoints, teaching resources, research resources and job placement rates for graduates who hold J.D. advantage jobs (or alternatively have earned graduate degrees). The final metric measures the percentage of graduates who secured full-time long-term J.D. advantage jobs (or, failing that, have obtained graduate degrees).
In the 2024-2025 rankings, six of seven factors that measure employment rates have changed. For example, this year the ABA-reported employment rate is given more weight than it had previously because it accounts for graduates working non-elite positions such as federal clerkships or large law firms.