The 2017 U.S. News Law School Rankings Leak: The Top 100

After U.S. News & World Report accidentally published a portion of its 2017 law school rankings on Tuesday — a segment that contained the most elite law schools in the nation — members of the legal profession longed for more information, so we took the liberty of leaking the Top 50 law schools. Some, however, were still unsatisfied; alas, their law schools were nowhere to be seen within that chunk of the rankings.

Not to worry, readers, because once again, Above the Law has news you can use. The remainder of the U.S. News law school rankings aren’t due for publication until next week, but we’ve got the unofficial Top 100 rankings for you to feast your eyes upon today.
U.S. News chief data strategist Bob Morse says he “cannot vouch for the accuracy of any data or information that appear about the rankings” prior to their release, so you’ll have to trust us that these are the real deal, and will be confirmed on March 16.

Today’s U.S. News rankings leak comes to us courtesy of Mike Spivey of the Spivey Consulting Group, who broke the news. You can review them here, or at his blog here.

We’ve already discussed them here and here, but here’s a quick refresher on the Top 50

1. Yale (no change)
2. Stanford (no change)
2. Harvard (no change)
4. Columbia (no change)
4. Chicago (no change)
6. NYU (no change)
7. Penn (no change)
8. Berkeley (no change)
8. Michigan (+3)
8. UVA (no change)
11. Duke (-3)
12. Northwestern (no change)
13. Cornell (no change)
14. Georgetown (no change)
15. Texas (no change)
16. Vanderbilt (+1)
17. UCLA (-1)
18. Washington University in St. Louis (no change)
19. USC (+1)
20. Boston University (+6)
20. Iowa (+2)
22. Emory (-3)
22. Minnesota (-2)
22. Notre Dame (no change)
25. Arizona State (+1)
25. George Washington (-3)
25. Indiana-Bloomington (+9)
28. Alabama (-6)
28. UC-Irvine (+2)
30. Boston College (+4)
30. Ohio State (+4)
30. UC-Davis (+1)
33. William & Mary (-4)
33. Georgia (-2)
33. Washington (-5)
33. Wisconsin (-2)
37. Fordham (-3)
38. BYU (-4)
38. North Carolina (-4)
40. Arizona (+2)
40. Colorado (no change)
40. Illinois (+1)
40. Wake Forest (+7)
40. Washington and Lee (+2)
45. George Mason (-3)
45. SMU (+1)
45. Utah (-3)
48. Florida (-1)
48. Maryland (-1)
50. FSU (no change)
50. Temple (+2)
50. Tulane (no change)
50. UC-Hastings (+9)
50. Houston (+9)

 With that out of the way, let’s take a sneak peek at the law schools outside of the Top 50. If you thought there were too many ties in that part of the rankings, then you ain’t seen nothing yet. Right here, we’ve got a tie for #55, a three-way tie for #57, a five-way tie for #60, a seven-way tie for #65, a tie for #72, a four-way tie for #74, a four-way tie for #78, a four-way tie for #82, a six-way tie for #86, a five-way tie for #92, a three-way tie for #97, and a three-way tie for #100. Congratulations, U.S. News, you did it! There are officially more ties in this year’s Top 100 than last year’s. In the 2017 rankings, there are 26 rankings ties within the Top 100 alone. This has got to be one of the least helpful ways to help pre-law students “differentiate” between law schools ever. Do better.

This segment of the rankings is also home to some of the most notable gains and losses:

55. Baylor (+1)
55. Richmond (-3)
57. Case Western (+2)
57. Georgia State (-1)
57. Nebraska (-1)
60. Cincinnati (+22)
60. Kentucky (+3)
60. Miami (+3)
60. New Mexico (+11)
60. Oklahoma (+7)
65. Loyola (CA) (+10)
65. Pepperdine (-13)
65. Seton Hall (-2)
65. Connecticut (-2)
65. Kansas (+2)
65. Missouri (-6)
65. Tennessee (-13)
72. Loyola – Chicago (+6)
72. Denver (-5)
74. St. John’s (+8)
74. San Diego (-3)
74. Villanova (+13)
74. Cardozo

Congratulations go out to Cincinnati, New Mexico, Loyola (CA), and Villanova, which all posted double-digit gains in just a year’s time. Thus far, with a 22-spot climb, Cincy gained the most ground of all law schools we’ve seen in the latest edition of the rankings. Way to go! It also looks like Villanova is shedding its past scandals as it continues to move up in the rankings. Before you know it, the school will be back to where it once was when it was faking its median LSAT scores and GPAs for entering students.

What’s going on at Pepperdine and Tennessee? Nothing good, apparently. A double-digit drop in the rankings is certainly nothing to be proud about, but sliding down 13 spots in rank isn’t all that bad compared to what went wrong in the next portion of the rankings.

Flip to the next page to check out the most offensive offensive drops in rank we’ve seen yet in this year’s edition of the rankings, and to see which law school sank like a stone.

 Which law school has had the worst performance thus far in this year’s rankings?

78. American (-7)
78. UNLV (-11)
78. Oregon (+4)
78. Pittsburgh
82. LSU (+12)
82. Northeastern (+5)
82. St. Louis (+5)
82. New Hampshire (+5)
86. Chicago – Kent (-8)
86. Penn State – Dickinson (-15)
86. Penn State – University Park (-15)
86. Syracuse (+1)
86. Arkansas (-11)
86. Tulsa (-4)
92. Lewis & Clark (+2)
92. Rutgers (-5)
92. Hawaii (-10)
92. Louisville (+2)
92. South Carolina (+2)
97. Brooklyn (-19)
97. Wayne State (+8)
97. West Virginia (-3)
100. Indiana University – Indianapolis (+2)
100. Michigan State (-6)
100. SUNY Buffalo (-13)

Only one law school made major gains here (LSU), while seven others suffered greatly, with double-digit declines. Oof. Penn State, fresh off separating its campuses into two separate law schools, continues its downward descent into oblivion by losing another 15 spots in the rankings, following up on a 20-spot drop just last year. To think, Penn State was once so close to being ranked as a Top 50 school. Better luck next year.

SUNY Buffalo also struggled this year, landing itself right back in the same place it had climbed out of just last year. Perhaps those faculty buyouts weren’t so helpful after all. (It’s worth noting that many of the law schools that offered faculty buyouts did poorly in this year’s rankings. We’ll see how this plays out in the rest of the rankings.)

Last, but definitely not least, we’ve got the worst performance in the 2017 rankings thus far. Unfortunately, it looks like Brooklyn Law wasn’t able to stick the landing after its 15 percent tuition cut. The law school now finds itself 19 spots lower in the U.S. News rankings, drifting dangerously close to being knocked out of the Top 100 entirely.

Should you really be considering attending any of these law schools? The jury is still out. Because of all of the ties in this year’s rankings, there’s no real way to see concrete differences between them aside from their numerical rank without digging deeper through outside sources, so it makes it that much harder for prospective law school applicants who may be relying on U.S. News to help them in their decision-making.

If you don’t like what you see, you may want to check out the upcoming Above the Law Top 50 Law School Rankings. We care about the most important thing you’ll care about when you graduate — and that’s whether you’ll be able to land a job that pays enough to allow you to service your ever-increasing law school debt. Stay tuned for their release!

USNWR Schools ranked 1-100, now with +/- from last year [Spivey Consulting]
Did US News accidentally leak its law school rankings? [ABA Journal]

Earlier: The 2017 U.S. News Law School Rankings Leak: The Top 50
BREAKING: The 2017 U.S. News Law School Rankings Leak!

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