Above the Law recently published its 11th annual ranking of law schools. For the second year in a row and the third time in four years, Duke took the top spot.
Above the Law reviews data from 120 schools to compile its ranking but only publishes the top 50. And it includes only those schools that have a national reach for quality legal employment (as opposed to just regional) for all students, not just those at the top of their class. The ranking is also unique in that its focus is on employment outcomes, specifically how students fare in obtaining legal employment post-graduation, and how well a school positions students to repay their debt. Furthermore, it is the only ranking to include ABA employment data for the most recent graduates (Class of 2022, in this case).
Generally, movement within the top ranks was fairly minimal. The top four ranked schools are the same as last year with minor changes. However, Vanderbilt, which ranked in the 5th position last year, dropped to the 7th rank, switching places with the University of Michigan. Other notable changes include a five-rank drop by Washington University in St. Louis, which was ranked 6th last year and 11th currently. And there was a five-rank increase by NYU, which was ranked 17th previously and now ranks 12th. Washington and Lee also moved up eight slots this year from 26th to 18th, and UC Berkeley dropped from the 12th to the 20th rank.
Below, we show the 2023 ranking for the top 20 schools. You can find the rest on Above the Law’s website.
2023 Rank School (Change from 2022)
1 Duke (–)
2 Cornell (+1)
3 University of Virginia (-1)
4 University of Chicago (–)
5 Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (+2)
6 Columbia (+2)
7 Vanderbilt (-2)
8 Northwestern (Pritzker) (+1)
9 University of Penn (Carey) (+1)
10 Notre Dame (+4)
11 Washington U in St. Louis (-5)
12 NYU (+5)
13 University of Texas, Austin (-2)
14 Harvard (+2)
15 University of Georgia (-2)
16 Yale (-1)
17 USC (+1)
18 Washington and Lee (+8)
19 University of Illinois (–)
20 Univ. of California, Berkeley (-8)