Rankings, U.S. News

Open Thread: 2010 U.S. News Law School Rankings (30 - 49)

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Let’s keep rolling through the U.S. News law school rankings. Last time, we learned a couple of interesting things about Emory: ATL has a lot of readers who are alumni of Emory, and the school generates a lot of hate from other law schools in Georgia. Who knew?

While still first-tier schools, the next batch of schools probably have more regional appeal than national pizzazz. Here’s the list:

30. Fordham
30. Alabama
30. UNC
30. University of Washington
30. Washington & Lee
35. THE Ohio State University
35. UC – Davis
35. UGA
35. University of Wisconsin
39. UC – Hastings
40. Wake Forest
41. BYU
41. George Mason
43. University of Arizona
43. University of Maryland
45. American University
45. Tulane
45. Colorado – Boulder
45. Utah
49. SMU
49. Cardozo

Man, that’s a lot of “ties.” It’s like U.S. News is trying very hard to tell prospective students “the only difference between Fordham and Alabama is whether you want to practice in NYC or Birmingham.” But based on Monday’s thread, apparently Washington & Lee is the best law school in the country (that nobody’s ever heard of).

After the jump, is Cardozo happy with its top 50 ranking, or is it coming for Fordham?


What is the third best law school in NYC? Based on the rankings, the answer is Fordham by a long way. Even the Quality Assessment ranking gives Fordham a big lead. But can Cardozo make a big push? Just today, the school announced its new dean via school wide email from the provost:

It is my pleasure to inform you that Matthew Diller, Cooper Family Chair in Urban Legal Issues and Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law has accepted President Richard M. Joel’s invitation to serve as Dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University.

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Outside of New York, there is an interesting cluster around the D.C. and tobacco road. The differences between UNC, Washington & Lee, Wake, George Mason, Maryland, and American seems slight. Each school has a slightly different target market, but which school is the king of the region? It’s an important question, Big Tobacco still needs in-house counsel.

Out west, we see that UC – Davis is still higher ranked than UC – Hastings. But can either compete with the new UC – Irvine and its free tuition? Or maybe you want to go to Arizona, work in Phoenix, and live in a state that is affordable and not likely to quake off into the ocean anytime soon?

These are all good schools, but to make the best choice you need to think more critically about where you want to practice once you graduate. Sure, the top five percent from these schools can go anywhere. But (and you can check my math on this) 95% of the students at these schools will not end up in the top five percent of their class.

Is there a regional powerhouse here that people overlook? Let us know in the comments.

2010 U.S. News Quality Assessment Rankings [TaxProf Blog]

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Earlier: Open Thread: 2010 U.S. News Law School Rankings (1-5)

Open Thread: 2010 U.S. News Law School Rankings (6 – 15)

Open Thread: 2010 U.S. News Law School Rankings (17 – 28)

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