A portion of the latest U.S. News law school rankings are out — by accident.
The 2017 edition of the U.S. News law school rankings weren’t supposed to be released until Wednesday, March 16, at 12:01 a.m., but thanks to what seems to be a mix-up on the part of the magazine’s staff, an important portion of those rankings were published live online this afternoon, and quickly depublished. Unfortunately for U.S. News, Google’s cache function managed to capture some compelling information about some of the very best law schools in the country. We’re speaking, of course, about the Top 14 — the law schools that are generally revered as the most prestigious in the nation.
Please note the UPDATE below.
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Which law schools may be the new kings elite of the U.S. News law school rankings?
1. Yale (no change)
2. Harvard (no change)
2. Stanford (no change)
4. Columbia (no change)
4. Chicago (no change)
6. NYU (no change)
7. Penn (no change)
8. Michigan (+3; ranked #11 last year)
8. UC Berkeley (no change)
8. UVA (no change)
11. Duke (-3; tied at #8 last year with UC Berkeley and UVA)
12. Northwestern (no change)
13. Cornell (no change)
14. Georgetown (no change)
Here are a few observations about the new and improved (and unofficial) T14:
- Harvard and Stanford are still tied for second place. This would be bigger news if either Harvard or Stanford had surpassed Yale. Maybe next year?
- The “CCN” band — Columbia, Chicago, and NYU — remains stable, as does Penn at #7. But below that, there’s a big change. Duke slipped back to the #11 spot, and Michigan now finds itself back in the Top 10. Sorry, Duke. Congrats, Michigan.
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There was also some movement outside of the T14. Congratulations to Boston University School of Law — you’re a Top 20 law school! We’ve also got interesting data on part-time law programs. Here’s a screenshot from the leaked U.S. News & Wold Report article:
While we expect there may be more leaks to come, keep your eyes peeled for the release of the official U.S. News law school rankings next week, and be prepared for the Above the Law Top 50 law school rankings, which are coming soon. Stay tuned!
UPDATE (03/09/16): 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 50 rankings and Top 100 rankings for you to feast your eyes upon today. Click HERE to see them.
U.S. News Releases 2017 Best Graduate Schools Rankings [U.S. News & World Report]