Law Schools

The 10 Worst Law Schools In The Country (2018)

How low will these law schools sink to keep their doors open?

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The American Bar Association recently released Standard 509 reports from every accredited law school in the country, and there’s much to be learned from the information that can be found within them. Based on the law school enrollment data in these reports, such as incoming students’ LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs, we can determine which law schools are dabbling predatory admissions practices.

David Frakt, who serves as chair of the National Advisory Council for Law School Transparency, has analyzed the most recent Standard 509 reports available, and he’s come up with a list of what he calls the “bottom 10 least selective law schools in the country.” That’s a mouthful, so we’re going to go ahead and call them the “worst.”[1] That being said, here are the top five “worst” law schools in the country:

1. 2017 Defending Champion – Western Michigan University Thomas Cooley! Once again, Cooley tops the bottom 10 list, but this year there is a twist. Last fall, the ABA found that Cooley was out of compliance with ABA Standard 501 on Admissions. Cooley sued the ABA, and in March 2018, the ABA essentially capitulated and found Cooley back in compliance with Standard 501(b), based on “concrete steps” that the school was making to improve its admissions policies. I analyzed those steps in this post, and predicted that they would barely make a difference in the credentials of the admitted students. Well, guess what?  Turns out I was right.

Let’s compare the credentials of the 2017 entering class with the credentials of the 2018 entering class:

LSAT 75% LSAT 50% LSAT 25% GPA 75% GPA 50% GPA 25% % admits
2017 146 142 139 3.27 2.94 2.59 85.56%
2018 147 142 139 3.33 3.02 2.64 86.13%

So, did Western Michigan Cooley improve its admissions standards and get more selective, as it promised to the ABA?   Not so much. Although it is true that their 75% LSAT went up by one point, and GPAs overall are up by a miniscule .06, the all-important 50% and 25% LSAT are identical.  More tellingly, the percentage of students admitted actually increased from 2017 to 2018.   And the entering class size increased from 458 to 541.   What this means is that Cooley enrolled at least 135 students with LSATs at 139 or below, the bottom 12% of all LSAT takers.   Cooley actually had a chance to significantly raise standards because the number of applicants increased from 1295 to 1456 (call it the Michael Cohen bump), but of course Cooley chose to do what it always chooses to do – maximize profit.   Bottom line:  the ABA got suckered big time.  If the ABA wants to have any hope of preserving its credibility, it will immediately rescind its decision to find Cooley back in compliance and place the school on probation.  How can the least selective law school in the country, with the lowest 25% LSAT by 3 points compared to the next least selective school, be in compliance with Standard 501?

2.  Southern University (last year’s rank: tied for 3) 146/144/142  3.13/2.83/2.55.  The good news: Southern raised its LSAT 25% by one point.  The bad news:  Southern dropped its 25% GPA by .03.   Southern has miraculously escaped sanction by the ABA despite many years of abysmal admissions standards and poor and declining performance on the bar.   But hey, if Cooley is in compliance, then I guess everybody is in compliance, right?

3. (tie) Appalachian School of Law (last year – tied for 3).147/144/143  3.32/3.05/2.64 Holding steady at 3 is Appalachian. Currently out of compliance with Standard 501, Appalachian raised its 25% and 50% LSAT by 2 and 1 points respectively, but its 75% dropped 2 points, and the school only enrolled 50 1Ls, compared to 73 last year.  Appalachian is in trouble.

3. (tie) Texas Southern (last year – tied for 2) 2018: 147/144/143  3.37/3.03/2.73   Texas Southern was found out of compliance with a bunch of Standards including 501(b) in June 2017 and ordered to take remedial action.  They were supposed to come up with a reliable plan to come into compliance.  LSATs are up from 146/143/141 and GPAs are also slightly up, while class size is down from 256 to 217. So Texas Southern (unlike Cooley) has taken concrete steps to improve, although, in my estimation, it still has a way to go before the ABA should relieve it from further remedial action.

5.  North Carolina Central University (last year: 7) NC Central was found out of compliance with Standard 501(b) last December, then promised to raise their standards and the ABA found them back in compliance in June after taking “concrete steps. . .with respect to its admission policy and practices”.  So, how much did NC Central improve?  Last year they were at 149/145/142  3.43/3.22/2.95.  This year: 150/146/144 3.50/3.26/3.07.  These are real, significant, improvements.  (Note to WMU Thomas Cooley – this is what “concrete steps” actually look like.)  Furthermore, NC Central pledged to admit no students with an LSAT below 142.  NC Central had to shrink its class from 166 to 103 to make this happen.  NCC is to be commended for the great strides it has taken.

You can see the rest of Frakt’s list over at The Faculty Lounge.

It’s obvious that some of these law schools are trying to do better, but the rest are just… not. As Frakt notes, on the whole, “[t]here are far fewer law schools exploiting unqualified students.” What is going on at the law schools that are exploiting students, and to what depths will they be allowed to sink in order to keep their doors open? How many law students will incur hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in order to fill these law schools’ coffers? This has gone on for too long, and we imagine the American Bar Association will be stepping in soon to deal with these problems.

[1] Frakt takes care to mention that he’s created this list as a public service, focusing his efforts on identifying law schools that are “exploiting students by admitting applicants who are at very high risk of failure.” That doesn’t necessarily mean these schools are, in fact, the “worst,” or that the quality of education offered at these schools is sub-par. They just happen to be the “worst” when it comes to preying upon underqualified students who dream of someday becoming lawyers.

The 2018-19 Bottom Ten Law Schools [The Faculty Lounge]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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