The 2023 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here

A big change in the T14 and some of the largest rankings tumbles and gains.

US-News-Rankings-Logo-no-yearWe hope you’re ready, because it’s the most wonderful time of the year for law schools. That’s right, it’s U.S. News law school rankings release night!

There’s still a global pandemic going on, but prospective law students are getting ready to send out seat deposits to the law school with the best rank and current law students are waiting to see if the school they’ll graduate from will be considered more or less prestigious than when they first decided to debt-finance their futures based on their alma mater’s rank. How did law schools fare during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis?

We’re about to find out.

That said, here’s the official list of the top law schools in the nation, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report in the year 2022. Changes in rank from this year over last year come to us courtesy of Mike Spivey of Spivey Consulting.

Take a look at the prestigious T14, where there were some interesting moves:

1. Yale University (0)
2. Stanford University (0)
3. University of Chicago (+1)
4. Columbia University (0)
4. Harvard University (-1)
6. University of Pennsylvania (0)
7. New York University (-1)
8. University of Virginia (0)
9. University of California–Berkeley (0)
10. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (0)
11. Duke University (-1)
12. Cornell University (+1)
13. Northwestern University (-1)
14. Georgetown University (+1)

Well, well, well, what have we here? As we mentioned not long ago, it was predicted that due to recent changes made to the U.S. News rankings methodology, we could see a shake-up in the top 6 law schools alone. How do you like them apples, Harvard? One of the most elite schools in the country is now tied for fourth place with Columbia. On that note, congratulations to the University of Chicago on cracking the Top 3! The HYS band has officially been shattered. It’s a glorious achievement for the school.

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Oh, and welcome back to the T14, Georgetown!

Now, let’s take a gander at the law schools outside of the T14. Like years past, we’re faced with yet another rankings orgy, with nothing but ties, ties, and more ties. There are five ties in this segment of the rankings alone (two ties, two three-way ties, and one five-way tie), with more to follow. Here are the schools ranked 15 – 30:

15. University of California–Los Angeles (-1)
16. Washington University in St. Louis (0)
17. Boston University (+3)
17. University of Texas–Austin (-1)
17. Vanderbilt University (-1)
20. University of Southern California (-1)
21. University of Florida (0)
21. University of Minnesota (+1)
23. Brigham Young University (+6)
23. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (+1)
25. George Washington University (+2)
25. University of Alabama (0)
25. University of Notre Dame (-3)
28. University of Iowa (+1)
29. University of Georgia (-2)
30. Arizona State University (-5)
30. Emory University (-1)
30. George Mason University (+11)
30. Ohio State University (+10)
30. William & Mary Law School (+5)

The biggest winners here are William & Mary, BYU, Ohio State, and George Mason, up five, six, 10, and 11 spots in the rankings, respectively. Aww, look at UCLA. It was nice to spend a year in the limelight. The school only dropped one spot, but that one-spot drop that booted the school out of the T14. Arizona State, of course, lost out on being a Top 25 school, but losing out on being considered as one of the most prestigious law schools in the nation has to sting even worse for UCLA.

Now, for the rest of the law schools in the Top 49, where there are elaborate on ties. As you can see, there was A LOT of movement here:

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35. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign (-6)
35. Washington and Lee University (0)
37. Boston College (-8)
37. Fordham University (-2)
37. University of California–Davis (-2)
37. University of California–Irvine (-2)
37. University of Utah (+6)
37. Wake Forest University (+4)
43. Indiana University–Bloomington (Maurer) (0)
43. University of Wisconsin–Madison (-14)
45. University of Arizona (+1)
46. Texas A&M University (+7)
47. Florida State University (+1)
47. University of Maryland (+3)
49. University of Colorado–Boulder (-1)
49. University of Washington (-4)

The biggest winner here was Texas A&M, which moved up seven places in the 2023 law school rankings, propelling the school into the Top 50. The biggest losers here were Wisconsin and Boston College, with 14- and eight-spot drops, respectively. Whatever those schools are doing, they better shape up, because some have already been shipped out of the Top 30 — with others almost out of the Top 50.

The rest of the rankings are available on the next page.


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.