The 2024-2025 U.S. News Law School Rankings Are Here
Big changes in the T14, along with some of the largest rankings tumbles and gains.
Now we’ll discuss two bottom portions of the ranked schools (#103-150 and a newly ranked segment, #153-176) before examining the schools whose ranks weren’t published this year.
In this segment of the rankings, among too many ties to even name, we see some very large gains, coupled with one of the most tremendous losses. We imagine that the annual running of the deans will begin shortly after the official U.S. News rankings are published. Deans of a few of the schools listed below may soon be vying for their jobs.
| Cleveland State University | 103 | +8 |
| Mercer University (George) | 103 | -4 |
| Rutgers University | 103 | +6 |
| Samford University (Cumberland) | 103 | +28 |
| University of Montana (Blewett) | 103 | -7 |
| Chapman University (Fowler) | 108 | +1 |
| Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent) | 108 | -9 |
| Michigan State University | 108 | +3 |
| Regent University | 108 | +17 |
| University at Buffalo–SUNY | 108 | +17 |
| University of Dayton | 108 | 3 |
| Brooklyn Law School | 114 | -3 |
| Seattle University | 114 | -3 |
| University of Arkansas–Fayetteville | 114 | -9 |
| Albany Law School | 117 | -12 |
| University of Missouri–Kansas City | 117 | +18 |
| West Virginia University | 117 | -6 |
| Gonzaga University | 120 | -21 |
| Syracuse University | 120 | +2 |
| University of Maine School of Law | 120 | +26 |
| University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) School of Law | 120 | -9 |
| University of Tulsa | 120 | -9 |
| University of Wyoming | 120 | -9 |
| Washburn University | 120 | -9 |
| New York Law School | 127 | -2 |
| University of Hawaii–Manoa (Richardson) | 127 | +8 |
| University of South Dakota (Knudson) | 127 | -5 |
| Hofstra University (Deane) | 130 | +10 |
| Howard University | 130 | -5 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | 130 | -19 |
| Suffolk University | 130 | +3 |
| Campbell University (Wiggins) | 134 | -9 |
| DePaul University | 134 | +1 |
| Pace University (Haub) | 136 | -5 |
| University of Akron | 136 | +14 |
| University of Detroit Mercy | 136 | +5 |
| University of Louisville (Brandeis) | 136 | -37 |
| Liberty University | 140 | -5 |
| University of Baltimore | 140 | -5 |
| University of Memphis (Humphreys) | 140 | -15 |
| Quinnipiac University | 143 | +3 |
| University of Arkansas – Little Rock (Bowen) | 143 | +7 |
| Southwestern Law School | 145 | -4 |
| University of Idaho | 145 | -4 |
| Willamette University College of Law | 145 | +10 |
| Elon University | 148 | -15 |
| University of Toledo | 148 | -15 |
| CUNY School of Law | 150 | +4 |
| Northern Kentucky University (Chase) | 150 | -1 |
| South Texas College of Law Houston | 150 | +12 |
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Congratulations to the schools here on their huge gains in this year’s edition of the U.S. News law school rankings (especially Maine and Samford, up 26- and 28-spots, respectively). Plus, we have quite a few schools that have risen out of Rank Not Published land. Way to go! Moving on to things that aren’t so nice, we’ve got more than seven law schools that sank like stones, with Louisville having the worst rank drop of all in the 2024-2025 rankings, down 37 spots. Yikes….
And here, we have a brand new portion of the rankings. In previous years, many of these schools were among those whose ranks went unpublished, but now they get to show off their brand new numeric rankings. Joining them are some schools that were previously ranked within the Top 150, but this year seem to have lost their way thanks to the new rankings methodology.
| Creighton University | 153 | +2 |
| Ohio Northern University (Pettit) | 153 | -7 |
| Oklahoma City University | 153 | -3 |
| Northern Illinois University | 153 | -5 |
| St. Mary’s University | 157 | – |
| Santa Clara University | 158 | – |
| New England Law Boston | 159 | -4 |
| University of the Pacific (McGeorge) | 159 | -18 |
| Ave Maria School of Law | 161 | +19 |
| University of Illinois–Chicago | 161 | -6 |
| University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth | 161 | -2 |
| Mitchell Hamline School of Law | 164 | +3 |
| Lincoln Memorial University (Duncan) | 165 | +10 |
| University of San Francisco | 165 | – |
| Widener University–Pennsylvania (Commonwealth) | 165 | -6 |
| Mississippi College | 168 | -3 |
| Touro University (Fuchsberg) | 168 | -1 |
| University of North Dakota | 168 | +12 |
| Vermont Law School | 168 | -4 |
| Roger Williams University | 172 | -1 |
| Southern Illinois University–Carbondale | 172 | +2 |
| St. Thomas University | 172 | +13 |
| University of North Texas–Dallas | 172 | -5 |
| Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School | 176 | -5 |
| Faulkner University (Jones) | 176 | -17 |
Congratulations to the schools that have found their ranks this year. That must be a nice change.
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All of that excitement brings us to the “Rank Not Published” (RNP) realm.
| Capital University | 178-196 | -3(+) |
| Charleston School of Law | 178-196 | – |
| Nova Southeastern University (Broad) | 178-196 | -7(+) |
| Widener University–Delaware | 178-196 | -3(+) |
| Western New England University | 178-196 | – |
| California Western School of Law | 178-196 | -3(+) |
| University of Puerto Rico | 178-196 | – |
| Florida A&M University | 178-196 | – |
| North Carolina Central University | 178-196 | -3(+) |
| Western State College of Law at Westcliff University | 178-196 | – |
| Southern University Law Center | 178-196 | – |
| Barry University | 178-196 | – |
| University of the District of Columbia (Clarke) | 178-196 | – |
| Appalachian School of Law | 178-196 | – |
| Western Michigan University (Cooley) | 178-196 | – |
| Texas Southern University (Marshall) | 178-196 | – |
| Golden Gate University | 178-196 | – |
| Inter-American University | 178-196 | – |
| Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | 178-196 | – |
What can be said about these schools? Should you bother attending one?
Getting a degree from an RNP law school might not be as prestigious as getting one from a higher-ranked school, but to burst the elitist bubble: not everyone cares about prestige. Some of the people applying to and attending these schools just want to be lawyers, and others just want to stay close to home. Some of these schools do very well in regional job markets, and while Biglaw may not be an option for everyone, the rest are content to join small firms or do public service work. But here’s the rub when it comes to the these RNP law schools… law school isn’t always a golden ticket, especially if you’re a graduate of a lower-ranked school. Law school is still a huge economic gamble for these people.
Once again, it’s time to ask a very relevant question: How are prospective law students supposed to differentiate between law schools when there are so many ties present within the rankings? In the 2024-2025 rankings, there are 25 ties in the Top 100 alone. This is not only unhelpful, but it actually does a disservice for pre-law students.
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So what do you think of the rankings? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). If you don’t like what you see, you may want to check out the upcoming Above the Law Top 50 Law School Rankings. We care about the most important thing you’ll care about when you graduate — and that’s whether you’ll be able to land a job that pays enough to allow you to service your ever-increasing law school debt. Please stay tuned!
2024-2025 Best Law Schools [U.S. News]
U.S. News Law School Rankings: 2024 vs. 2023 (+/-) [Spivey Consulting]
Earlier: BREAKING: 2025 U.S. News Top 25 Law School Rankings
Staci 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 X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
