As More Top Law Schools Boycott Rankings, Others Say They Can’t Afford to Leave
In the past, it’s been the law school rankings that have caused a flurry of protest by law students, so much so that it has prompted calls in some quarters for the law school rankings be taken off of the U.S. News & World Report site. In the end, though, in spite of U.S. News rankings remaining on the site, U.S. News still ranks only three law schools. However, as more law schools boycott the U.S. News rankings, other law schools say they can’t leave without paying a price that few can afford.
A number of law school rankings, including the U.S. News & World Report Law School Guide (LSG) which lists the 100 best law schools, have either been suspended or ended. These include top law schools like Yale University and Harvard University. The LSG will not be on U.S. News until the end of the year, and in fact, the Law School Admission Council did not want the LSG to list Yale at the high end of the law school rankings, saying that it would be unfair to Yale, particularly given some of the law students were already upset with the rankings.
The Law School Admission Council (LSAC), the group that oversees law school admissions in the United States, was already unhappy with the U.S. News rankings, which often ranked law schools differently from the rest of the world. The U.S. News ranking of Yale Law School was especially off-putting to some students, because it was down a spot from their first law school rankings.
“The Law School Admission Council recognizes that Yale is a top-ranked law school and is proud that it has received the highest rating from U.S. News & World Report,” Yale’s admissions dean, Robert Holzberg, said in a statement. “Our student body and the alumni we serve have voted for us to be among the nation’s finest law schools.”
In August, U.S. News announced that it