Here is a ranking from Nathan Gimpel of the 184 law schools using only four U.S. News measures: Peer Assessment, Lawyer/Judge Assessment, LSAT, and GPA (which together account for 62.5% in the U.S. News methodology), taking into account the data over the past two years. Interestingly, the schools in the Top 17 under this measure are exactly the same as in U.S. News, with a slight re-ordering within the Top 17:
- 1. Yale (1 in U.S. News)
- 2. Harvard (2)
- 3. Stanford (3)
- 4. Columbia (4)
- 5. Chicago (6)
- 6. NYU (5)
- 7. UC-Berkeley (6)
- 8. Michigan (9)
- 9. Virginia (10)
- 10. Penn (8)
- 11. Duke (10)
- 12. Cornell (13)
- 13. Georgetown (14)
- 14. Northwestern (10)
- 14. Texas (15)
- 16 UCLA (15)
- 16. Vanderbilt (17)
Several schools rank much higher in this Assessment/LSAT/GPA ranking than they do in U.S. News, with the biggest differences + > 30 (Nebraska, 72 v. Tier 3) and +25 (Oregon, 52 v. 77):
- 20. George Washington (28 in U.S. News)
- 22. North Carolina (30)
- 25. Washington & Lee (30)
- 29. Wisconsin (35)
- 31. UC-Hastings (39)
- 40. Tulane (45)
- 42. Florida (51)
- 47. Arizona State (55)
- 52. Oregon (77)
- 56. Missouri-Columbia (65)
- 58. Temple (65)
- 58. Miami (71)
- 61. Pittsburgh (71)
- 70. Chicago-Kent (77)
- 72. Nebraska (Tier 3)
- 76. Santa Clara (85)
- 77. Rutgers-Newark (87)
- 78. Indiana-Indianapolis (87)
- 78. Loyola-Chicago (87)
- 82. Catholic (94)
- 85. St. Louis (94)
- 98. Hawaii (Tier 3)
- 98. Syracuse (Tier 3)
Several schools rank much lower in this Assessment/LSAT/GPA ranking than they do in U.S. News, with the biggest differences -25 (Georgia State, 90 v. 65), -20 (UNLV, 95 v. 75), -19 (Penn State, 84 v. 65), and -18 (SUNY-Buffalo, 103 v. 85):
- 27. Boston University (20)
- 28. Notre Dame (23)
- 30. Illinois (23)
- 35. Indiana (23)
- 35. Fordham (30)
- 37. U. Washington (30)
- 41. Georgia (35)
- 43. Alabama (30)
- 48. Maryland (43)
- 49. George Mason (41)
- 50. Utah (45)
- 55. Cardozo (49)
- 60. Florida State (52)
- 64. Tennessee (59)
- 66. Kentucky (55)
- 67. Houston (59)
- 68. Cincinnati (52)
- 68. Brooklyn (61)
- 71. Pepperdine (55)
- 74. Lewis & Clark (61)
- 82. Richmond (77)
- 84. Penn State (65)
- 87. Loyola-L.A. (71)
- 88. Seattle (77)
- 89. New Mexico (77)
- 90. Georgia State (65)
- 90. LSU (75)
- 95. UNLV (75)
- 95. South Carolina (87)
- 100. St. John's (87)
- 103. SUNY-Buffalo (85)
- 117. San Francisco (98)
The methodology of these rankings is below the fold:
34% – 2010 Peer Assessment Scores17% – 2010 Lawyer/Judge Assessment Scores10.625% – 2010 25th Percentile LSAT10.625% – 2010 75th Percentile LSAT6.375% – 2010 25th Percentile GPA6.375% – 2010 75th Percentile GPA6% – 2009 Peer Assessment Scores3% – 2009 Lawyer/Judge Assessment Scores1.875% – 2009 25th Percentile LSAT1.875% – 2009 75th Percentile LSAT1.125% – 2009 25th Percentile GPA1.125% – 2009 75th Percentile GPA
Note that this methodology uses 75%/25% percentile LSAT and GPA, while U.S. News uses LSAT and GPA medians.
Update: For more, see Faculty Lounge.



