PreLaw, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 22-30 (Aug. 2010), How Important Is a School's Ranking, by Jack Crittenden & Karen Dybis:

Every spring, law students, professors and deans run to the newstand to find out where their school ranks compared to other law schools. While many say they loathe the U.S. News & World Report ranking of the top law schools, the vast of people in legal education still pay attention. And over the years, the rankings have been the catalyst for deans getting fired, school's changing policies and students flocking to one school over another.

But is all the hype justified?

"You can complain about it until you are blue in the face, but if U.S. News is the only game in town, people will refer to it," said Brian Leiter. …

Paul Caron, a law professor at University of Cincinnati and a legal education commentator on his Tax Law blog, said U.S. News' ranking grew in stature because of a void in the data for prospective students. "I am a critic of the ABA [American Bar Association] and AALS [Association of American Law Schools]," he said. "They are responsible for U.S. News because they abdicated their role in collecting helpful and useful data for consumers." …  "If the ABA and AALS required better information, then U.S. News would have better data to slice and dice," Caron said. …

[Anne Levine] said she understands why a student would choose a top 10 school over a third tier school that offers a scholarship. But it does not make sense to select a school ranked 14th [Georgetown] over one that ranks 20th [George Washington] and offers a scholarship.

Caron agrees. "The old advice to go to the highest ranked law school is far more questionable now, he said. "Students need to factor in the financial side of things." He said law school tuition and debt loads, combined with fewer job prospects, make this more important than ever.