Derek Muller (Notre Dame; Google Scholar), Updated Projected 2025-2026 USNWR Law School Rankings (To Be Released March 2025 Or So):
The updated 509 data from the American Bar Association discloses a good deal of public information about law school admissions and law school faculty that is ultimately used in the USNWR law school rankings. We now have about 75% of the information that USNWR uses in its rankings and can do a pretty good job estimating it, subject to some methodological quirks that are hard to replicate and subject to the survey data that won’t be revealed until the spring (but that is notoriously sticky). It’s also possible USNWR modifies its methodology, of course. But I took the opportunity to update my projections from last spring now that we have even more data. … [T]he new methodology means more compression and volatility, so proceed with caution!
Derek projects the Top 100 schools in next year’s 2025-26 rankings. Here are the largest projected increases among those schools:
| Rank | School | Projected 2025-26 Rank | Current 2024-25 Rank | Difference |
| 1 | Maine | 84 | 120 | +36 |
| 2 | Hawaii | 100 | 127 | +27 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh | 65 | 91 | +26 |
| 4 | Catholic | 73 | 94 | +21 |
| 5 | Florida State | 28 | 48 | +20 |
| 6 | Penn State-Dickinson | 60 | 75 | +15 |
| 7 | San Diego | 54 | 68 | +14 |
| 8 | Cincinnati | 65 | 78 | +13 |
| 8 | Tulane | 65 | 78 | +13 |
| 10 | Chapman | 96 | 108 | +12 |
| 10 | SUNY-Buffalo | 96 | 108 | +12 |
| 12 | LSU | 80 | 91 | +11 |
| 13 | Nebraska | 73 | 82 | +9 |
Here are the largest projected decreases among those schools:
| Rank | School | Projected 2025-26 Rank | Current 2024-25 Rank | Difference |
| 1 | Lewis & Clark | 96 | 82 | -14 |
| 1 | Richmond | 80 | 66 | -14 |
| 3 | Florida Int’l | 80 | 68 | -12 |
| 3 | Illinois | 48 | 36 | -12 |
| 3 | Marquette | 80 | 68 | -12 |
| 3 | Oregon | 94 | 82 | -12 |
| 3 | Seton Hall | 73 | 61 | -12 |
| 8 | Utah | 38 | 28 | -10 |
| 8 | Wayne State | 65 | 55 | -10 |
| 10 | Arizona State | 45 | 36 | -9 |
| 10 | Fordham | 42 | 33 | -9 |
| 10 | Georgia State | 84 | 75 | -9 |
| 13 | Drake | 90 | 82 | -8 |
| 13 | Kansas | 54 | 46 | -8 |
| 13 | Loyola-Chicago | 86 | 78 | -8 |
| 13 | UC-San Francisco | 90 | 82 | -8 |
