Following up on yesterday’s post, 2026-27 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings: Here are the law schools whose U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Ranking most exceeds their overall U.S. News Ranking:
| School | Specialty Rank | Overall Rank | Difference | |
| 1 | American | 33 | 108 | +75 |
| 2 | Santa Clara | 77 | 150 | +73 |
| 3 | Illinois-Chicago | 108 | 167 | +59 |
| 4 | Suffolk | 71 | 128 | +57 |
| 5 | UC Law SF* | 29 | 85 | +56 |
| 6 | Denver | 36 | 91 | +55 |
| 7 | Pacific | 98 | 152 | +54 |
| 8 | Mitchell | Hamline | 100 | 152 | +52 |
| 9 | Baltimore | 85 | 136 | +51 |
| 10 | Rutgers | 51 | 100 | +49 |
| 10 | Seattle | 79 | 128 | +49 |
| 12 | CUNY | 123 | 171 | +48 |
| 13 | Brooklyn | 58 | 105 | +47 |
| 13 | Howard | 70 | 117 | +47 |
| 13 | Pace | 95 | 142 | +47 |
| 16 | Case Western | 57 | 100 | +43 |
| 17 | UNLV | 49 | 91 | +42 |
| 18 | Nova | 135 | 176 | +41 |
| 19 | Lewis & Clark | 72 | 112 | +40 |
| 19 | Willamette | 128 | 168 | +40 |
| 21 | San Francisco | 117 | 156 | +39 |
| 22 | Maryland | 24 | 62 | +38 |
| 23 | DePaul | 96 | 131 | +35 |
| 24 | Cal-Western | 142 | 176 | +34 |
| 25 | Southwestern* | 128 | 161 | +33 |
| 26 | Widener (PA) | 144 | 176 | +32 |
| 27 | Chicago-Kent | 75 | 105 | +30 |
| 27 | Fordham | 12 | 42 | +30 |
| 27 | Indiana (McKinney) | 94 | 124 | +30 |
| 27 | Tulane* | 40 | 70 | +30 |
| 27 | Vermont | 124 | 154 | +30 |
| 32 | Hofstra | 88 | 117 | +29 |
| 32 | Miami | 41 | 70 | +29 |
| 32 | UC-Davis | 23 | 52 | +29 |
| 35 | Widener (DE) | 127 | 154 | +27 |
| 36 | Houston | 28 | 54 | +26 |
| 36 | Oregon | 65 | 91 | +26 |
| 36 | University of Arizona | 44 | 70 | +26 |
| 39 | Loyola-L.A. | 46 | 70 | +24 |
| 39 | Loyola-New Orleans | 111 | 135 | +24 |
| 39 | Michigan State | 84 | 108 | +24 |
| 42 | Loyola-Chicago | 54 | 77 | +23 |
| 43 | Roger Williams* | 151 | 171 | +20 |
| 44 | Arizona State | 26 | 44 | +18 |
| 44 | Gonzaga | 126 | 144 | +18 |
| 46 | George Washington | 9 | 26 | +17 |
| 46 | Georgetown* | 1 | 18 | +17 |
| 48 | New Mexico | 101 | 117 | +16 |
| 48 | Quinnipiac* | 120 | 136 | +16 |
| 50 | District of Columbia | 161 | 176 | +15 |
| 50 | UC-Irvine* | 19 | 34 | +15 |
Here are the law schools whose U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Ranking most trails their overall U.S. News Ranking:
| School | Specialty Rank | Overall Rank | Difference | |
| 1 | Regent | 184 | 91 | -93 |
| 2 | Belmont | 164 | 85 | -79 |
| 3 | Baylor | 104 | 34 | -70 |
| 4 | Montana | 156 | 90 | -66 |
| 5 | George Mason | 97 | 32 | -65 |
| 6 | Nebraska | 120 | 62 | -58 |
| 7 | BYU | 77 | 24 | -53 |
| 8 | Dayton | 163 | 112 | -51 |
| 9 | Duquesne | 134 | 85 | -49 |
| 9 | Maine | 140 | 91 | -49 |
| 11 | Marquette | 107 | 59 | -48 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 110 | 62 | -48 |
| 13 | Florida Int’l | 124 | 77 | -47 |
| 13 | South Dakota | 169 | 122 | -47 |
| 15 | Missouri-Columbia | 105 | 59 | -46 |
| 16 | Catholic | 114 | 70 | -44 |
| 17 | Campbell* | 174 | 131 | -43 |
| 17 | Kentucky | 113 | 70 | -43 |
| 19 | Cincinnati | 122 | 82 | -40 |
| 20 | Arkansas-Fayetteville | 139 | 100 | -39 |
| 21 | Liberty | 181 | 144 | -37 |
| 22 | Notre Dame | 55 | 20 | -35 |
| 22 | Tulsa | 155 | 120 | -35 |
| 24 | Alabama | 73 | 40 | -33 |
| 24 | Florida State | 67 | 34 | -33 |
| 26 | Samford | 154 | 122 | -32 |
| 27 | Texas Tech | 116 | 85 | -31 |
| 28 | Ave Maria | 194 | 164 | -30 |
| 29 | Chicago | 31 | 2 | -29 |
| 29 | Wayne State | 91 | 62 | -29 |
| 31 | West Virginia | 152 | 124 | -28 |
| 32 | Northern Kentucky | 158 | 131 | -27 |
| 32 | Penn State-Dickinson* | 89 | 62 | -27 |
| 34 | Chapman | 138 | 112 | -26 |
| 35 | Mercer | 133 | 108 | -25 |
| 35 | Mississippi | 149 | 124 | -25 |
| 37 | North Texas | 183 | 159 | -24 |
| 37 | Richmond | 86 | 62 | -24 |
| 37 | SUNY-Buffalo | 106 | 82 | -24 |
| 37 | Wyoming | 136 | 112 | -24 |
| 41 | Kansas | 69 | 46 | -23 |
| 42 | Connecticut | 80 | 58 | -22 |
| 43 | Drake | 112 | 91 | -21 |
| 43 | Faulkner | 185 | 164 | -21 |
| 43 | Iowa | 53 | 32 | -21 |
| 43 | Western New England | 180 | 159 | -21 |
| 47 | Pepperdine | 66 | 46 | -20 |
| 47 | St. John’s | 82 | 62 | -20 |
| 49 | SMU | 61 | 42 | -19 |
| 49 | South Carolina | 81 | 62 | -19 |
| 49 | Wisconsin | 45 | 26 | -19 |
*Denotes schools that did not submit statistical information to U.S. News. From the U.S News methodology: “schools that declined to provide statistical information to U.S. News had their academic peer ratings programmatically discarded before any computations were made. Nonresponders were still scored using the full complement of eligible ratings submitted by peer schools, but any ratings they made of other schools were omitted.” For the complete list of boycotting schools for the past three years, see Law Schools That Boycotted The U.S. News Rankings.
2025-26 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings v. Overall Rankings
2026-27 U.S. News Specialty Rankings:
- Omnibus Specialty Rankings (compilation of all 13 special rankings)
- Business/Corporate Law
- Clinical Law
- Constitutional Law
- Contracts/Commercial Law
- Criminal Law
- Dispute Resolution
- Environmental Law
- Health Care Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- International Law
- Legal Writing
- Trial Advocacy
- Tax Law
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