The new rankings are out. No, not college hoops. The hapless, much-maligned – and deservedly so – U.S. News and World Report rankings of law schools in the 50 states and a few districts, territories, islands and New Orleans, which would have been the best place ever to go to law school.
The first question about the rankings is, didn’t U.S. News and World Report as a news organization stop publishing or go bankrupt or something like that a couple decades ago?
Yet the “publication’s” rating of colleges and law schools is still considered valuable. Isn’t that like still going to Blockbuster’s website for today’s movie recommendations?
Law school leaders hate the U.S. News rankings because of its less than transparent grading formula. Potential law students and parents follow it because they grew up watching comedies such as “Saved by the Bell” instead of “Barney Miller” and “WKRP in Cincinnati.” Maybe it is a little more complicated than that, but not much.
There was controversy surrounding this year’s U.S. News rankings – FYI, there is always controversy involved in their survey results – about whether biracial students counted as ethnic minorities. First, U.S. News said no. Then they decided they don’t care.
Why do law schools cooperate with U.S. News when they feel – justifiably so – that the rankings are so flawed? If the deans at Vanderbilt, Emory, Tulane, SMU and Cornell decided jointly to no longer cooperate, that would be the end of the credibility – and viability – of U.S. News’s rankings.
Alas, no such will power exists. So, on with the show.
The first item that jumps out is that the most interesting law school in our region – the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law – is unranked in this year’s survey. UNTD Law School has the opportunity to transform the legal profession as we know. UNTD should be on the cover of the 2021 U.S. News rankings.
UNTD could be the Berea College of law schools in America. If you don’t know the remarkable story of the Kentucky liberal arts school, click here.
The highest ranked law school in the region is the University of Texas School of Law, which is tied with my alma mater Vanderbilt at 16th.
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law ranks 52nd, just one slot ahead of Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, which ranks 53rd.
Baylor Law School is ranked No. 2 in men’s college hoops but 58th in the law school ratings. But Baylor put a whoop’n on Gonzaga Law School, which is No. 129.
The University of Houston Law Center and Tulane Law School in New Orleans are tied at No. 60.
The University of Oklahoma School of Law ranks No. 67.
U.S. News ranks Texas Tech School of Law at No. 102, Louisiana State University School of Law at No. 109 and the University of Tulsa Law School at 111.
Other law schools in the region and their rankings – including a five-way tie for No. 147, include:
- University of Arkansas Little Rock at No. 141;
- Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans is No. 144;
- South Texas College of Law is No. 147;
- St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio is No. 147;
- Texas Southern University School of Law is No. 147;
- Oklahoma City University Law School is No. 147; and
- Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge is No. 147.