The 2020 US News Law School Rankings are out! We’ll break down some of the big news from the new rankings in a moment, but first, here’s our standard disclaimer about rankings: please keep in mind that these rankings are just numbers put through an arbitrary formula that was created by a magazine that makes millions of dollars off of them, so use them at your own risk!
The list below is numbered according to the new rankings, and the order for 2020 is listed on the far left. There is then a column showing the position change (if any) from the 2019 rankings, and then columns to the right show the rankings for each of the prior seven years (2013-2019).
The 2020 US News Law School Rankings – Top 25
| 2020 Rank | Law School | Change from 2019 | 2019 Ranking | 2018 Ranking | 2017 Ranking | 2016 Ranking | 2015 Ranking | 2014 Ranking | 2013 Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yale University | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Stanford University | — | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Harvard University | — | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | University of Chicago | — | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | Columbia University | — | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | New York University | — | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | University of Pennsylvania | — | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | University of Virginia | 1 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| 9 | University of Michigan – Ann Arbor | -1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| 10 | UC Berkeley | -1 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| 10 | Duke University | 1 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
| 10 | Northwestern University | 1 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 13 | Cornell University | — | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 |
| 14 | Georgetown University | — | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 13 |
| 15 | UCLA | 1 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 15 |
| 16 | UT Austin | -1 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | USC Gould | 2 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 18 |
| 18 | Vanderbilt University | -1 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 16 |
| 18 | Washington University in St. Louis | — | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 23 |
| 20 | University of Minnesota – Twin Cities | — | 20 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 19 |
| 21 | University of Notre Dame | 3 | 24 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 26 | 23 | 22 |
| 22 | George Washington University | 2 | 24 | 23 | 25 | 22 | 20 | 21 | 21 |
| 23 | Boston University | -1 | 22 | 23 | 20 | 20 | 26 | 27 | 29 |
| 23 | UC Irvine | -2 | 21 | 28 | 28 | 30 | ? | ? | ? |
| 25 | University of Alabama | 2 | 27 | 26 | 28 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 21 |
Note the consistency at the top: the first seven schools retained their rankings for the third straight year. The most notable change came at the bottom of the vaunted Top 14, but the movements were small, just up or down a single spot.
While we only have the T25 listed above, outside that group the rankings tend to move in a more volatile manner.
Have any questions or comments? Please post them below!
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