MinnLawyer Blog

Every spring, palms get sweaty and heart rates increase in the administrative departments of law schools all over the United States. Why? Because of the annual rankings of law schools in U.S. News and World Report.

In an academic environment as that in the Twin Cities, with its four law schools, those rankings can have an effect on enrollment, and therefore the bottom line. In the magazine’s 2008 rankings, the University of Minnesota Law School dropped out of the ranking’s top 20, robbing it of an effective marketing and recruiting tool.

Meanwhile, Hamline University’s law school moved up to join the University of St. Thomas law school in the third tier of schools, and William Mitchell fell out of the third tier into the fourth.

Experts of all kinds — not least of whom are deans of the aforementioned schools — have expressed skepticism and scorn at the rankings, but realize they still have to respect the effect they have on the perception prospective students and law firms have on their institutions.

In the National Law Journal, attorney Peter Kalis goes further, lambasting the rankings as nothing more than a cheap ploy to sell magazines at the expense of the hard-earned reputations of schools nationwide.

In a timely reference, he compares the effect of a high U.S. News ranking on a law student’s alma mater to that of the Heisman Trophy in college football: It puts some polish on a college player’s reputation, but it gives no real indication of how it will translate into real-world professional results.