LAW SCHOOL RANKINGS 
1987-1999 

LAW SCHOOL RANKINGS: THE NINETIES
TOPICS
 

    
U.S. News and World Report published its first ranking of law schools in November 1987. Their second ranking of law schools occurred in 1990 and since then they have been published annually.   
  • The U.S. News and World Report Top Forty-Four of the nineties
  • Bubbling Under the Top Forty-four.
  •  

    THE TOP FORTY-FOUR
    LAW SCHOOLS OF THE NINETIES

     

         The March 1990 to March 1993 rankings were limited to the top 25 law schools; only 18 law schools were ranked in the top 25 for all of these four years. As the following table makes abundantly clear, those eighteen law schools were clearly the top 18 law schools of the nineties and, as it turns out for, also for the second millennium up to at least April 2007.
         In the following table, the average rank for each of these eighteen law schools is simply the average of their ten rankings from March 1990 to March 1999 (inclusive). For the law schools that were ranked in at least six but at most nine of the ten rankings from March 1990 to March 1999 (inclusive), we calculated their average rank using the average of their six best rankings; these six rankings are in a lavender-filled cell.
         The color coding for the top eighteen law schools indicates a pattern (e.g. the grey indicates that, with the exception of March 1997, from March 1992 to, at least, March 1999 inclusively, Harvard and Stanford were consistently ranked second or third, in some order. All these color-coded patterns have continued into the next millennium.

     

    Nov

    Mar

    Apr

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

     

    Aver

     

    LAW SCHOOL

    1987

    1990

    1991

    1992

    1993

    1994

    1995

    1996

    1997

    1998

    1999

     

    Rank

     

    Yale U (CT)

    1.5

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

    1

       

    1.05

     

    Harvard U (MA)

    1.5

    5

    2

    2

    2

    2

    2.5

    2

    2

    2.5

    2.5

     

    2.45

     

    Stanford U (CA)

    4.5

    3

    4

    3

    3

    3

    2.5

    3

    4

    2.5

    2.5

     

    3.05

     

    U Chicago 

    6

    2

    3

    4

    4

    4

    4

    4

    3

    4.5

    6

     

    3.85

     

    Columbia U (NY)

    4.5

    4

    5

    5

    5

    5

    5

    5

    5

    4.5

    5

     

    4.85

     

    New York U 

    9

    6

    7

    7

    6

    6

    6

    6

    6

    6

    4

     

    6.00

     

    U Michigan

    3

    7

    6

    6

    7

    8

    9

    7

    7

    9.5

    8.5

     

    7.50

     

    Duke U (NC)

    12

    8

    9

    9

    9

    7

    9

    10

    10

    9.5

    8.5

     

    8.90

     

    U Virginia 

    8

    10

    8

    8

    8

    14

    7

    9

    9

    9.5

    7

     

    8.95

     

    U Pennsylvania 

    10

    9

    10

    10

    11

    9

    11.5

    8

    11

    9.5

    12.5

     

    10.2

     

    UC Berkeley 

    7

    13

    12

    12

    12

    10

    9

    12.5

    8

    7

    10.5

     

    10.6

     

    Georgetown U (DC)

    13

    12

    11

    11

    10

    13

    13

    12.5

    14

    13

    14

     

    12.4

     

    Cornell U (NY)

    15

    14

    13

    14

    14

    11

    14

    11

    12

    13

    10.5

     

    12.7

     

    Northwestern U (IL)

    16

    11

    14

    13

    13

    12

    11.5

    14

    13

    13

    12.5

     

    12.7

     

    Vanderbilt U (TN)

     

    15

    17

    16

    16

    15

    16

    16

    17

    16

    16.5

     

    16.1

     

    U Southern California

    17.5

    17

    16

    18

    18

    18

    15

    15

    15

    15

    18.5

     

    16.6

     

    UCLA

    14

    18

    18

    17

    17

    16

    24

    17

    16

    17

    16.5

     

    17.7

     

    U Texas, Austin 

    11

    16

    15

    15

    15

    21

    17

    18

    18

    31

    15

     

    18.1

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    U Minnesota, TC 

    19

      

    22.5

    21

    25

    17

    18

    21

    23

    18

    18.5

     

    18.9

     

    Washington and Lee U

     

    24.5

     

     

     

    23

    21

    20

    20.5

    19

    20

     

    20.6

     

    U Illinois, UC

    17.5

    24.5

       

     

      

    28

    20

    19

    19

    20.5

    23.5

     

    21.1

     

    U Iowa 

     

     

    19

    24.5

    23.5

    19

    19

    33

    28

    24

    23.5

     

    21.3

     

    Boston College 

     

    20

     

    22.5

    19

    24

    26

    26

    22

    22

    27

     

    21.6

     

    Emory U (GA)

     

    23.5

     

     

     

    22

    25

    23.5

    29

    26.5

    28

     

    24.8

     

    U Washington 

     

     

     

    22.5

     

    25

    34

    23.5

    25

    23

    25.5

     

    24.1

     

    George Washington U

     

    23.5

    22.5

    24.5

    21

    44

    22

    22

    24

    20.5

    25.5

     

    21.9

     

    U Notre Dame (IN)

     

    19

    24.5

    20

    20

    26

    39

    25

    20.5

    26.5

    21.5

     

    20.9

     

    U Georgia 

     

     

     

     

     

    27

    27

    27

    27

    35

    37.5

     

    30.1

     

    U North Carolina

     

    21

    24.5

     

     

    32

    32

    34

    34

    26.5

    21.5

     

    26.3

     

    Fordham U (NY)

     

     

     

     

     

    33.5

    33

    28

    26

    26.5

    41

     

    31.3

     

    C William and Mary

     

     

     

     

     

    29

    28

    30

    36

    35

    33.5

     

    31.9

     

    Boston U 

     

     

     

     

     

    38

    35

    29

    31

    31

    33.5

     

    32.9

     

    UC Davis 

     

    22

      

     

     

    30

    30.5

    41

    39

    31

    33.5

     

    31

     

    U Wisconsin, Madison 

    20

     

    21

     

    22

    37

    23

    43

    38

    37.5

    30

     

    25.5

     

    Washington U (MO)

     

     

     

     

     

    48

    29

    31

    37

    31

    33.5

     

    34.9

     

    Brigham Young U (UT)

     

     

     

     

     

    43

    48

    32

    33

    31

    30

     

    36.2

     

    UC Hastings

     

     

    20

    19

    23.5

    20

    45

    45

     

    41

    30

     

    25.6

     

    Indiana U, Bloomington

     

     

     

     

     

    33.5

    37

    37

    44

    37.5

    37.5

     

    37.8

     

    Wake Forest U (NC)

       

     

     

     

     

    36

    44

    35

    35

    35

    43.5

     

    38.1

     

    U Arizona 

     

     

     

     

     

    31

    30.5

    50.5

    40

    40

    37.5

     

    38.3

     

    U Colorado, Boulder

     

     

     

     

     

    35

    47

    39

    30

    46

    45

     

    40.3

     

    U Connecticut 

     

     

     

     

     

    41

    46

    38

    32

    48.5

    41

     

    41.1

     

    Ohio State 

     

     

     

     

     

    46

    38

    48

    45

    42

    43.5

     

    43.8

     

    Tulane U (LA)

     

     

     

     

     

    41

    50

    49

    48

    46

    41

     

    45.8

     

     

    BUBBLING UNDER THE TOP FORTY-FOUR
    LAW SCHOOLS OF THE NINETIES

     
    The average rank for these five law schools is the average of their five rankings.
     

     

    Nov

    Mar

    Apr

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

    Mar

     

    Average

     

    LAW SCHOOL

    1987

    1990

    1991

    1992

    1993

    1994

    1995

    1996

    1997

    1998

    1999

     

    Rank

     

    U Utah

     

     

     

     

     

     

    36.0

    36.0

    41.0

    39.0

    37.5

     

    37.90

     

    U Florida

     

     

     

     

     

    39.0

    40.0

    40.0

     

    46.0

    46.0

     

    42.20

     

    U Tennessee, Knoxville

     

     

     

     

     

     

    49.0

    47.0

    43.0

    48.5

    47.5

     

    47.00

     

    U Houston

     

     

     

     

     

    49.0

    42.5

    46.0

    50.0

    50.5

     

     

    47.60

     


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