Harvard or Yale? Which is better? It's a perennial question for prospective students picking a law school to attend.
Currently, Yale University occupies the top spot in the U.S. News Best Law School rankings. But now Harvard University has something to crow about. In the first ever ranking of law schools by hiring officials at the country's top law firms, the Boston school has beaten out its archrival in New Haven, Conn. Yale is tied for the second spot with Stanford University in the U.S. News survey, which was sent last fall to 750 hiring partners and recruiters at law firms who made the 2010 Best Law Firms rankings produced jointly by U.S. News and the publication Best Lawyers. The response rate was 14 percent.
[View photos of the top 10 law schools as rated by law firms.]
Craig Primis, who heads recruiting at Kirkland & Ellis, says the firm recruits at a broad range of schools, adding diplomatically, "Harvard and Yale are both outstanding schools." Primis notes that Harvard has many more law students than Yale, which could account for its popularity among recruiters at the top firms. He advises students weighing a school that "once you are inside the top 10 or 15 law schools it is much more important to have an outstanding academic record" than to fret over whether one got into the No. 1 or No. 3 school.
To provide insight into where top law firms tend to recruit, U.S. News asked hiring partners to rank the schools based on a 5-point scale, with 5 being outstanding, 4 strong, 3 good, 2 adequate, and 1 marginal. Unlike the main U.S. News rankings of law schools, which take into account many factors, including selectivity, faculty resources, and success in placing graduates in jobs, the rankings by recruiting professionals are strictly reputational in nature based upon their assessment of each school's academic quality.
Other schools that fared well in the recruiters' survey include Columbia University and University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, tied for fourth place; New York University and the University of Virginia in sixth place; and Cornell University, Duke University, Northwestern University, University of California—Berkeley, and University of Chicago, all in eighth place. Those were stronger showings for Michigan and Cornell compared to their rankings in the overall U.S. News list.
The latest U.S. News rankings of Best Law Schools will be unveiled on March 15.
After cutting back some last year, Kirkland's summer class this year will be on par with years prior to the economic downturn. In what amounts to good news for law school students, Primis says his firm has "certainly seen an uptick in corporate activity" both in terms of mergers and acquisition and general commercial litigation work.
The table below highlights the top 25 law schools as ranked by hiring partners at the U.S. News-Best Lawyers Best Law Firms. To see the complete list of more than 100 schools, visit usnews.com on March 15.
| Rank | School | Average Reputation Score (5.0=highest) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Harvard University | 4.9 |
| 2. | Stanford University | 4.8 |
| 2. | Yale University | 4.8 |
| 4. | Columbia University | 4.7 |
| 4. | University of Michigan--Ann Arbor | 4.7 |
| 6. | New York University | 4.6 |
| 6. | University of Virginia | 4.6 |
| 8. | Cornell University | 4.5 |
| 8. | Duke University | 4.5 |
| 8. | Northwestern University | 4.5 |
| 8. | University of California--Berkeley | 4.5 |
| 8. | University of Chicago | 4.5 |
| 13. | Georgetown University | 4.4 |
| 13. | University of Pennsylvania | 4.4 |
| 15. | Vanderbilt University | 4.3 |
| 15. | Washington University in St. Louis | 4.3 |
| 17. | University of Texas--Austin | 4.2 |
| 18. | Boston University | 4.1 |
| 18. | Emory University | 4.1 |
| 18. | University of California--Los Angeles | 4.1 |
| 18. | University of Minnesota--Twin Cities | 4.1 |
| 18. | University of Notre Dame | 4.1 |
| 18. | University of Southern California | 4.1 |
| 18. | Washington and Lee University | 4.1 |
| 25. | Boston College | 4.0 |
| 25. | University of Iowa | 4.0 |
| 25. | University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill | 4.0 |
(Note: due to ties, there are more than 25 schools listed here.)
Searching for a law firm? Get our complete rankings of Best Law Firms.
Reader Comments Read all comments (48)
Ryan of NY 11:30AM May 30, 2012
An actual law professor of CA 12:00AM January 27, 2012
Judy of AZ 6:41PM January 21, 2012