Stanford Law School snapped up second place edging ahead of Harvard Law School coming in third in the 2018 rankings report out this week. Last year Stanford and Harvard had tied in second place. The University of Chicago took the fourth spot and New York’s Columbia University snapped up the final position in top five US law school league table. Both Duke University and the Pritzker School of Law at Northwestern cracked the top 10 this year, tying at number 10. And Georgetown University once again was cited as offering the top part-time law programme. However, it was bad news for University of California, Berkeley School of Law, which fell four places from number 8 last year to number 12 this year.

Increase

Rutgers Law School saw the largest increase up 30 spots at number 62 while Washington and Lee University School of Law saw an impressive 12-spot increase moving into the top 30 at number 28. Notre Dame moved into the top 20 – up two places on the previous year.

Largest decline

The University of Maine School of Law saw the largest decline falling 28 spots to number 139. Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Washburn University School of Law had the next-largest decline, at 21 spots each. Cleveland-Marshall and Washburn fell from number 106 to number 127.

Better prospects

‘A graduate degree can lead to professional advancement and a potential salary increase,’ said Anita Narayan, Managing Editor of Education at US News. ‘Whether you are interested in pursuing a full-time program or taking classes part-time, the grad school rankings and advice offer guidance on finding programs that help you fulfill your personal goals.’

Methodology

US News explained that the ranks annually are evaluated on factors such as employment rates and starting salaries for graduates and standardised test scores of newly enrolled students.