The LSU Law Center has again climbed upward in the latest national rankings of law schools, moving up three spots to #76 in the 2014 U.S. News rankings.
The #76 ranking is the second highest in LSU Law history, bested only by the school’s ranking of #75 in 2010. The U.S. News ranking of top law schools is a closely watched list among the nation’s public and private law schools.
“Taken together, the U. S News ranking, the #3 Best Value ranking by National Jurist/Pre-law Magazine (2012), our students’ consistently high rate of success on the Louisiana Bar Exam, and our graduates’ continuing strong performance in obtaining employment, confirm that we are providing our students with a valuable legal education at reasonable price,” according to LSU Law Chancellor Jack M. Weiss.
The LSU Law Center ranked 11th in the nation in the percentage of 2011 graduates employed in full-time, long-term legal jobs within 9 months of graduation, according to an analysis published on June 25, 2012, by the Wall Street Journal. The ranking was based on detailed legal employment data reported by all accredited law schools to the American Bar Association.
Some 194 accredited law schools in the nation are reviewed by the magazine. LSU Law is one of only 6 public law schools from Texas to Florida, and only one of 3 law schools in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, public or private, ranked in the Top 100.
LSU Law entered the U.S. News Top 100 for the first time in 2004. The new ranking accentuates the Law Center’s positive movement in the rankings in recent years. “I’m pleased to report that we moved up three places, from # 79 to # 76,” said Chancellor Weiss. However, Weiss expressed some caution over the latest ranking.
“As I’ve said in previous years, the U.S. News rankings are notoriously unpredictable and are, in part, very subjective. Every law school dean holds his breath until the rankings are announced,” said Weiss. “As always at LSU Law, we will continue to make decisions that are in the best interest of our students and the state of Louisiana. A good U.S. News ranking is lagniappe, not our overriding goal.”
Factors in the rankings include Quality Assessment (peer assessment and assessment scores by lawyers and judges); Selectivity (undergraduate GPA at 25th-75th percentile, and acceptance rate); Placement Success (graduates employed at graduation, graduates employed 9 months after graduation, school’s bar passage rate in jurisdiction, and jurisdiction’s overall bar passage rate); and Faculty Resources (student/faculty ratio and expenditures per student for instruction, library, and supporting services).
“This is a remarkable achievement for the Law Center,” Chancellor Weiss said in offering his congratulations to the students, faculty, and staff. “Here’s hoping for an even brighter future for LSU Law,” he concluded.
