US News releases its 2021 law school rankings
Once again, the top three law schools are at Yale University, Stanford University and Harvard University, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 rankings, released Tuesday.
Yale came in first, Stanford is second and Harvard is third. Those spots remain unchanged from the law school rankings released in both 2019 and 2018.
This year however, Columbia Law School moved up one spot to No. 4, which is also this year’s ranking for the University of Chicago Law School.
New York University School of Law is in the No. 6 spot, which is was last year as well. The University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law also have the same rankings as last year, at Nos. 7 and 8.
Also this year, the law schools at Northwestern University and University of California at Berkeley Law moved up to the No. 9 spot, after being ranked No. 10 in 2019. The University of Michigan Law School at Ann Arbor is in the No. 9 spot this year too, as it was in 2019 as well.
Duke University School of Law is ranked as No. 12, compared No. 10 last year.
Other list changes came with Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, which climbed to this year’s No. 17 spot, compared to No. 18 in 2019.
And the law school at the University of Southern California is ranked as No. 18 this year, compared to No. 17 last year.
The University of Minnesota Law School fell out of the top 20 this year, to the list’s No. 21 spot. Boston University is in the No. 20 spot this year, compared to No. 23 last year.
Here are the schools that made the top 20 on the U.S. News list of 2021 best law schools:
1) Yale University
2) Stanford University
3) Harvard University
4) Columbia University (tie)
4) University of Chicago (tie)
6) New York University
7) University of Pennsylvania
8) University of Virginia
9) Northwestern University (tie)
9) University of California at Berkeley (tie)
9) University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (tie)
12) Duke University
13) Cornell University
14) Georgetown University
15) University of California at Los Angeles
16) University of Texas at Austin
17) Washington University in St. Louis
18) University of Southern California (tie)
18) Vanderbilt University (tie)
20) Boston University
