Climbing the Rankings

The very notion of a ranking implies the capacity for climbing higher. But when the order is set in stone year after year, it may seem the competitors are climbing in place.

In the 12 years since U.S. News & World Report began ranking law schools, the same three have occupied the top spots. The Duke School of Law, currently tied with the University of Pennsylvania School of Law for the tenth spot, has been ranked as high as seven and as low as 12. Last year, Duke was tied with Cornell at 10.

"There are three law schools, Harvard [University], Yale [University] and Stanford [University], that are pretty much out of reach of other law schools [in the rankings]," says Katharine Bartlett, dean of Duke's School of Law School.

Those three are not the only stagnant schools in the rankings. "Exactly 16 law schools have occupied the top 16 spaces in the survey," says Richard Schmalbeck, professor of law. Schmalbeck, who wrote an article in 1998 called "The Durability of a Law School Reputation," ran correlations with the rankings and found the law school's were much higher than those of business, medical and engineering schools.

In 1998, the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and the Law School Admission Council called for U.S. News to stop publishing its annual law school rankings. That year, 164 law school deans endorsed a letter to applicants denouncing rankings, and in 2000 and 2001, the Washington Monthly published articles detailing the faults of the U.S. News systems.

Despite these complaints, each year the U.S. News rankings and others are published, and U.S. News still sells millions of copies of its "Best Graduate Schools" edition.

Prospective students can rattle off the top 10 law schools in order, a relatively simple feat given the lack of movement they have experienced within the last decade.

What's in a number?

LSAT scores and GPAs do give students a place to measure themselves against the law schools, but how much can the numbers really tell?

"The LSAT is a pretty good predictor of your ability to do well in law school--it is an excellent predictor of first-year grades. It doesn't predict how good of a lawyer you are going to be," Bartlett says.

She adds that median LSAT counts more than median GPA, since it is standardized and therefore easier to compare. Duke's median LSAT score is increasing, corresponding to an increase in applicants. And though this may not improve its ranking, Bartlett says, "Our quality is going up--the faculty note this in the classroom."

Another area of quantitative comparison is funding, which U.S. News considers under the faculty resource category.

Even with a $26 million endowment and the Campaign for Duke law school goal at $55 million, the law school lags behind its competitors.

"Duke would love to be number one, Penn would love to as well, but they can't without a tremendous influx of funds," says Joan Rose, director of communications at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.

Bartlett says Duke makes the most of its resources and is very smart with spending. "We are the least well endowed of the top 10 law schools, yet we are holding our own," she says. "The top three schools are more established. They've made good tactical decisions with their resources. We can't buy what they're able to buy."

Paul Mahoney, academic associate dean at the University of Virginia School of Law, sees resources and leadership as key elements at Virginia and for law schools in general because they make possible a lot of what attracts students.

"We have been really successful in fundraising over the past decade. We hope that is a continuous source of strength for our ranking--assuming, of course, that we use those sources wisely," says Mahoney, Brokaw professor of corporate law.

Alumni are an important source of support for a law school. "We have a loyal and supportive alumni base which is only now reaching the size of our competitors'," says Dennis Shields, associate dean of admissions at Duke's School of Law. "Duke was a relatively small law school until the late '70s, so we don't have as many alumni out there."

Resources, in addition to drawing students, are used to attract faculty members. Duke has received a $3 million challenge grant from the Duke Endowment that will match one dollar for every two dollars the law school raises. "This is a show of confidence from the endowment and allows us to bestow endowed chairs on our best faculty," says Bartlett.

Over the next three years, Bartlett expects to hire five or six new professors. The law school's strategic plan, while aiming to improve all areas, has a goal of building up specific departments through future hires.

"We are already beginning to have students who came here over other places for our intellectual property program," Bartlett says. "We hope that will happen in other areas as well."

Although the ranking criteria take into account a number of factors, Mahoney and others contend there are equally important aspects that are not included.

What the rankings miss

There are only so many features of law schools that are measurable, and thus there are intangibles that do not come through in the rankings.

"I think law schools compete on a number of different bases," Mahoney says. "Schools have different emphases. Yale, the University of Chicago and Stanford tend to compete on the basis of being relatively smaller. [At UVA], our student body and faculty are quite collegial, pleasant people--students tend to enjoy going here. I take it that that's part of the allure of Duke as well."

Access to non-monetary resources, like other professional and graduate schools, is another aspect not measured by the rankings.

Bartlett says after the University of Vermont Law School, Duke has the highest number of students pursuing joint degrees.

"Duke University is more conducive to interdisciplinary studies than other schools," Bartlett says. "We have an abundance of faculty with appointments in other schools, and we are a younger university." Penn cites its ties to other schools, such as its business and medical schools as a strength as well, while Harvard sees its size as an attribute.

"We are two to three times the size of our peers," says Michael Rodman, news officer at Harvard Law School. "As a result of this, Harvard has a much larger course offering. A lot of schools will have one class in East Asian law--we have a whole East Asian law department."

Change in the ranks

Although each year law schools across the country differentiate themselves from each other and work to improve themselves, these changes are rarely drastic and often do not manifest themselves in the rankings.

"Large institutions tend to change slowly," Mahoney says. "These law schools are substantial institutions, with large numbers of students. Large institutions don't change on a dime."

And though upward movement in the rankings is possible, it is not likely or easy.

"For Duke's profile to move up, Duke would have to improve relative to the schools above it," says Robert Morse, director of data research at U.S. News. "Its reputation would have to change, its LSAT would have to improve. If the methodology doesn't change, schools have to change, which, besides placement, is hard to do."

The methodology has remained consistent, and allows many of those who are strong in one category to hang onto that each year. Available resources at a law school, while only counting for 15 percent of overall score, tend not to change from year to year and are a force in keeping the top schools--Harvard, Yale, and Stanford--on top.

"Their resources and endowments are so far above the other schools' that they really are extremely difficult to compete with," Bartlett says.

It is also extremely challenging for a school to alter its reputation from year to year. "I think it is obvious that reputations are fairly sticky," Mahoney says. "Someone usually doesn't decide that a school is fantastic one year and not so great the following year. That can explain the slowness with which rankings change."

Morse admits that reputation and admissions data stay stable from year to year, but claims there is some volatility in the placement data. "Placement does change," he says. "The job market does change with recessions and the economy, and some law schools feel that more than others." He points out that the rankings released in April 2002 will use placement data for 2000 graduates, and will not reflect the recession until future surveys.

Although the stagnancy among elite law schools does not limit the school's capacity for improvement, it does limit the capacity of a school to move in the rankings.

"It is unrealistic to think that we can project ourselves into the top five since there is so little movement. I do think it is possible to move up to seventh or eighth," Shields says.

And of course, not all improvements can make a difference. Rose says, "The rankings have a certain criteria, they're very concrete. Even if you improve in one area, the other schools may improve as well and your ranking won't improve."

Duke tends to sit at the bottom of the top 10, but small changes in the ranking method or a change in another school's score could alter its standing.

Bartlett acknowledges this vulnerability and attributes it to the methodology of the rankings rather than the quality of the school. "At any particular year we could drop out of the top ten. Being in the top 10 has some magic, and we are vulnerable," she says.

Despite criticisms of the rankings from the AALS, deans, students and national magazines, law schools acknowledge their use and continue to mail glossy alumni publications to the other schools and practicing attorneys whose opinions form 40 percent of the rankings.

"In the absence of a better system, there is a reliance on this one," she says. "It is an unfortunate reality. Rankings are a source of frustration, but we don't distort what we are doing for them."

Although Bartlett says Duke does not make strategic decisions with rankings in mind, she does acknowledge that "students want to say they go to a top 10 law school."

The rankings, says Mahoney, tend to be self-reinforcing because top students are attracted to the "top schools," allowing those schools to continue to be selective in their admissions.

"The rankings themselves are to some degree a self-fulfilling prophesy--the more highly ranked a school is, higher quality students will apply and attend," he says.

And though law schools may wish the rankings would disappear, it doesn't seem likely U.S. News will abandon its highly profitable ranking issue anytime soon.

And, barring any drastic changes, it doesn't seem likely the rankings will change either.