Improving its ranking over the last two years, Boston University’s School of Law ranked 26th on U.S. News & World Report’s list of best law schools for 2016.
The 2016 Best Graduate Schools rankings focused on a variety of other subject areas as well, including business, education, engineering and medicine, according to a Tuesday press release.
“We certainly consider our 26 ranking in U.S. News this year to be one subjective indicator of the strength of BU’s law school. We are also ranked among the top 10 law programs in health law, tax law and intellectual property law, and these ranks change from year to year, but our commitment to provide our students with the best possible legal education really never wavers,” said BU Law spokeswoman Ann Comer-Woods.
BU Law ranked 27th on U.S. News rankings for 2015 and 29th on the 2014 list, Comer-Woods said.
U.S. News ranks the institutions’ standardized test scores of newly enrolled students, employment outcomes of graduates and acceptance rates among other criteria to help “prospective students research programs in their field of interest and evaluate the potential return on their investment,” Brian Kelly, U.S. News’ editor and chief content officer, said in the release.
“We focus on bringing in an outstanding class every year and providing them with a top notch legal education that best prepares them from the practice of law,” Comer-Woods said. “U.S. News uses a number of variables to calculate each school’s overall ranking. And it appears certainly our selective admissions criteria and our high bar passage rate certainly helped our ranking perform well this year.”
Yale University ranked first for best law school, followed by Harvard University in second and Stanford University in third.
BU School of Law tied for the 26th rank with Arizona State University and outranked the University of Washington (28th), College of William and Mary (29th) and University of California, Irvine (30th).
Jack Beermann, a professor at BU Law, said although the rankings do not tell everything about the quality of the university’s legal education, they are a tool to gage where BU stands.
“As a long-time member of the law faculty, I am happy to see we have moved up three places in the rankings over the past two years, especially since this has been a very challenging time for legal education,” Beermann wrote in an email. “Our high ranking reflects our high admissions standards and our success in building one of the strongest law faculties in the country.”
Over the past several years, BU Law has introduced curriculum enhancements to prepare students for the legal field and contribute to their overall performance on the bar exam, Comer-Woods said.
“Certainly, our high bar passage rate is a very strong indicator and one of the factors U.S. News considers,” she said. “It really shows that our students are being well prepared by passing the bar exam, which is the minimum criteria to be able to practice law.”
The 1L Lawyering Lab is one example of “curriculum enhancements” that give first year students develop practical skills to practice law, Comer-Woods said. Lawyering lab, a one-week course for first-year law students, allows them to simulate representing clients and making deals, The Daily Free Press reported on Jan. 12.
Alumni and employer feedback also contribute to the school’s understanding of the current legal market, Comer-Woods said.
“We have been working very closely with our own alumni and employers to understand what the needs of the modern day legal market are and making sure that our students are best prepared to meet those needs,” she said. “That involves building on our current strengths while introducing new programs, such as the ones I mentioned, to help our students be successful, not just on the bar exam, but in their legal careers.”
The Princeton Review has rated BU Law’s faculty second in the country for the best professors, Comer-Woods said, and the National Law Journal has named BU Law a “Top 20 Go-to Law School” for the percentage of students that get jobs post-graduation.
Beermann said BU Law is worthy of the ranking due to the strong programs and success of graduates in a challenging employment climate.
“We are known throughout the country for excellence in teaching and for a wide range of programs including top notch clinical and other experiential programs,” he said. “Our students are doing very well in a difficult job market.”
