No ABA Or Other Official Law School Rankings

The ABA does not rank law schools, and neither does the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) nor any other bar or official law organization in the U.S. None of these groups ranks J.D. programs, LL.M. programs, nor any other programs at US law schools.

Schools do not rank themselves officially (though some schools implicitly tout their subjective superiority). Indeed, there are no official rankings of any U.S. law school or any US law degree program.

In websites and other sources that purport to “rank” law schools, categories are chosen to review, including faculty-student ratio, entering class GPA and LSAT score, amount of money spent per student, law school diversity, and breadth of classes. Scores are assigned to each ranked item, and the scores are then tallied,and ranks are assigned. Reviewers may include current students or graduates of law schools, but not necessarily of the laws schools those students and graduates review.

The US News and World Report ranks law schools and their J.D. programs generally, but not LL.M. programs. Even if these law school rankings were valid, which many people, within and outside the field dispute, there is no guarantee that a highly ranked law school would have an LL.M. program that was as highly ranked. Indeed, some would argue that there is not necessarily a correlation between the quality of a law school (and its J.D. program) and the quality of its LL.M. program and of its specialized tracks.[6]  Though J.D. programs and LL.M. programs are linked, they are distinct degree programs which the ABA demands be treated separately. Schools with relatively low rankings tend to denounce the results, while schools that rate more favorably tend to trumpet their rank.

The Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree is the first professional law degree in the U.S., and is the only degree the ABA accredits.[2] Currently 200 “ABA-approved” J.D. programs exist.

Neither the ABA nor any governmental or professional agency in the U.S. accredits LL.M., S.J.D. nor any other “post-J.D.” or “graduate” law degree program. The ABA notes that LL.M. and similar programs are created by the law schools themselves and do not reflect any ABA judgment regarding the quality of the programs. The ABA does not evaluate LL.M. admission requirements, particularly of international students, and particularly since admission requirements vary from school to school.[3]

The ABA notes that it “reviews post-JD degree programs [like the LL.M. or S.J.D.] only to determine whether the offering of such post-JD program would have an adverse impact on the law school's ability to maintain its accreditation for the JD program. If no adverse impact is indicated, the ABA "acquiesces" in the law school's decision to offer the non-JD program and degree.”[4]

All the US LL.M. and S.J.D. programs examined in LL.M. Roadmap are offered at one of the 200 law schools with ABA-approved J.D. programs.[5] LL.M. Roadmap does not pass judgment on degrees offered by or at law schools that offer the J.D. but whose J.D. programs are not ABA-approved.