March 15, 2011 — The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law retained a strong position in the rankings of the top U.S. law schools, according to data compiled by U.S. News & World Report and presented in the 2012 “Best Law Schools” list. For 2012, the College of Law is ranked 42nd among 190 ABA-accredited U.S. law schools, the same position it occupied in 2011. In the past four years, the College of Law has climbed 15 spots, from 57th in 2008 to 51st in 2009 and 45th in 2010. For schools with fewer than 500 students, the College of Law tied for 2nd in the overall national ranking. The College’s environmental law program was ranked 21st in the country.
For 2012, the College of Law climbed in major indices considered by the rankings, including improvement in reputation among lawyers and judges; median LSAT scores; median GPA, in which the College of Law ranked 22nd; expenditures per student; and bar passage. The College’s student-faculty ratio places it at 5th in the country.
In an announcement, Dean Hiram Chodosh described the rankings as “an important, albeit imperfect, measure of value,” adding that the rankings do not take into account many extraordinary achievements. “The rankings don’t consider the 90% of our students who come to us with demonstrated leadership experience, the 13% who have graduate degree in other fields, or the 63% who are fluent in another language,” Chodosh said. “Neither do they weigh the remarkable contributions our students make to the community through clinics, pro bono placements and think tanks, amounting to 41,500 hours of formal public service just last year; the superior leadership of our faculty on the major issues of our time, nor the unparalleled dedication of our staff to all we are trying to achieve in our program and the broader society.”
The 2012 edition of the Best Graduate Schools book will be available for purchase on April 5. The graduate school rankings are available here.