The only shake-ups in the top 10 involved Stanford, which tied for 2nd last year but got 3rd place this year, and Duke, which moved from the 11th spot to tie with University of Michigan-Ann Arbor for number 10.
Here's the full list:
1) Yale University School of Law
2) Harvard University School of Law
3) Stanford University School of Law
4) (tie) Columbia University School of Law
4) (tie) University of Chicago School of Law
6) New York University School of Law
7) University of Pennsylvania
8) University of Virginia School of Law
9) University of California-Berkeley School of Law
10) (tie) Duke University School of Law
10) (tie) University of Michigan-Ann Arbor School of Law
Duke, the only new school to make it into the top 10, has an unusually high employment rate. Nearly 78% of its students have jobs by the time they graduate, compared to 75% for University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
While there were no other major shake-ups in the top 10, there was one big change in the top 50. Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Va. plummeted from a tie for number 26 last year to a tie for number 43 this year.
As The National Law Journal notes, Washington and Lee was probably hurt by its abysmal employment statistics for 2012. Nine months after graduation, only 80 of its 130 graduates from 2012 had gotten full-time jobs compared to 98 of 129 graduates the year earlier.
This sharp employment drop came despite Washington and Lee's efforts to revamp its third-year curriculum so students could get more real-world experience.