The much-troubled U.S. News law school rankings – due to be ‘news and improved’ – have now been delayed for an indefinite period.
The latest edition of the school rankings was supposed to be released on April 18 but the unveiling of the new-and-improved rankings was then pushed to April 25 thanks to an “unprecedented number of inquiries from schools.”
Yesterday afternoon, U.S. News decided to delay the release of the rankings once again — and this time, there is no guidance on when they’ll actually be published.
According to Dean Paul Caron of Pepperdine Law at TaxProf Blog, and reported at AbovetheLaw, this is the email law school deans received from U.S. News announcing the delay:
“As we announced last week, we are dealing with an unprecedented number of inquiries including requests to update data submitted after the collection period from law and medical schools during the initial embargo period and are working to address these inquiries.
“The level of interest in our rankings, including from those schools that declined to participate in our survey, has been beyond anything we have experienced in the past.
“As a result of these inquiries, the updated embargo and final files for 2023-2024 Best Medical Schools and 2023-2024 Best Law Schools rankings and supporting documents will be released when this work has been completed.”
According to an email from U.S. News to law school deans, the organization has received an unprecedented number of inquiries and requests to update data submitted after the collection period from law and medical schools during the initial embargo period. U.S. News notes that the level of interest in the rankings, including from schools that declined to participate in the survey, has exceeded anything they have previously experienced.
Various law schools have voiced concerns about data errors in the rankings. Yale Law, which lead the U.S. News rankings boycott, has expressed skepticism about the employment figures used, with Associate Dean Debra Kroszner noting that they are “entirely incorrect and flatly inconsistent with the changes in methodology outlined on their website.”
Berkeley Law’s Dean Erwin Chemerinsky also reported discrepancies in his school’s employment figures. Harvard Law has now joined the fray, with Marva de Marothy, assistant dean for Faculty Affairs/Office of Academic Affairs, stating that “the employment data U.S. News published during the embargo period is inaccurate, incomplete and does not match the data reported to and published by the ABA.”
