The U.S. News & World Report rankings are out! And for those who are part of the higher education industrial complex, talk is about Columbia’s drop and the reasons for it.

While U.S. News has influence across higher education, its grip on legal education is very strongly felt (the law rankings don’t drop until March). There are examples where I’ve felt that the U.S. News played a lead role in important decisions regarding legal education and the ABA, the regulator, was playing catch-up. Read about law school funded jobs and entry test requirements to name just two.

LL.M. applicants look for objective measures and rankings as they search for schools, which is one of the frustrating things for foreign-educated lawyers seeking to navigate information. A few things to keep in mind as you go through your LL.M. application cycle and hear about rankings:

• The U.S. News is not the U.S. Government ranking of law schools, but a once-popular magazine/newspaper (a question I was asked). The power it wields on U.S. legal education is in large part because U.S. law schools give it that power (the legal profession likes ranking things and focusing on prestige), which is a longer story.
• When choosing J.D. programs, the ABA Required Disclosures (509 Reports, Employment Outcomes, Bar Passage Outcomes) are far better to focus on than a specific school’s rank. The difference between School #40, 50, and 60 may really just be that one is in Texas, one is in New York, and one is in California. They’ll likely be primarily regional or local schools with most of their students working in those markets upon graduation.
• Even with that caveat, my understanding is that ABA Required Disclosures aren’t audited. And so while they’re a great starting point, I would recommend following up with schools about their specific disclosures, likely over e-mail, to get responses in writing about the types of jobs their students get. For example, what type of jobs are represented in J.D. Advantage jobs? What types of jobs were the law school funded students doing? What types of long-term, full-time jobs did they secure after completing those positions?
• I often have to explain that not only are LL.M. programs not ranked by U.S. News, but the rankings for law schools are based on J.D. inputs, J.D. outputs, J.D. faculty and J.D. spending. LL.M. programs are different from the “specialty” rankings (check the tax specialty rankings and UVA’s high placement even without a Tax LL.M. degree!). Anyone can set up their own LL.M. rankings (Beyond Non-JD may one day have one!), but without available data, I’m always curious what they’re basing these rankings on. J.D. proxy seems to usually be the answer I can see.
• Using U.S. News and ABA Required Disclosures to choose an LL.M. program is not something I recommend for my LEALS students. Instead, I suggest focusing on reputation in China (where my students are based), the schools that the firms they want to work at hire from, cost, and preferred location. It’s no surprise that some of the highest-ranked law schools are great fits for my students. Indeed, most of my students attend “T-20” schools. But if NYU dropped to #15 next year, it would still be a great choice for many of my students. And if a lower-ranked school jumped the ranks but had minimal presence in China, it probably still wouldn’t be as good a fit for my students.
• While most of my LEALS students plan to return to China after completing their LL.M., many Beyond Non-JD readers (and students I work with) are looking to work in the U.S. after graduation. So what would I suggest generally? Generally: (i) Schools that have specialized paths/degrees for getting foreign-educated lawyers hired into post-LL.M. positions by employers that pay well and are willing to go through sponsorship if needed; and (ii) Schools that have specialized support for foreign-educated lawyers in the areas they’re most needed for that student (e.g., legal English, bar prep, academic success, writing center, etc.). I think the cost premium is worth it if they can get 2/2 above, given the stakes of “winning” or “losing” in the LL.M. year over a J.D. degree (1 year versus 3 years), but I always enjoy seeing students who have great networking skills secure a low-cost/no-cost LL.M. degree and secure great jobs. Risk/reward is something important to think about and speaking with schools about how they’re going to help you with the job search is crucial for J.D. students and even more important for LL.M. students.

Good luck with the application cycle!