In its 2015 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” released on March 11, 2014, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC School of Law No. 31 among the 200 U.S. law schools. The list places UNC in the same spot the school held last year in the 2014 rankings.
According to the ranking, Carolina Law’s reputation among legal professionals has strengthened. Last year the law school ranked No. 19 in reputation among lawyers and judges and No. 20 among peers/scholars. This year’s respective numbers are No. 18 and No. 19, an improvement of one place in each category.
U.S News integrated a new component into this year’s peer assessment by adding a survey of employers about the readiness of graduates from different law schools for the work of their firms. Apparently, the practice-readiness of Carolina Law graduates helped lift the overall rating of the school among judges and legal employers.
In a new category, UNC School of Law was also listed among “the most diverse law schools.” In the specialty areas ranking, UNC was listed as No. 23 in environmental law.
“We understand how the rankings can be helpful to prospective students during their decision-making process,” says Carolina Law Dean John Charles “Jack” Boger ’74. “Yet we consider this U.S. News ranking only one measure of our success as a law school, and, indeed, U.S. News itself listed UNC School of Law as one of its “10 Law Degrees With the Biggest Return on Investment” in 2013. We’re hard at work building the nation’s finest public law school, today and every single day.”
-March 11, 2014