UF’s Levin College of Law continues to rank highly both as a public and overall institution among 201 public and private accredited law schools, according to a U.S News & World Report released Tuesday.
The new law school methodology puts more emphasis on the types of jobs landed after graduation.
Last year, the law school ranked 25th among public schools and 48th overall. This year’s rankings show a jump to 23rd among public schools and 46th overall.
The college’s tax program maintained its standing as first among public schools and has kept a top 10 position at third overall. The college’s Environmental & Land Use Program kept its position as fifth among public institutions but went down from ninth to 12th overall.
Robert Jerry, dean of the law school, warns that this data should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Rankings are very sensitive to employment data, and the employment data they use is not audited,” he said. “There is a lot of confusion in law schools about whether someone is employed in a part-time or full-time job. It creates a considerable inaccuracy that has an impact on the rank itself.”
Although wary, Jerry was pleased by the potential effects of rankings on reputation.
“We have a ranking of 3.9 [out of 5] on how judges and lawyers think about our law school, 10th highest among public law schools nationwide, 26th highest among all law schools,” Jerry said. “If [judges and lawyers] like what you’re doing, they like your graduates.”
Will Matthews, 23, a second-year law student, views the improved ranking as a benefit.
“Any help that students can get in this legal market … is always a plus,” he said.
