Scholarly Impact of Law School Faculties in 2024: Updating the Leiter Score Ranking for the Top Third

Abstract

This updated 2024 study explores the scholarly impact of law faculties, ranking the top third of ABA-accredited law schools. Refined by Brian Leiter, the “Scholarly Impact Ranking” for a law faculty is calculated from the mean and the median of total law journal citations over the past five years to the work of tenured faculty members. In addition to a school-by-school ranking, we report the mean, median, and weighted score, along with a list of the tenured law faculty members at each school with the ten highest individual citation counts.

The law faculty at Yale continues to hold the top ranked position in the 2024 Scholarly Impact Ranking, with the University of Chicago at second, Harvard at third, New York University at fourth, and Columbia at fifth. The University of California-Berkeley remains in the sixth position with Pennsylvania moving up one spot to seventh. Stanford is at eight, and Vanderbilt remains at nine. Virginia, which had climbed from sixteenth in 2018 to ninth in 2021, remains in the top 10.

The law schools with the highest rises in the 2024 Scholarly Impact Ranking are Florida, which has risen by 22 ordinal levels to #30; Emory, which has climbed by 18 ordinal levels to #18; Florida State up by 12 positions to #34; and the University of San Francisco rising by 10 positions to #47. Seattle and Texas A&M debut in the rankings at #52 and #56 respectively, with Washington & Lee and Rutgers rejoining the rankings at #47 and #60 respectively.

Many law faculties achieve a Scholarly Impact Ranking in 2024 well above the law school rankings reported by U.S. News for 2024.

NYU ranks at #4 and has consistently been in the top 5, but at #9 for U.S. News. Vanderbilt at #9 shows a significant gap with U.S. News Ranking at #19. And the University of California at Berkeley ranks at #6 for Scholarly Impact, but outside the top 10 at #12 for U.S. News.

In the Scholarly Impact top 25, the most dramatically under-valued law faculty is the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), which continues to rank at #23 for Scholarly Impact, while being relegated by U.S. News to #98—a difference of 75 ordinal levels. In addition, George Washington rises to #17 in Scholarly Impact, while lagging at #41 for U.S. News. Emory has moved up to #18 in Scholarly Impact, but at #42 in U.S. News. The University of California-Davis shows even greater disparity, by being now at #18 in Scholarly Impact, while left well behind by U.S. News at #55. Fordham and the University of California-Irvine also rank in the top 25 at #20 and #22 respectively for Scholarly Impact, but at #33 and #42 respectively for U.S. News

Keywords: law school, legal education, legal scholarship, law school ranking, ranking