UM Law School Ranked 9th by U.S. News and World Report

By Chad Halcom – Crain’s Detroit Business

The University of Michigan Law School maintains both the reputation and the price tag to rank in the top 10 law programs nationwide, according to the annual rankings released this week by U.S. News and World Report.

The Ann Arbor law school ranks No. 9 out of 184 schools surveyed nationwide — essentially unchanged from a tie at No. 8 with the University of California at Berkley last year. This year UC-Berkley ranks No. 6.

But at $41,500 per year for in-state tuition, UM law matches the rate that No. 2 Harvard University charges all students, and also tops the in-state rates of UC-Berkley and University of Virginia, which ties at No. 10.

UM’s out-of-state tuition, at $44,500, surpasses all rates among the top 12 except for No. 1 Yale University at $46,000, No. 4 Columbia University at $45,674 and No. 12 Northwestern University at $45,332.

The rankings are based in part on LSAT test scoring of admitted students in 2008, peer assessment, rates of passage on state bar examinations, and employment rates of 2007 graduates.

No other Michigan law school ranks in the top 100.

Law schools at Michigan State University ($31,552) and Wayne State University ($22,407 in-state, $24,501 out-of-state) were both unranked in the third tier of schools in the 2009 survey. The Thomas M. Cooley Law School ($26,836) and the University of Detroit Mercy Law School ($30,290) were listed in the unranked fourth tier.