4/5/04, 2

4/5/03 Northwestern Law No. 10 in U.S. News Rankings

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

As you may know, U.S. News & World Report issued its annual rankings of graduate schools on April 2.

I am pleased to tell you that Northwestern Law has risen from 12th to 10th and that our Tax Program was ranked in the top 10 for the first time at No. 6. In addition, this year our clinical program moved up to 5th from being ranked 9th in 2002 (clinical rankings were not conducted in 2003), and our trial advocacy program ranks 3rd up from 4th in 2002 (trial advocacy rankings were not conducted in 2003).

Improvements in rankings such as these are one measure of our reputation and progress towards the goals in our strategic plan. While we are pleased with these results it is important to keep in mind that almost all schools go up and down for reasons that are not clear to those of us outside U.S. News.

Although we may undergo such fluctuations over the years, the long term trend is positive, up from 14 in 1996 to 10 this year. As far as our records show, this is the first time Northwestern Law has made it into the top 10 since the U.S. News rankings began. I would like to congratulate and thank all the members of our community for their hard work and continued support.

The top 15 law schools are:
1. Yale University
2. Harvard University
3. Stanford University
4. Columbia University
5. New York University
6. University of Chicago
7. University of Michigan
7. University of Pennsylvania
9. University of Virginia
10. Northwestern University
10. Duke University
12. Cornell University
13. University of California – Berkeley
14. Georgetown University
15. University of Texas

For more information on the ratings, visit U.S. News & World Report online.

David E. Van Zandt
Dean and professor of law