OU College of Law dropped 21 spots in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 top law school rankings, which were released Tuesday.
OU Law ranked 88th out of 196 law schools this year, compared to 67th for the 2022 rankings. Above the Law wrote about the college, saying “the law school’s dropping like a rock,” and the spot decrease was the “most offensive drop in rank.”
“Over the last 20 years, the University of Oklahoma College of Law has had an average news ranking of 70 out of over 200 law schools nationwide,” an OU Law spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily. “Year in and year out, the majority of those institutions’ rankings either rise or fall; very few remain in the same standing.”
Above the Law predicted the U.S. News and World Report’s change in methodology could lead to major changes in the ranking.
U.S. News and World Report look at various ranking indicators as a part of its methodology to determine rankings. A quality assessment, peer assessments and assessments from lawyers and judges factored into the ranking as well as undergraduate GPA, selectivity, employed-at-graduation rate, resources, bar passage rate and student to faculty ratio.
The spokesperson wrote that, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the class of 2020’s employment rates fell, and since U.S. News and World Report places an emphasis on employment rates, this resulted in a drop in ranking.
“In 2020, during the global pandemic, the legal landscape in Oklahoma was hit particularly hard, and as a result, our employment statistics for the Class of 2020 fell to just about the national average,” the spokesperson wrote. “We are pleased to report that the Class of 2021 had an overall employment rate of 97 percent, which we anticipate will again make OU Law one of the top law schools for placement, with an expected rebound to our U.S. News ranking.”
In 2019, OU Law saw an employment score of 86.8 percent, however, a significant dip occurred in 2020, resulting in an employment score of 67.8 percent, according to Law School Transparency. For the 2020 graduates about 21.5 percent were reported underusing their skills, a rise of almost 16 percent since 2019.
OU Law was tied with Lewis & Clark College and University of Cincinnati.
Out of the three, OU Law had the largest student-faculty ratio with 10.9 students to one faculty member. OU Law had the lowest in-state tuition of $22,283, however, Cincinnati had the lowest out-of-state tuition with $29,010.
OU Law had the largest enrollment of 546 and Cincinnati had the lowest enrollment with 392. OU Law had the lowest employed-at-graduation rate with only 30.2 percent of graduates being employed-at-graduation. Lewis & Clark had a 40 percent employed-at-graduation rate and Cincinnati had 55.3 percent, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
Law School Transparency reported an employment score in 2020 of 62.4 percent for Lewis and Clark and 69.1 percent for Cincinnati. OU Law had the highest first time bar passage rate of 93.4 percent in 2020 as compared to Lewis and Clark’s 89.5 percent and Cincinnati’s 84.6 percent.
The University of Texas at Austin School of Law ranked 17th, dropping only one spot from last year’s rankings. Texas A&M moved up seven spots to 46th in the nation to be a top 50 law school. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln also ranked above OU at 78th in the nation, 9 spots higher than the year previous, and the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville rose 10 spots to 86th.
In 2019, Above the Law ranked OU Law 44th in the nation and 31st in 2020. Katheleen Guzman also became dean of OU Law in 2021 after serving in the interim dean capacity since 2019.
“OU Law remains the top law school in Oklahoma and one of the best in the region, known for its excellent faculty, its commitment to teaching, and its affordability. … Though we of course are disappointed in this year’s ranking, we know that the quality and value of an OU Law degree remain strong, and we are excited for the future,” the spokesperson wrote.
