March 29, 2022
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Villanova surpasses Temple in annual US News law school rankings - Philadelphia Business Journal - The Business Journals

Villanova University’s Widger School of Law has surpassed Temple University’s Beasley School of Law in U.S. News & World Report’s annual law school rankings, while Drexel University’s Kline School of Law continues to gain ground on both.

Villanova actually fell three spots in the rankings but Temple descended by 10, while Drexel moved up by three.

U.S. News graded the 192 law schools on this year's list on peer assessments, lawyer and judge assessments, undergraduate GPAs, LSAT scores, acceptance rates, student/faculty ratio, percentage of 2021 graduates employed at graduation and at 10 months after graduation, and the bar exam passage rate compared to the average in the jurisdiction where graduates most frequently go on to practice law.

Villanova Law ranked No. 56 — tied with the University of Tennessee — down from No. 53 last year. Temple Law fell from No. 53 to No. 63. The University of Pennsylvania claimed sole possession of the No. 6 spot after being tied at that position with New York University last year. Penn trails only the law schools at Yale, Stanford, University of Chicago, Columbia and Harvard.

Drexel’s Kline School of Law moved up from No. 81 last year into a tie at No. 78, Rutgers Law School jumped from No. 91 to tied at No. 86 and Widener University’s Delaware Law School remained among the bottom quarter of law schools not ranked on the list.

For Villanova Law, its placement ended a steady ascent in recent years from No. 62 in 2020 and No. 71 in 2019, as the school has fully recovered from a crippling scandal several years ago involving the reporting of inaccurate admissions data to the American Bar Association. The school fell to as low as No. 101 in 2012 after being ranked as high as No. 67 in 2010.

Villanova’s acceptance rate for 2021 was 18%, much more selective than the 33% at Temple. Penn Law was even more selective at 9% and Widener-Delaware was the least selective at 62%. Drexel Law was at 32% and Rutgers Law at 42%.

Almost 69% of 2020 Villanova Law graduates were employed at graduation, compared to 46% at Temple Law, 91% at Penn Law, 60% at Drexel Law, 63% at Rutgers Law and 29% at Widener-Delaware Law. Ten months after graduation, 86% of Villanova grads were employed compared to 77% of Temple Law grads, 95% at Penn Law, 90% at Drexel Law, 82% at Rutgers Law and 58% at Widener-Delaware Law.

Temple Law still had the top trial advocacy program in the country while also receiving high marks for legal writing, part-time programs and health care law.

Drexel Law has moved up the list gradually since becoming fully accredited in 2011. The school was ranked No. 93 in 2020, No. 100 in 2019, No. 101 in 2018, No. 112 in 2017, No. 127 in 2016 and No. 129 in 2015. A $50 million donation from Tom Kline of Kline & Specter that emphasized enhancing trial advocacy offerings has led to Drexel reaching No. 10 in the publication's rankings of top trial advocacy programs.

Rutgers Law shot up 28 spots on the list five years ago (from No. 90 to No. 62), the first year after its two law schools in Camden and Newark, New Jersey, merged into one. It has since fallen back. The school did receive high marks for its legal writing (No. 13), clinical training (No. 8) and part-time programs (No. 15).

Widener-Delaware Law School, the product of the university splitting its two law school campuses in Wilmington and Harrisburg into separate law schools seven years ago, has yet to receive a ranking on the U.S. News list, but its environmental law program was the highest-ranked of the six local schools, finishing No. 41 nationally.

Here is a look at various specialty areas where the six local law schools were ranked among the top 50 by U.S. News & World Report:

  • Dispute Resolution: Penn (No. 22)
  • Business/Corporate Law: Penn (No. 5), Temple (No. 44) Widener-Delaware (No. 44)
  • Clinical Training: Rutgers (No. 8), Penn (No. 26), Villanova (No. 46)
  • Constitutional Law: Penn (No. 14)
  • Contracts/Commercial Law: Penn (No. 7), Temple (No. 45)
  • Criminal Law: Penn (No. 3), Rutgers (No. 39)
  • Environmental: Widener-Delaware (No. 41), Penn (No. 44)
  • Health Care Law: Penn (No. 20), Temple (No. 23), Drexel (No. 33), Rutgers (No. 48)
  • Intellectual Property Law: Penn (No. 12), Temple (No. 36)
  • Legal Writing: Rutgers (No. 13), Temple (No. 15), Drexel (No. 21), Villanova (No. 27), Widener-Delaware (No. 50)
  • Tax Law: Penn (No. 18), Temple (No. 28), Villanova (No. 39)
  • Trial Advocacy: Temple (No. 1), Drexel (No. 10), Rutgers (No. 49)
  • Part-Time Law Programs: Temple (No. 7), Rutgers (No. 15)


source: https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/03/29/villanova-surpasses-temple-in-law-school-rankings.html

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