Scholarships in the United States

Scholarly Impact Ranking of Law Faculties

Professor Gregory Sisk and his colleagues in the law library at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) produced a 2012 study of the 70 law faculties with the highest scholarly impact, based on both average and median impact as measured by citations.

The ranking below weights the mean score for twice as much as the median; the final information on the right lists the ten most-cited faculty.

1. Law School: Yale University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 1629 ; Mean: 597 ; Median: 435 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: B. Ackerman, A. Amar, I. Ayres, J. Balkin, W. Eskridge, D. Kahan, J. Macey, R. Post, J. Resnik, R. Siegel
2. Law School: Harvard University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 1326 ; Mean: 481 ; Median: 364 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: L. Bebchuk, R. Fallon, J. Goldsmith, L. Kaplow, L. Lessig, M. Minow, S. Shavell,  *L. Tribe, M. Tushnet, A. Vermeule
3. Law School: University of Chicago : Weighted Score of this Law School: 1215 ; Mean: 440 ; Median: 335 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Baird, T. Ginsburg, B. Leiter, S. Levmore, R. McAdams, M. Nussbaum, E. Posner, G. Stone, D. Strauss, D. Weisbach
4. Law School: Stanford University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 1176 ; Mean: 439 ; Median: 298 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: *L. Friedman, R. Gilson (part-time), P. Goldstein, *R. Gordon, P. Karlan, L. Kramer (part-time), M. Lemley, M. McConnell, D. Rhode, K. Sullivan (part-time)
5. Law School: New York University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 1141 ; Mean: 402 ; Median: 337 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: R. Dreyfuss, *R. Dworkin (part-time), R. Epstein, B. Friedman, S. Issacharoff, *A. Miller, G. Miller, R. Pildes, *R. Stewart, J. Waldron (part-time)
6. Law School: Columbia University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 962 ; Mean: 345 ; Median: 272 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Coffee, *G. Fletcher, R. Gilson (part-time), J. Ginsburg, * K. Greenawalt, T. Merrill, *H. Monaghan, *J. Raz (part-time), R. Scott, W. Simon
7. Law School: University of California, Irvine : Weighted Score of this Law School: 922 ; Mean: 352 ; Median: 218 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Burk, E. Chemerinsky, C. Fisk, B. Garth, R. Hasen, C. Leslie, E. Loftus, C. Menkel-Meadow, R. Reese, C. Tomlins
8. Law School: Vanderbilt University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 891 ; Mean: 307 ; Median: 277 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: M. Blair, L. Bressman, C. Guthrie, N. King, E. Rubin, J.B. Ruhl, S. Sherry, C. Slobogin, R. Thomas, W. Viscusi
9. Law School: Cornell University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 793 ; Mean: 283 ; Median: 227 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: G. Alexander, K. Clermont, M. Dorf, T. Eisenberg, V. Hans, M. Heise, R. Hillman, J. Rachlinski, S. Schwab, L. Stout
10. Law School: University of California, Berkeley : Weighted Score of this Law School: 788 ; Mean: 299 ; Median: 190 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: *J. Choper, R. Cooter, *M. Eisenberg, D. Farber, A. Guzman, P. Menell, R. Merges, P. Samuelson, J. Yoo, *F. Zimring
11. Law School: Duke University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 744 ; Mean: 263 ; Median: 218 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Boyle, C. Bradley, *P. Carrington, J. Cox, M. Gulati, L. Helfer, A. Rai, J. Salzman, S. Schwarcz, E. Young
12. Law School: University of Pennsylvania : Weighted Score of this Law School: 752 ; Mean: 273 ; Median: 206 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: S. Bibas, W. Bratton, S. Burbank, J. Fisch, G. Parchomovsky (part-time), D. Roberts, P. Robinson, E. Rock, D. Skeel, C. Yoo
13. Law School: Northwestern University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 705 ; Mean: 259 ; Median: 187 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: R. Allen, B. Black, S. Calabresi, *A. D’Amato, D. Dana, S. Diamond, A. Koppelman, J. McGinnis, J. Pfander, M. Redish
14. Law School: University of California, Los Angeles : Weighted Score of this Law School: 679 ; Mean: 251 ; Median: 177 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: S. Bainbridge, D. Carbado, K. Crenshaw (part-time), J. Kang, R. Korobkin, L. Lopucki, H. Motomura, N. Netanel, K. Raustiala, E. Volokh
15. Law School: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor : Weighted Score of this Law School: 673 ; Mean: 240 ; Median: 193 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: S. Bagenstos, S. Croley, R. Eisenberg, S. Gross, *J. Krier, J. Litman, C. MacKinnon, A. Pritchard, *M. Radin, *J. White
16. Law School: George Washington University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 599 ; Mean: 216 ; Median: 167 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: N. Cahn, L. Cunningham, O. Kerr, W. Kovacic, S. Murphy, R. Pierce, J. Rosen, M. Selmi, D. Shelton, D. Solove
17. Law School: University of Virginia : Weighted Score of this Law School: 607 ; Mean: 226 ; Median: 155 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Duffy, B. Garrett, J. Jeffries, *E. Kitch, D. Laycock, C. Nelson, S. Prakash, J. Ryan, F. Schauer, *G.E. White
18. Law School: Georgetown University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 565 ; Mean: 216 ; Median: 133 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: T. Aleinikoff, R. Barnett, J. Cohen, D. Cole, L. Gostin, N. Katyal, D. Langevoort, D. Luban, L. Solum, R. Thompson
19. Law School: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul : Weighted Score of this Law School: 556 ; Mean: 190 ; Median: 176 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: T. Cotter, R. Duff (part-time), K. Hickman, C. Hill, B. Karkkainen, H. Kritzer, B. McDonnell, F. Parisi, M. Tonry, D. Weissbrodt
20. Law School: University of Texas, Austin : Weighted Score of this Law School: 550 ; Mean: 198 ; Median: 154 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: M. Berman, R. Bone, R. Chesney, F. Cross, D. Jinks, *S. Levinson, T. McGarity, *L. Sager, W. Wagner, J. Westbrook
21. Law School: Boston University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 501 ; Mean: 173 ; Median: 155 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: G. Annas, J. Beermann, S. Dogan, *T. Frankel, W. Gordon, K. Hylton, G. Lawson, T. Maclin, L. McClain, M. Meurer
22. Law School: George Mason University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 499 ; Mean: 177 ; Median: 145 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Bernstein, H. Butler, E. Claeys, M. Greve, B. Kobayashi, N. Lund, A. Mossoff, T. Muris, I. Somin, T. Zywicki
23. Law School: University of California, Davis : Weighted Score of this Law School: 469 ; Mean: 172 ; Median: 125 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: V. Amar, A. Brownstein, A. Chander, J. Chin, A. Harris, E. Imwinkelried, K. Johnson, A. Lin, M. Sunder, D. Ventry
24. Law School: University of Southern California : Weighted Score of this Law School: 455 ; Mean: 167 ; Median: 121 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: L. Epstein, S. Estrich, E. Garrett, G. Hadfield, E. Kamar, E. McCaffery, M. Mccubbins, R. Rasmussen, N. Staudt, *C. Stone
25. Law School: Yeshiva University, Cardozo Law School : Weighted Score of this Law School: 454 ; Mean: 161 ; Median: 132 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: B. Frischmann, M. Gilles, M. Hamilton, J. Hughes, M. Rosenfeld, B. Scheck, A. Sebok, A. Stein, S. Sterk, E. Zelinsky
26. Law School: Emory University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 443 ; Mean: 159 ; Median: 125 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: R. Ahdieh, W. Buzbee, *W. Carney, M. Dudziak, M. Fineman, J. Nash, M. Perry, R. Schapiro, J. Witte, B. Woodhouse
27. Law School: Washington U University, St. Louis : Weighted Score of this Law School: 436 ; Mean: 148 ; Median: 140 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: S. Appleton, K. Brickey, P. Joy, P. Kim, *D. Mandelker, N. Richards, L. Sadat, H. Sale, K. Syverud, B. Tamanaha
28. Law School: University of Colorado, Boulder : Weighted Score of this Law School: 418 ; Mean: 142 ; Median: 134 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: V. Fleischer, M. Hart, P. Huang, S. Moss, C. Mueller, P. Ohm, P. Schlag, A. Schmitz, P. Weiser, *C. Wilkinson
29. Law School: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign : Weighted Score of this Law School: 429 ; Mean: 146 ; Median: 137 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: M. Finkin, E. Freyfogle, P. Heald, D. Hyman, J. Kesan, R. Lawless, M. Moore, C. Tabb, S. Thomas, C. Williams
30. Law School: Ohio State University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 414 ; Mean: 150 ; Median: 114 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Berman, G. Caldeira, M. Chamallas, R. Colker, S. Davidoff, J. Dressler, C. Fairman, D. Merritt, P. Shane, P. Swire
31. Law School: University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) : Weighted Score of this Law School: 411 ; Mean: 151 ; Median: 109 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: T. Berg, T. Collett, R. Delahunty, N. Hamilton, L. Johnson (part-time), M. Paulsen, G. Sisk, S. Stabile, R. Vischer
32. Law School: Washington & Lee University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 403 ; Mean: 140 ; Median: 123 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: N. Demleitner, M. Drumbl, J. Fairfield, S. Franck, L. Johnson (part-time), T. Jost, E. Luna, D. Millon, A. Spencer, R. Wilson
33. Law School: Florida State University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 385 ; Mean: 136 ; Median: 113 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: F. Abbott, R. Atkinson, *J. Dodge, A. Hirsch, S. Hsu, M. Kapp, W. Logan, D. Markel, D. Markell, M. Seidenfeld
34. Law School: Hofstra University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 399 ; Mean: 142 ; Median: 115 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: A. Burke, R. Bush, J. Dolgin, E. Freedman, *M. Freedman, J. Grossman, J. Ku, R. Neumann, A. Resnick, A. Schepard
35. Law School: Indiana University, Bloomington : Weighted Score of this Law School: 394 ; Mean: 129 ; Median: 136 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: C. Bradley, F. Cate, K. Dau-Schmidt, D. Fidler, C. Geyh, M. Grossberg, W. Henderson, M. Janis, D. Johnsen, L. Lederman
36. Law School: University of Arizona : Weighted Score of this Law School: 397 ; Mean: 154 ; Median: 89 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Anaya, J. Braucher, K. Engel, *D. Gantz, R. Glennon, T. Massaro, M. Miller, *C. Rose, W. Sjostrom, R. Williams
37. Law School: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill : Weighted Score of this Law School: 392 ; Mean: 144 ; Median: 104 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: A. Brophy, J. Conley, V. Flatt, M. Gerhardt, T. Hazen, M. Jacoby, W. Marshall, R. Mosteller, G. Nichol, G. Polsky, J. Wegner
38. Law School: Case Western Reserve University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 370 ; Mean: 132 ; Median: 106 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Adler, G. Dent, J. Entin, P. Giannelli, S. Hoffman, R. Ku, K. McMunigal, L. Mitchell, C. Nard, M. Scharf
39. Law School: University of California, Hastings : Weighted Score of this Law School: 376 ; Mean: 143 ; Median: 90 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: W. Dodge, S. Dodson, D. Faigman, *G. Hazard, J. Leshy, R. Marcus, U. Mattei (part-time), N. Roht-Arriaza, D. Weisberg, J. Williams
40. Law School: University of Notre Dame : Weighted Score of this Law School: 375 ; Mean: 133 ; Median: 109 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: R. Alford, M. Brinig, *J. Finnis (part-time), N. Garnett, R. Garnett, M. McKenna, J. Nagle, N. Newton, M. O’Connell, J. Tidmarsh
41. Law School: Brooklyn Law School : Weighted Score of this Law School: 352 ; Mean: 122 ; Median: 108 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: A. Bernstein, J. Fanto, M. Garrison, E. Janger, *R. Karmel, E. Schneider, C. Serkin, L. Solan, N. Tebbe, *A. Twerski
42. Law School: College of William & Mary : Weighted Score of this Law School: 351 ; Mean: 120 ; Median: 111 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Barnard, N. Devins, A. Gershowitz, M. Green, L. Heymann, C. Koch, P. Marcus, M. Stein, *W. Van Alstyne, T. Zick
43. Law School: Fordham University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 348 ; Mean: 128 ; Median: 92 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Brudney, D. Capra, M. Flaherty, S. Foster, J. Gordon, B. Green, S. Griffith, S. Katyal, E. Lieb., J. Reidenberg, B. Zipursky
44. Law School: University of Maryland, Baltimore : Weighted Score of this Law School: 337 ; Mean: 125 ; Median: 87 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: T. Banks, D. Citron, M. Ertman, D. Gifford, M. Graber, R. Percival, W. Reynolds, J. Singer, M. Stearns, R. Steinzor
45. Law School: University of Houston : Weighted Score of this Law School: 327 ; Mean: 114 ; Median: 99 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Crump, L. Hoffman, *P. Janicke, C. Joyce, J. Lipton, G. Moohr, R. Nimmer, M. Olivas, J. Paust, J. Sanders
46. Law School: University of Nevada, Las Vegas : Weighted Score of this Law School: 325 ; Mean: 117 ; Median: 91 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: L. Berger, L. Edwards, R. Garcia, S. Lazos, T. Main, A. McGinley, N. Rapoport, J. Stempel, J. Sternlight, D. Tanenhaus
47. Law School: American University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 309 ; Mean: 113 ; Median: 83 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: K. Anderson, J. Baker, A. Davis, D. Hunter, P. Jaszi, J. May, D. Orentlicher, N. Polikoff, A. Taslitz, S. Vladeck
48. Law School: University of Alabama : Weighted Score of this Law School: 307 ; Mean: 107 ; Median: 93 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: A. Durham, S. Hamill, P. Horwitz, R. Krotoszynski, J. Leonard, A. Morriss, M. Pardo, P. Pierson, K. Randall, S. Randall
49. Law School: University of Iowa : Weighted Score of this Law School: 303 ; Mean: 115 ; Median: 73 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: R. Bezanson, C. Bohannan, S. Burton, A. Estin, H. Hovenkamp, S. Kurtz, A. Onwuachi-Willig, M. Osiel, T. Pettys, A. Wing
50. Law School: University of Pittsburgh : Weighted Score of this Law School: 305 ; Mean: 111 ; Median: 83 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Brake, R. Brand, D. Branson, M. Crossley, L. Frolik, D. Harris, *A. Hellman, J. Lobel, M. Madison, R. Wasserman
51. Law School: University of Utah : Weighted Score of this Law School: 310 ; Mean: 110 ; Median: 90 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: R. Adler, A. Anghie, P. Cassell, R. Craig, L. Francis, A. Guiora, R. Keiter, L. Kessler, C. Peterson, *A. Reitze
52. Law School: Arizona State : Weighted Score of this Law School: 293 ; Mean: 111 ; Median: 71 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: K. Abbott, D. Bodansky, R. Clinton, I. Ellman, A. Fellmeth, C. Hessick, J. Hodge, *J. Murphy, M. Saks, R. Tsosie
53. Law School: Boston College : Weighted Score of this Law School: 287 ; Mean: 100 ; Median: 87 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: M. Brodin, *G. Brown, R. Cassidy, D. Coquillette, H. Greenfield, R. Jones, D. Kanstroom, J. Liu, Z. Plater, A. Yen
54. Law School: Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law : Weighted Score of this Law School: 295 ; Mean: 105 ; Median: 85 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: L. Andrews, E. Brody, H. Krent, E. Lee, M. Malin, N. Marder, H. Perritt, M. Rosen, *A. Tarlock, R. Wright
55. Law School: University of Hawaii : Weighted Score of this Law School: 299 ; Mean: 126 ; Median: 47 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Antolini, H. Beh, D. Callies, L. Krieger, C. Lawrence, J. Levinson, M. Matsuda, J. Ramsfield, A. Soifer, E. Yamamoto
56. Law School: University of San Diego : Weighted Score of this Law School: 298 ; Mean: 119 ; Median: 60 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: L. Alexander, A. Bell (part-time), R. Brooks, D. Dripps, O. Lobel, D. McGowan, F. Partnoy, M. Ramsey, M. Rappaport, S. Smith
57. Law School: Brigham Young University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 280 ; Mean: 103 ; Median: 74 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: W. Durham, J. Fee, *J. Fleming, F. Gedicks, D. Moore, J. Rasband, B. Scharffs, D. Smith, L. Wardle
58. Law School: New York Law School : Weighted Score of this Law School: 281 ; Mean: 99 ; Median: 83 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: E. Chambliss, S. Ellmann, D. Hunter, R. Jonakait, B. Noveck, M. Perlin, *E. Purcell, *D. Schoenbrod, N. Strossen, R. Teitel
59. Law School: Temple University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 273 ; Mean: 102 ; Median: 69 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Baron, S. Burris, J. Dunoff, D. Hoffman, D. Kairys, J. Lipson, G. Mandel, D. Post, A. Sinden, P. Spiro
60. Law School: Tulane University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 277 ; Mean: 104 ; Median: 69 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: A. Feibelman, *R. Force, J. Gordley, S. Griffin, *O. Houck, M. Kornhauser, G. Lunney, D. Meyer, *V. Palmer, *E. Sherman
61. Law School: University of Florida, Gainesville : Weighted Score of this Law School: 274 ; Mean: 101 ; Median: 72 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: N. Dowd, M. Fenster, J. Harrison, B. Hernandez-Truyol, L. Lidsky, M. McMahon, L. Noah, W. Page, L. Riskin, M. Wolf
62. Law School: University of Georgia : Weighted Score of this Law School: 277 ; Mean: 101 ; Median: 75 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Amann, E. Burch, D. Coenen, *W. Hellerstein, E. Leonard, J. Miller, P. Rutledge, J. Smith, *A. Watson, M. Wells
63. Law School: University of Missouri, Columbia : Weighted Score of this Law School: 274 ; Mean: 100 ; Median: 74 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: D. Abrams, F. Bowman, D. Crouch, C. Esbeck, R. Gely, J. Lande, P. Peters, R. Reuben, R. Uphoff, C. Wells
64. Law School: Chapman University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 260 ; Mean: 103 ; Median: 54 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: M. Bazyler, T. Bell, J. Eastman, K. Eggert, D. Kochan, H. Noyes, R. Redding, L. Rosenthal, R. Rotunda, *V. Smith
65. Law School: Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law : Weighted Score of this Law School: 263 ; Mean: 93 ; Median: 77 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: T. Carbonneau, L. Cata Backer, E. Dannin, D. Kaye, J. Lopatka, C. Rogers, V. Romero, S. Ross, L. Terry, N. Welsh
66. Law School: Rutgers University, Camden : Weighted Score of this Law School: 262 ; Mean: 101 ; Median: 60 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: L. Bosniak, M. Carrier, J. Feinman, K. Ferzan, E. Goodman, F. Lastowka, E. Maltz, D. Patterson (part-time), B. Stephens, R. Williams
67. Law School: Seattle University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 268 ; Mean: 102 ; Median: 64 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: S. Bender, R. Chang, M. Chon, R. Delgado, *D. Engdahl, J. Mitchell, M. Niles, A. Siegel, D. Skover, J. Stefancic
68. Law School: Seton Hall University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 265 ; Mean: 91 ; Median: 83 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: M. Denbeaux, E. Hartnett, S. Lubben, S. Maldonado, F. Pasquale, M. Poirier, D. Risinger, A. Ristroph, A. Steinman, C. Sullivan
69. Law School: University of Cincinnati : Weighted Score of this Law School: 253 ; Mean: 94 ; Median: 65 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: T. Armstrong, L. Bilionis, B. Black, A. Bryant, P. Caron, J. Cogan, M. Godsey, E. Houh, B. Mank, M. Solimine, J. Tomain
70. Law School: University of Wisconsin, Madison : Weighted Score of this Law School: 259 ; Mean: 90 ; Median: 79 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: A. Althouse, *P. Carstensen, R. Charo, H. Erlanger, S. Ghosh, H. Klug, E. Mertz, M. Raymond, J. Rogers, D. Schwartz
71. Law School: Wake Forest University : Weighted Score of this Law School: 268 ; Mean: 105 ; Median: 58 . Most Cited Legal Scholars in this Law School: J. Collins, *M. Curtis, M. Green, M. Hall, J. Knox, A. Palmiter, W. Parker, S. Shapiro, M. Taylor, R. Wright

(* indicates 70 or older in 2012)

Professor Sisk and his colleagues give a detailed explanation of the project:

“This study explores the scholarly impact of law faculties, ranking the top third of ABA-accredited law schools. Refined by Professor Brian Leiter, the “Scholarly Impact Score” 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 members of that law faculty. In addition to a school-by-school ranking, we report the mean, median, and weighted score for each law faculty, along with a listing of the tenured law faculty members at each ranked law school with the highest individual citation counts.

Representing one-third of accredited American law schools, the law faculties ranked in this study have concretely demonstrated a collective commitment to legal scholarship. The law faculties at Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, and New York University continue to stand out nationally in scholarly prominence. Vanderbilt at #8 and Cornell at #9 have both risen a couple of places since 2010 into the Scholarly Impact top ten, with Columbia at #6, the new law school at California-Irvine at #7, and California-Berkeley at #10.

Rounding out the top 20 are other law schools traditionally ranked among the nation’s elite institutions — Pennsylvania, Duke, Northwestern, Michigan, UCLA, Virginia, George Washington, Georgetown, Minnesota, and Texas. Inside the top 25 for Scholarly Impact ranking are Boston University, George Mason, California-Davis, USC, and Cardozo. Just outside the top 25 are Emory, Washington University, Illinois, and Colorado. Three law faculties are tied for the #30 position: Ohio State, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), and Washington & Lee.

Brooklyn, Cardozo, Case Western, Chapman, Colorado, Florida State, George Mason, Hawaii, Hofstra, Houston, Missouri-Columbia, Nevada-Las Vegas, New York Law School, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers-Camden, Seattle, and the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) achieve Scholarly Impact Scores well above the rankings assigned by U.S. News. Three newer law schools accredited within the past two decades — the University of St. Thomas, Nevada-Las Vegas, and Chapman — have already made a scholarly impact that dramatically outpaces their present academic reputations.”

For Professor Brian Leiter:

“In general, law faculty who have already accepted senior offers for next year are credited to the school where they will teach. The study is limited to tenure-stream faculty, with some exceptions (e.g., Derrick Bell, who has been a “visiting professor” at NYU for many years now, so is a de facto tenure-stream faculty member). Some faculty split their time between two schools; as long as they are actually teaching at both, the citations are credited in full to each. (So, e.g., Richard Epstein splits his time between University of Chicago and NYU; Ronald Gilson splits between Stanford and Columbia; Kimberle Crenshaw between Columbia and UCLA.) Faculty who have left for major government service, which may take them out of the academy for many years, are not included (e.g., Elena Kagan, Harold Koh, Cass Sunstein, among others).

The new law faculty at the University of California at Irvine presents a special case, since they have only filled about a third of their planned faculty slots. Given Dean Chemerinsky’s very high citation count (he is now the most cited full-time law professor in the country, with Sunstein’s departure for government service), to simply add his cite count to the currently relatively small number of faculty would produce highly misleading results. At the same time, as a new law school, some indication of its scholarly impact performance seems especially relevant, so I have adopted the following device: I have assumed that the next hires will have the same scholarly impact as the third of the faculty already hired (not including Chemerinsky), and thus have estimated Irvine’s per capita impact score on that basis (so basically Chemerinsky’s citations plus (the total citations of all other faculty times 3) divided by the (current faculty size x 3) plus Chemerinsky).
Schools are rank-ordered by their weighted score, which is the mean X 2 plus the median (since mean is more probative of overall impact than median, it gets more weight in the final score). The ten most cited faculty are listed in the final column; those over 70 in 2010 are marked with an asterisk. In some cases, older faculty account for quite a lot of the result (e.g., three of NYU’s ten most cited faculty are between the ages of 76 and 80; four of Columbia’s ten most cited are 70 or older).
We studied 34 faculties based on the 2007 results as the ones likely to make it into the top twenty-five for the time period studied here. Outside “the top 25” the faculties are not rank-ordered since it is possible that some faculties not studied might well have performed competitively.

Needless to say, citation studies are but one measure of the scholarly distinction of faculties. They tend to favor smaller faculties over larger faculties, which no doubt explains why schools like Texas and Virginia and Georgetown come out behind schools like Vanderbilt and Cornell, even though I don’t think any informed scholarly judgment would rate them that way. So, as always, large differences in rank (and, in particular, in normalized score) are more meaningful than small differences.”

Finding the law: Scholarships in the U.S. Code

A collection of general and permanent laws relating to scholarships, passed by the United States Congress, are organized by subject matter arrangements in the United States Code (U.S.C.; this label examines scholarships topics), to make them easy to use (usually, organized by legal areas into Titles, Chapters and Sections). The platform provides introductory material to the U.S. Code, and cross references to case law. View the U.S. Code’s table of contents here.

Resources

Further Reading

• Information about Scholarships in the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law.