U.S. News & World Report has again ranked the University of Wisconsin Law School among the top law schools in the country. UW Law's ranking moved to #43 from #29 out of 198 law schools, placing it in the top 22% of U.S. law schools. 

UW Law's continued recognition comes in a year in which the Law School has made tremendous efforts to bring in great students; continued building an inclusive community, including the hiring of the inaugural associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion; grown its outstanding faculty filled with leading experts in their field; and elevated the resources in its Office of Career and Professional Development to connect students with excellent career opportunities. 

UW does particularly well in the access metrics that are part of the U.S. News law school ranking, thanks to its relatively low tuition and commitment to providing financial aid to students – whatever their background – with the capacity to excel as lawyers and leaders. The average indebtedness of UW Law graduates who incur law school debt is $71,700, far below the national average. As result, UW Law improved its ranking from #21 to #18 in the category of J.D. graduate debt. 

UW Law's continued recognition comes at a time in which U.S. News has modified its methodology to discount diploma privilege, which allows UW Law graduates to be admitted to the Wisconsin bar shortly after graduation. UW Law's bar passage rate is 100%, for students admitted through the diploma privilege and other students taking the bar exam in another state. Still, its ranking on this metric dropped to #45 from #6 due to this methodological change. This change appears to be a contributing factor to the change in UW Law's overall ranking. 

UW Law continues to rank well in other rankings systems, including Princeton Review and National Jurist (Best Value). 

"Our ranking is not our mission," said Dean Dan Tokaji. "But as I noted last year when our ranking improved, it helps us do things that are critical to our mission. That includes bringing in great students, providing them with innovative learning opportunities, connecting them with great jobs, and growing our outstanding faculty filled with leading experts in their fields. We will intensify our efforts in all these areas, which we hope will elevate our ranking and will advance our mission of educating a diverse group of exceptional lawyers and leaders."

Submitted by Law School News on March 29, 2022

This article appears in the categories: Features

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