Brian Leiter's 2008 Top 40 Law Schools by Student Quality Now Available

Brian Leiter (Texas) has published his Ranking of Top 40 Law Schools by Student (Numerical) Quality 2008 on Brian Leiter's Law School Rankings website. Noting that LSAT scores are "the best, crude proxy available for measuring student quality," he ranks the top 40 schools as measured by the average of the 75th and 25th percentile LSAT scores for the class that entered in fall 2007. Class size is the first tie breaker: the larger school with the same LSAT credentials was ranked higher. The second tie breaker is the average of the 75th and 25th percentile GPA scores.

Leiter's previous annual rankings of law schools by student quality can be accessed from this link. Note the change in method. How schools fare in placing their graduates in Supreme Court and appellate clerkships and law teaching jobs is also a good proxy for how strong the high end of the class is. See Leiter's Top Producers of New Law Teachers, 2003-2007 and Supreme Court Clerkship Placement, 2000 Through 2007 Terms. [JH]