Top 25 Law Schools Ranked by Law Firm Recruiters

U.S. News asked 750 hiring partners and recruiters at law firms who made the 2010 Best Law Firms to rank the best law schools. Note that the response rate was 14 percent. From the US News story, Law Firm Recruiters Rank Best Law Schools:

U.S. News asked hiring partners to rank the schools based on a 5-point scale, with 5 being outstanding, 4 strong, 3 good, 2 adequate, and 1 marginal. Unlike the main U.S. News rankings of law schools, which take into account many factors, including selectivity, faculty resources, and success in placing graduates in jobs, the rankings by recruiting professionals are strictly reputational in nature based upon their assessment of each school's academic quality.

Here's the Top 10:

1. Harvard University 4.9
2. Stanford University 4.8
2. Yale University 4.8
4. Columbia University 4.7
4. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 4.7
6. New York University 4.6
6. University of Virginia 4.6
8. Cornell University 4.5
8. Duke University 4.5
8. Northwestern University 4.5
8. University of California–Berkeley 4.5
8. University of Chicago 4.5

The rest of the top 25 ranked schools here. The complete list of the top 100 schools ranked by law firm recruiters will be available on March 15th when US News releases its annual law school rankings report. [JH]