The William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa scored first in the country as the law school with the Greatest Resources for Minority Students in the 2018 evaluation by The Princeton Review.
The law school also ranked fourth in the nation for a Most Diverse Faculty and tenth as the school that is Most Chosen by Older Students.
Acting Dean Melody K. MacKenzie said the new annual rankings emphasize the school’s high value and welcoming environment.
“While rankings provide a glimpse into what the best law schools in the country offer prospective students, they are always just one way to evaluate a law school,” said MacKenzie. “At Richardson we also value the camaraderie, caring and compassion provided by our faculty and staff, as well as by the students themselves. Our students come to us with a passion to give back, and we give them the skills and tools necessary to be effective and skillful advocates for their communities.”
The evaluation comes out annually and is partly based on surveys of 19,900 law students across the country from the 2015–2017 academic years. The surveys ask students about themselves and their career plans, and covering academics, student body characteristics and campus life. On average, 118 students were surveyed at each law school. Institutional data used in the rankings was collected in 2016–17.
The survey does not rank the schools on a hierarchy, but instead uses 11 lists to look more closely at what the schools offer and the environment on their campuses.
—By Beverly Creamer
