Law School remains in top tier according to U.S. News & World annual report

Highest ranked small law school in nation

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law maintained its spot as the highest-ranking small law school in the top tier in the U.S. News and World Report annual law school rankings this year. The Law School also continues to rank number one in the entire country in terms of its diversity and as third-best overall for its low faculty/student ratio.

This year the full-time J.D program moved from 95 to 106 among the nation’s top 146 law schools. The new part-time evening program moved up to 23rd in the country out of 85 part-time programs nationally ranked. The Environmental Law Program ranked 22nd in the nation. The Law School also kept its standing among the top 25 most selective schools in terms of the ratio of admission offers to applications.

Law School Dean Aviam Soifer said, “We continue to have many reasons beyond the numbers to be very proud of our Law School, though it is undeniably nice to be highly rated in several important areas. These rankings are skewed against small schools so our ranking in key areas is more remarkable. A study by renowned economist and author, Malcolm Gladwell, published last year in The New Yorker magazine suggested that law school ranking should be based upon an index of value for the tuition dollar (40%); LSAT score (40%); and faculty scholarship (20%).  Using this formula, we were ranked 30th in the nation.” 

Soifer added, “Regardless of the methodology, we are very proud that our Law School is known across the nation for the opportunities we offer for an excellent, face-to-face legal education within a remarkably diverse student body.” 

Soifer continued: “The kind of joy we shared when Justice Sonia Sotomayor spent an amazing week with us last month cannot be quantified and her glowing praise for our Law School was particularly meaningful, including her comments highlighting the quality of our faculty and students as well as our unmatched commitment to public service.”

The U.S. News and World Report rankings of professional schools in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine are based on statistical indicators self-reported by law school administrators across the nation as well as survey results from the judicial branch, and most recently, the top 100 large law firms in the continental U.S.