Harvard, Duke Law Schools Drop from Top 5 in 2025 U.S. News Rankings

Harvard and Duke Law Schools dropped out of the top five in the 2025 U.S. News rankings, while Stanford and Yale maintained their shared first-place positions.

Key points:

Harvard and Duke Law Schools are now tied at No. 6, falling out of the top five for 2025.
Stanford and Yale retained their shared No. 1 ranking, followed by Chicago, Virginia, and Penn.
Vanderbilt saw the biggest rise, jumping five spots to tie for No. 14.

Harvard Law School and Duke University School of Law have dropped out of the top five in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, released Tuesday. The two prestigious schools are now tied for sixth place, following a reshuffling within the top 20 law schools in the publication’s 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings.

Stanford Law School and Yale Law School continue to share the top spot, maintaining the same ranking as last year. The University of Chicago, University of Virginia, and University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School round out the rest of the top five. Columbia and Northwestern both fell slightly, while Vanderbilt University posted the largest gain, jumping five spots to tie for No. 14.

Here’s how the top 20 law schools ranked this year, with changes from the previous year:

1. Stanford (same), Yale (same)
3. University of Chicago (same)
4. University of Virginia (same)
5. University of Pennsylvania (down 1)
6. Duke (down 2), Harvard (down 2)
8. NYU (up 1), Michigan (up 1)
10. Columbia (down 2), Northwestern (down 1)
12. UCLA (up 1)
13. UC Berkeley (down 1)
14. Georgetown (same), Texas (up 2), Vanderbilt (up 5), Washington University in St. Louis (up 2)
18. Cornell (down 4), UNC Chapel Hill (up 2)
20. Minnesota (down 4), Notre Dame (same)

According to ABA Journal, nearly 60% of the U.S. News ranking formula is based on bar passage and job placement outcomes, with the remaining 40% drawn from faculty resources, student credentials, and peer reputation surveys.

Despite their wide visibility, the rankings have drawn increased skepticism in recent years. A Kaplan survey of 93 law school admissions officers found that 62% believe the rankings have lost prestige over the past few years—up from 51% in 2023. Meanwhile, only 26% of prelaw students in a separate Kaplan survey thought eliminating rankings altogether would be a positive development.

Rankings for the 2025 cycle are based on data collected from ABA disclosures and U.S. News surveys sent to ABA-accredited law schools. Of the roughly 200 institutions surveyed, 154 submitted responses for inclusion.