U of A LAW SCHOOL MAKES TOP 100 IN U.S. NEWS RANKINGS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The University of Arkansas School of Law received a Top 100 ranking in the annual U.S.News and World Report assessment of the top law schools in America released Friday.

U.S. News ranked the Top 100 schools separately from the remaining institutions, which were then split into two lower tiers in determining overall rankings.

"I have taught at the Law School for nearly 30 years, and while yearly rankings have vacillated, one thing has remained constant: the Law School provides an excellent legal education at a price which is a bargain compared to most of our peers," said Dean Richard Atkinson. "We are, of course, pleased whenever this fact is recognized as it has been today in the U.S.News and World Report. Presumably, some of the factors taken into account are our exceptionally favorable teacher/student ratio, a legal writing program that is second to none, our successful placement of students both locally and nationally, the real sense of community students and teachers enjoy here, the nationally recognized scholarship of many on the faculty and an outstanding skills program."

The rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students. For the law rankings as well as the areas of business, education, engineering and medicine, indicator and opinion data come from surveys of more than 1,000 programs and nearly 7,000 academics and other professionals conducted in the fall of 2002.

The methodology involved with ranking each accredited law school is based on a weighted average of 12 measures of quality including quality assessment, selectivity, placement success, and faculty resources to achieve an overall rank.

"Clearly the word regarding quality is getting out," Atkinson said. "Over a 1,000 students, a record number, have applied for admission next fall, and that entering class will likely be the strongest we have ever had with respect to grades and LSAT scores."

The University of Arkansas ranked 91^st in the assessment with Yale University coming in No. 1 on the list. The remainder of the Top 5 included Stanford University, Harvard University, Columbia University and New York University.