31 Oct 2012 at 12:03 PM

Posted in:Law Schools, Rankings

Ranking The Worst ABA-Accredited Law Schools

By Elie Mystal

Hey, don’t blame us. We didn’t make this list of the worst law schools in the country.
In the Above the Law Career Center, we just give law schools letter grades, based on user surveys completed by ATL readers. But the Daily Caller has compiled a list of the ten worst ABA-accredited law schools. Mwahaha.
One really strong point about this list is that it’s more outcome-oriented than other rankings. It’s not looking at LSAT scores and GPAs; it’s looking at bar passage rates, cost, and employment data.
So, send your angry emails to the Daily Caller, or your own administrators, if you are unlucky enough to be going to one of these schools…

You can look at the full list here. Many of the schools won’t surprise you. Whittier Law School snags the spot as the “worst” ABA accredited law school:

Whittier Law School in Orange County, California is, officially, the worst law school in the United States. Appalachian School of Law edges out the University of Law Verne College of Law and several other richly deserving candidates for second-worst place.
Whittier, Appalachian and La Verne essentially tied for the uncoveted bottom spot, but Whittier “won” the tiebreaker, thanks to a pitiful 17.1 percent employment score. In addition Whittier’s 61 percent under-employment score is the highest among all ABA-approved schools.

Thomas Jefferson Law School made the list. And so did the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. While the Daily Caller was busy slamming Cooley, its site was displaying a Google ad for… Thomas M. Cooley Law School:

Cooley Law: For people who look at the Google ads but don’t read the articles.
The Daily Caller ends its piece with a pretty good summary of the state of legal education at the bottom of the barrel:

The handful of law schools around the nation that the American Bar Association has not (yet) deigned to approve may be even worse than the schools on this list. On the other hand, no national, powerful, quasi-official organization is holding them out as worthy of three years of your time and a ton of your money.

Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure the “quasi-official” ABA is in the process of accrediting a new terrible school even as we speak.
Gulags: the 10 worst ABA-accredited law schools [Daily Caller]

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/10/ranking-the-worst-aba-accredited-law-schools/#more-202939