Copywrite

The 2007 US News rankings are out, and the new top 10 IP law schools shifted a little.

1. Univ of Ca.-Berkeley (Boalt)
2. Stanford Univ.
3. George Washington Univ.
4. Santa Clara Univ.
5. Univ. of Houston 
6. Cardozo-Yeshiva Univ.
7. Duke Univ. / Franklin Pierce Law Center
8. x
9. Chicago-Kent College of Law
10. Columbia Univ.

For the 2006 Rankings

1. Univ of Ca.-Berkeley (Boalt)
2. Stanford Univ.
3. George Washington Univ.
4. Univ. of Houston 
5. Cardozo-Yeshiva Univ.
6. Franklin Pierce Law Center
7. Columbia Univ.
8. Duke Univ./New York Univ.
9. x
10. Boston Univ.

Lets just say that I have a few issues with these rankings. First, Santa Clara? It seems inconceivable that any program could go from off the chart to number 4 in a year. Where did NYU go? What of Washington-St. Louis? This is nothing against Santa Clara, but more an issue with the methodology for specialty rankings. The 2005 rankings had NYU at #5, and Santa Clara at #13. There seems to be something wrong with the swings, unless there have been massive changes in funding and faculty.

I am vastly interested in the rankings because, at the moment, I am shopping LL.M./S.J.D. programs in I.P. To get more data than US News provides, there needs to be a specific dataset on I.P. programs – something I will get right on as soon as the semester is over. Please make suggestions as to the information you would like to know. Myself, I would like to know about hiring data, externships, etc. Something not reflected in the US News rankings.