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UT Back in Top 100 Among U.S. Law Schools: Program Ties for 93rd in Magazine Ratings

Posted on: Friday, 31 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Ignazio Messina, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

Mar. 31--The University of Toledo's college of law has regained a spot among the top 100 law schools in the country, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. The magazine placed UT tied for 93rd with Seattle University, University of Hawaii, and University of San Francisco. Beth Eisler, interim dean of the UT law school, said it was the highest the law school has ever been placed in the news magazine's rankings. "One important aspect of the ranking is that it improves our reputation nationally," Ms. Eisler said. In April, 2004, the UT law school moved into the second tier of law schools in a five-way tie for 94th out of the nation's 177 law schools. It slipped down last year back in the third of four tiers to an unknown spot in that category. The magazine provides numeric rankings for only the top 100 accredited law schools that make up the top two tiers. Ms. Eisler said the "number one" change at the UT law school, which has about 510 students, is the improved academic backgrounds of incoming students. "Those have gone up significantly," she said. "With better entering credentials, our students do better in law school, more of them are employed, and they get higher profile jobs." Ms. Eisler credited former law school Dean Phillip Closius, who was demoted last year and remains at the school, for the higher ranking. "There is no doubt about it that this all started seven years ago with him," she said. The rankings of 180 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association are based on a weighted average of 12 measures of quality. The remainder of the schools not in the top 100 are listed alphabetically in the other two tiers. Ohio Northern University's law school in Ada remained in the fourth tier, which is where the University of Dayton's law school also was placed. Yale University was listed as the top law school, while the University of Michigan tied for eighth place with the University of Virginia and University of California-Berkeley.

Ohio State University's law school ranked 39, tied with Wake Forest University. The magazine analyzes other graduate programs as well, including business, education, engineering, and medicine. Ohio State's school of business placed 22nd in that category, its school of education placed 24th on that list, and its school of engineering was 26th on that list. The University of Michigan's school of medicine tied for 11th place with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and University of California-Los Angeles' school of medicine. Ohio State's school of medicine placed 32, tied with New York University and Dartmouth Medical School. The University of Cincinnati's school of medicine placed 42, tied with Tufts University and University of Maryland. The Medical University of Ohio did not make the list. No other UT college and none at Bowling Green State University made any of the magazine's lists this year. Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

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Source: The Blade

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