Law Journal Meta-Ranking, 2024 Edition – Bryce Clayton Newell, PhD, JD

Meta-Ranking of Flagship US Law Reviews

This is an updated ranking of the top flagship law reviews at US law schools (updated as of August 7, 2024). For a summary and more details about method, see below the table. You can also compare MetaRanking from 2018-2024, including changes in ranking over time here: MetaRank Comparison 2018-2024.

For specialty/secondary journal rankings (not yet updated for 2024), see:

The MetaRank was computed by averaging ranks (using a 25% weighting from each) of the following rankings:

prRank = US News Peer Reputation score ranking (averaged over 10 years);
usnRank = overall US News school ranking (averaged over 10 years);
wluRank = Washington & Lee Law Journal Ranking;
gRank = Google Scholar Metrics ranking (note: “1000” means journal was not indexed).

Meta-Ranking of Flagship US Law Reviews (2024 Edition), by Bryce Newell

Journal	MetaRank	prRank	usnRank	wluRank	gRank
Harvard Law Review	1	2	3	1	1
Yale Law Journal	2	3	1	4	2
Stanford Law Review	3	1	2	3	5
Columbia Law Review	4	4	5	2	3
University of Chicago Law Review	5	5	4	12	4
New York University Law Review	6	6	6	10	6
California Law Review	7	7	11	5	6
University of Pennsylvania Law Review	8	9	6	6	10
Michigan Law Review	9	8	9	7	9
Virginia Law Review	10	10	8	13	11
Duke Law Journal	11	11	9	11	13
Georgetown Law Journal	12	14	14	9	13
Northwestern University Law Review	13	13	12	14	15
Cornell Law Review	14	12	13	8	25
Vanderbilt Law Review	15	17	17	15	11
UCLA Law Review	16	15	15	20	18
Boston University Law Review	17	22	21	18	8
Minnesota Law Review	18	19	20	16	17
Texas Law Review	19	16	16	22	23
Washington University Law Review	20	18	18	26	23
Southern California Law Review	21	19	19	27	22
Iowa Law Review	22	30	25	17	18
Notre Dame Law Review	23	22	22	24	26
Boston College Law Review	24	29	30	21	18
Fordham Law Review	25	33	36	19	15
George Washington Law Review	26	25	24	28	28
UC Davis Law Review	27	26	43	25	18
Indiana Law Journal	28	34	40	23	26
Wisconsin Law Review	29	28	33	33	34
UC Irvine Law Review	29	27	27	35	39
Emory Law Journal	31	21	23	43	42
William & Mary Law Review	32	32	36	31	31
Florida Law Review	32	36	34	30	30
North Carolina Law Review	34	24	31	38	40
Alabama Law Review	35	37	26	36	37
University of Illinois Law Review	36	40	41	29	29
Washington Law Review	37	38	42	31	32
Georgia Law Review	38	34	29	42	47
Ohio State Law Journal	39	31	32	40	51
Arizona State Law Journal	40	39	28	51	52
Arizona Law Review	41	42	46	39	45
UC Law Journal	42	44	58	37	35
Wake Forest Law Review	43	45	38	48	45
University of Colorado Law Review	43	41	46	49	40
Washington and Lee Law Review	45	43	39	52	43
Cardozo Law Review	46	53	60	34	32
Maryland Law Review	47	48	50	47	35
Utah Law Review	48	49	45	41	48
Brigham Young University Law Review	49	50	34	46	62
Connecticut Law Review	50	51	56	50	52
American University Law Review	51	51	83	44	48
SMU Law Review	52	64	48	54	62
Houston Law Review	53	60	57	66	55
Tulane Law Review	54	46	55	59	84
Denver Law Review	55	56	76	55	59
George Mason Law Review	56	59	44	67	79
University of Richmond Law Review	57	66	54	63	68
Temple Law Review	58	54	53	72	79
Georgia State University Law Review	59	60	69	73	57
Florida State University Law Review	60	47	49	81	84
Lewis & Clark Law Review	61	89	93	45	38
Oklahoma Law Review	62	80	66	68	52
Pepperdine Law Review	63	60	51	69	91
Nevada Law Journal	64	75	72	57	76
Seton Hall Law Review	65	87	61	62	72
San Diego Law Review	66	58	80	83	62
Villanova Law Review	67	77	67	74	69
South Carolina Law Review	68	82	88	64	57
Case Western Reserve Law Review	69	68	73	96	59
Brooklyn Law Review	70	73	91	61	72
Missouri Law Review	71	73	64	89	72
Chicago-Kent Law Review	72	79	90	71	59
Nebraska Law Review	72	88	74	75	62
University of Kansas Law Review	74	67	63	86	84
Tennessee Law Review	75	65	59	78	101
Buffalo Law Review	76	104	106	53	43
University of Miami Law Review	77	57	70	113	69
Marquette Law Review	78	98	98	58	56
Loyola University Chicago Law Journal	79	71	77	79	84
Penn State Law Review	80	93	71	70	84
Michigan State Law Review	81	90	97	56	79
Texas A&M Law Review	81	84	82	65	91
Oregon Law Review	83	54	85	98	0
Howard Law Journal	84	70	113	77	1000
Kentucky Law Journal	85	76	65	105	104
University of Cincinnati Law Review	86	91	79	97	84
University of Pittsburgh Law Review	87	69	81	108	95
Seattle University Law Review	88	92	118	80	66
Rutgers University Law Review	88	72	86	103	95
City University of New York (CUNY) Law Review	90	109	130	60	1000
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review	91	63	68	127	104
Syracuse Law Review	91	96	102	88	76
Saint Louis University Law Journal	93	96	92	91	84
Northeastern University Law Review	94	81	75	109	1000
UMKC Law Review	95	108	122	76	69
FIU Law Review	96	132	94	85	66
St. John's Law Review	97	100	78	84	121
Arkansas Law Review	98	95	89	112	93
West Virginia Law Review	99	112	107	95	76
Louisiana Law Review	100	103	96	101	101
DePaul Law Review	101	99	125	82	103
Santa Clara Law Review	102	83	129	100	1000
Hofstra Law Review	103	105	123	93	95
Maine Law Review	103	107	127	91	1000
Cleveland State Law Review	105	144	112	87	79
Baylor Law Review	106	86	52	144	1000
Washburn Law Journal	107	131	115	103	79
Stetson Law Review	108	114	101	107	108
Catholic University Law Review	109	113	108	119	93
Loyola Law Review	110	116	138	90	1000
Indiana Law Review	111	85	103	126	125
University of Louisville Law Review	112	110	104	117	1000
New Mexico Law Review	113	93	87	131	1000
Vermont Law Review	114	121	150	102	72
Dickinson Law Review	115	101	62	188	95
Wayne Law Review	116	115	84	142	108
Drexel Law Review	117	106	100	124	1000
Mercer Law Review	118	127	124	94	115
University of Baltimore Law Review	118	117	131	106	1000
Texas Tech Law Review	120	135	109	121	108
Mississippi Law Journal	121	101	110	141	125
Albany Law Review	122	129	121	111	1000
Tulsa Law Review	123	128	99	143	117
Wyoming Law Review	124	124	128	123	115
University of Hawaii Law Review	125	78	105	155	1000
Drake Law Review	126	130	111	132	121
Touro Law Review	127	170	171	110	48
University of St. Thomas Law Journal	128	139	120	116	125
Mitchell Hamline Law Review	129	150	139	115	101
Southwestern Law Review	130	143	160	99	104
University of Memphis Law Review	131	141	147	118	108
Idaho Law Review	132	119	133	148	115
New York Law School Law Review	133	136	126	129	1000
Chapman Law Review	134	147	132	121	1000
University of Toledo Law Review	135	145	143	135	99
University of the Pacific Law Review	136	133	155	120	115
Akron Law Review	137	148	140	128	108
Creighton Law Review	138	137	134	147	108
Gonzaga Law Review	139	118	115	150	1000
Pace Law Review	140	126	136	138	1000
Montana Law Review	140	122	114	151	1000
Duquesne Law Review	142	146	119	139	1000
Suffolk University Law Review	142	125	146	149	123
University of Detroit Mercy Law Review	144	161	156	114	1000
South Dakota Law Review	145	149	137	153	108
St. Mary's Law Journal	146	153	165	133	99
Widener Law Review	146	151	149	125	1000
Willamette Law Review	148	123	144	145	1000
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review	149	111	148	188	115
Belmont Law Review	150	180	117	137	1000
University of San Francisco Law Review	151	134	169	136	1000
Northern Illinois University Law Review	152	154	164	129	1000
Quinnipiac Law Review	153	138	135	154	1000
Campbell Law Review	154	172	152	139	120
Southern Illinois University Law Journal	155	156	176	134	123
University of New Hampshire Law Review	156	120	95	188	1000
North Dakota Law Review	157	142	162	188	115
Capital University Law Review	158	179	178	146	120
UIC Law Review	158	139	167	188	129
Ohio Northern University Law Review	158	173	158	188	104
Nova Law Review	161	162	175	152	1000
Roger Williams University Law Review	162	155	174	188	128
University of Dayton Law Review	163	152	142	188	1000
Widener Commonwealth Law Review	164	160	141	188	1000
Cumberland Law Review	165	157	150	188	1000
University of Massachusetts Law Review	166	169	145	188	1000
Elon Law Review	167	158	159	188	1000
Northern Kentucky Law Review	168	163	162	188	1000
South Texas Law Review	168	159	166	188	1000
Oklahoma City University Law Review	170	171	161	188	1000
Regent University Law Review	171	183	153	188	1000
Mississippi College Law Review	172	168	170	188	1000
Lincoln Memorial University Law Review	173	186	154	188	1000
California Western Law Review	174	163	178	188	1000
New England Law Review	175	175	168	188	1000
North Carolina Central Law Review	176	167	178	188	1000
Liberty University Law Review	176	188	157	188	1000
Florida A & M University Law Review	176	163	182	188	1000
University of the District of Columbia Law Review	179	166	182	188	1000
St. Thomas Law Review	180	178	178	188	1000
Golden Gate University Law Review	180	174	182	188	1000
Faulkner Law Review	180	185	171	188	1000
Southern University Law Review	183	176	182	188	1000
John Marshall Law Journal	184	182	177	188	1000
Thurgood Marshall Law Review	184	177	182	188	1000
Western New England Law Review	186	180	182	188	1000
Ave Maria Law Review	187	190	173	188	1000
Charleston Law Review	188	184	182	188	1000
Appalachian Journal of Law	189	186	182	188	1000
Barry Law Review	190	189	182	188	1000
Thomas M. Cooley Law Review	191	191	182	188	1000
Western State Law Review	192	192	182	188	1000

The first version of this ranking is available at PrawfBlawg (2016), along with the rationale for why I created the “meta ranking” in the first place (see also: 2023 Edition; 2022 Edition; 2021 Edition; 2020 Edition; 2019 Edition; 2018 Edition). The ranking table below includes 192 flagship law reviews from ABA accredited law schools. Even if you ignore the “MetaRank,” the table provides access to the updated rankings from US News (peer reputation and overall rankings, averaged over the 10-year period from 2016 edition through the 2024-25 edition of US News’ rankings) and the current Washington & Lee Rankings (2019-2023; released on July 15, 2024) and Google Scholar (July 2024) rankings. Each column (ranking) is sortable, and you can use the search box to search for individual law reviews.

Why make the Meta Ranking? (see more information, and the first edition of the ranking here)

In short, as an interdisciplinary scholar who publishes work in both peer-reviewed social science journals and law reviews, it strikes me as odd that legal scholars would discount measures of journal impact completely when choosing where to submit and which offers to prioritize. To be sure, all of the plausible contenders for ranking law reviews have their flaws (in methodology and/or coverage). Regardless, though, it appears important that some measures of citation or impact are taken into account, as direct correlations between US News rankings of law schools and law journal importance seem a bit weak as the primary (or only) measure to evaluate.

So, to get to the point, I decided to create a meta-ranking of the possible contenders for gauging the relative importance of journals and offers: US News Overall Ranking (rolling average over the most recent ten years), US News Peer Reputation Ranking (also averaged over the previous 10 years), W&L Combined Ranking (at default weighting), and Google Scholar Metrics law journal rankings (averaging the h-index and h-median of each journal, as proposed here by Robert Anderson). I’ve ranked each journal within each ranking system, averaged these four ranks using a 25% weighting for each, and computed and ranked the final scores. I think this approach benefits from incorporating a couple different forms of impact evaluation (W&L + Google) while not disregarding the general sentiment that law school “prestige” (something involving one or both of US News’ combined rank or Peer Reputation rank, each averaged over the most recent 10-year period, is an important factor in law review placement decisions.

Additional notes about method:

Google Scholar Metrics are currently based on the most recent Google index (updated in July 2024); if a school has not been listed in Google Scholar Metrics within the past 2 years (2023/2024), I have used its most recent W&L score twice rather than rely on old Google Metrics). Otherwise, I have used the most recent (1-year-old/2023) Google Scholar metric.

W&L: The W&L rankings changed several years ago. Their rankings now only include calculated scores and ranks for the top 400 ranked law journals (including all specialty journals), which includes 187 flagship reviews ranked in this table. W&L’s ranking methodology is described here. If a journal is not ranked, I have given a score of “188.”

Because the US News Ranking has changed how it reports unranked schools over the relevant period, I have done the following: for 2016-2022 editions, I assigned all unranked schools (those not ranked 1-149) to 150; for the 2023-24 edition, US News ranked schools 1-175, as such I assigned “176” to unranked schools for that year; in 2024, US News ranked 172 schools, and I scored each “Tier 2” school as “173”.

* As some schools were not included in the US News Rankings for all 10 years, I have averaged the ranks over just the years they appear, rather than by 10.

** During the rankings period, Rutgers and Mitchell | Hamline each consolidated two law journals into one and Penn State now also has two ranked law schools and two separate law reviews (but only had one flagship law review for a portion of the relevant period). For each of these schools, I have used the rank in each category (W&L/US News, etc.) that is the highest when the school/journal is shared. Similarly, Widener split and was ranked separately in 2017 by US News (each school taking a separate flagship journal). As such, I have used the separate 2017-2024 ranks from US News but shared the single Widener school ranking reported in US News in its 2016 edition of the rankings.

*** In the 2019 US News rankings, Pepperdine received a peer score of 2.6, but was listed as unranked after originally submitting incorrect data about incoming JD students (see Paul Caron’s note about this for more about this). As such, I used the 2019 peer score and the 2018 overall rank for Pepperdine for that year.

Meta-Ranking of Flagship US Law Reviews

About the Meta-Ranking