Dear Santa Clara Law Community,  

US News & World Report released its law school rankings this morning. We are
justifiably proud that our incredibly successful and highly selective part-time Flex J.D.
program is ranked #1 in Northern California and #18 in the nation. This path-breaking
program makes our stellar Santa Clara legal education more accessible to a growing
cohort of extraordinary working professionals and strongly credentialed students from all
walks of life.

We also are gratified that Santa Clara University School of Law’s Intellectual Property
program continues to be ranked among the very best in the country, as judged by
leading faculty experts in the field. This year, our IP program was again ranked #4 in the
nation, which reflects our consistently exceptional level of scholarship, teaching,
service, student success, professional relationships, and career placement in
intellectual property and high-tech law.  
   
Moreover, Santa Clara Law received very strong rankings for its other specialty
programs, particularly in the areas of international law (#37), business and corporate
law (#62), and criminal law (#68). In addition, we rose 2 spots to #156 in our overall
ranking, which represents the first time in over a decade that we improved that score.

We also made significant strides in improving our already-strong academic reputation
ranking. In particular, SCU Law rose 7 spots to #77 in the country in its peer
assessment score. This upswing is based on the independent evaluations of law school
professors, chairs of law faculty appointments committees, recently tenured law school
faculty members, law school academic deans, and law school deans.

The law school is now on a secure upward trajectory that will continue to accelerate as
our substantial improvements in bar passage (up 11.3% over last year), employment
success (up 10.4 % over the past two years), and incoming student credentials (up in
applications, median LSAT scores, and selectivity over last year) become fully absorbed
and reflected in key US News rankings metrics over the next few years. 

Thanks to all of you, Santa Clara Law is rising together in so many ways, including
some that are starting to be captured in our improving national rankings.   

With warm regards and tremendous gratitude,

Michael J. Kaufman (He/Him/His)
Dean and Professor of Law
Santa Clara University School of Law
mjkaufman@scu.edu