News brief: KU’s U.S. News & World Report rankings

The School of Law for the first time cracked the overall top 50 in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, placing No. 40 among all law schools, an improvement of 27 spots over last year’s list. Among public universities, KU Law soared to No. 18 from 36.

KU officials attributed the attractive assessment “in large part to the School of Law having some of the highest bar percentage and employment rates in the nation.”

Also lauded for its performance among public universities was the School of Medicine. Its primary care and research programs placed in the top 50 among public universities.

Perhaps even more crucially, given its mission to educate doctors to serve a largely rural state, KU Medicine ranked No. 5 in percentage of graduates practicing in rural areas, No. 9 in percentage of graduates practicing in primary care, and No. 11 in percentage of graduates practicing in health professional shortage areas.

U.S. News & World Report earlier released rankings for all graduate programs outside of law and medicine, which included 37 KU programs ranked among the top 50 of public universities.

Ranked No. 1 were local government management, paleontology and special education; other top 10 programs included public management and leadership, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, audiology, and education.

U.S. News & World Report also honored The University of Kansas Hospital as the Best Hospital in Kansas City for the 14th consecutive year and the Best Hospital in Kansas for the 12th time. No other hospital has ever received either honor.

More good news for the School of Law came from the University of Houston Law Center’s moot court rankings, which placed KU at No. 10, the program’s highest ranking.

“We have had a strong moot court program for decades,” says program director Pam Keller, l’93. “In the last decade or so, we have had increased financial support from donors, allowing us to send more talented students to national and international competitions.”

KU this year won the National Native American Law Student Association’s Moot Court Competition for the third consecutive year, with Emily Depew, c’20, l’23—honored with KU Law’s Polsinelli Advocacy Award—a member on all three championship teams.

Ally Monson, l’23, and Amanda McElfresh, l’23, this year won the Federal Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition, with McElfresh also winning Best Oralist honors in the final round.