Stanford Dean Has High Hopes For Law School

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Stanford Law School was again ranked third on the U.S. News & World Report’s list of top law school’s this year, but Dean Larry Kramer has his sights firmly set on the top spot, according to a report out Tuesday by the San Jose Mercury News.

Since taking over at Stanford in 2004, Kramer has instituted significant changes at the school, including a major curriculum reform. His goal now is to move Stanford past Yale and Harvard and into the top spot on the U.S. News rankings.

“I think we’re in a process of developing a program here that once we’ve put it all together and got it working, is just unmatchable anywhere else,” Kramer told the Mercury News.

  

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Part of the plan is to acquire top faculty from competing institutions around the country. Towards that end, Stanford recently acquired professor John Donohue, formerly of Yale Law, the Mercury News reports.

A major reason for Kramer’s aggressive approach is a $1.6 million commitment from Stanford designed to offset the effects of the economic downturn at the law school.

“I think we’re in a process of developing a program here that once we’ve put it all together and got it working, is just unmatchable anywhere else,” Kramer said.

At least one law expert was skeptical of Stanford’s chances of ever passing Yale as the nation’s No. 1 law school. Said University of Chicago Law School professor Brian Leiter “Yale leads everyone. To surpass or even tie Yale…that would be hard.”