The list below summarizes specialty strengths by school, for easy reference. Only schools represented in multiple categories are listed. Do not think that the prestige of a school is a function of how many areas it is represented in. (Larger schools, unsurprisingly, tend to have strengths in more areas.) In fact, some areas have higher prestige than others, i.e., they are the areas that "top" schools (or schools that consider themselves top) strive to be strong in. Those areas would include: the Business Law Areas; Constitutional Law; International Law; Law & Economics; Legal History; and, arguably, Intellectual Property and Tax. Of course, some very prestigious fields, which are in high demand, don't necessarily pose the same intellectual challenges as less prestigious fields. Students who enjoy analytically high-powered work--students who, say, majored in economics, philosophy, physics, mathematics, and so on--are likely to be more interested in schools strong in: the Business Law Areas; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Law & Economics; Moral & Political Theory; and Tax.

The Business Law Areas and Law & Economics tend to be dominated by more "conservative" scholars--though "conservative" is perhaps not an apt label, since most are much closer to libertarian radicals, than the "God, country and family" conservatives that now dominate the Republican Party. (There is almost none of this kind of conservatism in the legal academy.) By contrast, strength in Feminist Legal Theory, Critical Race Theory, and (usually) Constitutional Law usually indicates good-sized contingents of "liberal" faculty. (Genuine leftist thought, of the Marxist or socialist variety-as opposed to the identity politics of Critical Race Theory, or the Left Hegelianism of the now-defunct Critical Legal Studies movement --is quite rare in American legal academia, and is distributed over many different areas: examples would be Richard Abel (torts, law & social science) at UCLA or Julius Getman (labor law) at Texas. The majority of top law schools--perhaps unsurprisingly, given the conservative bent of professional schools generally--have noone engaged in leftist scholarship.)

Finally, keep in mind that the categories are not perfect reflections of the strengths in legal academia. Example: Herbert Hovenkamp, the nation's preeminent scholar in antitrust, teaches at the University of Iowa, which is not otherwise distinguished in the Business Law Areas. So, too, there are schools very strong in areas not covered here (like torts, or wills, trusts & estates, or civil procedure). So, for example, the University of California at Hastings--with David Faigman, Mary Kay Kane, Richard Marcus, and Roger Park, among others--is clearly one of the top schools in the country in the procedural areas (broadly construed). But since I've tried to focus on areas that prospective law students are likely to be interested in, these areas have been omitted. (In fact, procedural issues are perhaps the most important legal issues for litigators to master!) So the broad categories here inevitably miss pockets of excellence at many schools. Nonetheless, students with particular interests should find the information useful, at least in terms of narrowing down schools for further investigation and consideration.

YALE UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Administrative & Environmental Law; Business Law Areas; Constitutional Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; International Law; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Law & Economics; Legal Ethics; Legal History; Tax.
Also Strong: Law & Literature; Law & Religion; Moral & Political Theory.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Business Law Areas; Constitutional Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; Feminist Legal Theory; Health Law (excluding medical ethics); Law & Economics; Legal History; Tax.
Also Strong: Critical Race Theory; International Law; Labor & Employment Law; Legal Ethics.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Business Law Areas; Feminist Legal Theory; Intellectual Property; Law & Economics; Law & Literature; Legal Ethics; Legal History; Tax.
Also Strong: Constitutional Law.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Excellent: Business Law Areas; Feminist Legal Theory; Law & Economics; Legal History.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law; Constitutional Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; Moral & Political Theory; Tax.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Business Law Areas; Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory; Health Law (excluding medical ethics); International Law; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Labor & Employment Law; Moral & Political Theory.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law (excellent in administrative); Constitutional Law; Intellectual Property; Law & Economics; Law & Literature; Legal History; Tax.

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Administrative & Environmental Law; Business Law Areas; International Law; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Legal History; Moral & Political Theory; Tax.
Also Strong: Constitutional Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; Health Law (excluding medical ethics); Intellectual Property; Labor & Employment Law; Law & Economics; Legal Ethics.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Excellent: Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory; Intellectual Property; Law & Economics; Law & Social Science.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law; Business Law Areas; Constitutional Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; Legal History; Moral & Political Theory.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR
Excellent: Feminist Legal Theory; Law & Literature; Law & Social Science.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Health Law--Bioethics; Intellectual Property; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Labor & Employment Law; Law & Religion; Legal History; Moral & Political Theory; Tax.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Excellent: Administrative & Environmental Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Law & Social Science; Legal Ethics.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Critical Race Theory; Intellectual Property; Law & Economics; Moral & Political Theory; Tax.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN
Excellent: Administrative & Environmental Law; Constitutional Law; Health Law--Bioethics; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Labor & Employment Law.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; International Law; Intellectual Property; Law & Literature; Law & Social Science; Legal Ethics; Legal History; Moral & Political Theory.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Excellent: Business Law Areas; Legal History.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law; International Law; Law & Economics; Law & Social Science; Moral & Political Theory.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Feminist Legal Theory; Labor & Employment Law.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; International Law; Law & Economics; Law & Social Science.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Administrative & Environmental Law; Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory; Health Law (excluding medical ethics); International Law; Legal Ethics.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Constitutional Law; Intellectual Property.

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Administrative & Environmental Law; Law & Social Science.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; Health Law (excluding medical ethics); Legal History; Moral & Political Theory.

DUKE UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Health Law (excluding medical ethics); Law & Religion.
Also Strong: Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory; Intellectual Property; Law & Social Science.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
Excellent: Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory.
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Criminal Law & Procedure; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Law & Social Science; Moral & Political Theory.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Excellent: ----.
Also Strong: Feminist Legal Theory; Health Law--Bioethics; Law & Economics; Law & Social Science; Legal History; Tax.

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Health Law (excluding medical ethics).
Also Strong: Business Law Areas; Criminal Law & Procedure.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Excellent: Health Law--Bioethics; Legal Ethics.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law; Intellectual Property; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Moral & Political Theory.

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Excellent: -----.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law; Critical Race Theory; International Law.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Excellent: Criminal Law & Procedure.
Also Strong: Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Labor & Employment Law; Law & Economics; Legal Ethics.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
Excellent: ----.
Also Strong: Critical Race Theory; Feminist Legal Theory; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Law & Social Science.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, TWIN CITIES
Excellent: -----.
Also Strong: Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON
Excellent: Law & Social Science.
Also Strong: Feminist Legal Theory; Health Law--Bioethics.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Excellent: -----.
Also Strong: Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON
Excellent: Law & Social Science.
Also Strong: Feminist Legal Theory; Health Law--Bioethics.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Excellent: -----.
Also Strong: Critical Race Theory; Legal Ethics.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER
Excellent: Critical Race Theory.
Also Strong: Administrative & Environmental Law.

UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
Excellent: ----.
Also Strong: Criminal Law & Procedure; Jurisprudence/Legal Philosophy; Law & Religion; Legal Ethics.

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Excellent: -----.
Also Strong: Criminal Law & Procedure; Feminist Legal Theory; Labor & Employment Law; Law & Social Science.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, GAINESVILLE
Excellent: -----.
Also Strong: Criminal Law & Procedure; Critical Race Theory; Tax.