<p>I agree that the list of "elite" law schools can change over time and has. The changes, however, have been glacial. UMichigan has fallen a bit--it used to be in everyone's top 5, back when I had a pet dinosaur and was applying to law school. NYU has come up--but it was in the top 12 or so 30+ years ago. </p>
<p>Faculty hiring does impact reputation, but not as much or as quickly as Leiter would have you believe. This is, to me, proven by the fact that in order to get these results, he had to give the academics he says he polled a LIST OF ACTUAL FACULTY. When he just asked them to rank the strength of various law schools' faculties, the ranking was a bit different. Seriously, if LAW SCHOOL FACULTY MEMBERS at other schools don't know that UCLA has a stronger faculty than some of its competitors unless Leiter gives them a list of names of actual faculty members, do you think hiring partners do? That judges who hire clerks do? </p>
<p>NYU moved up not only by hiring faculty, but by giving lots of merit money to "buy" a better student body and by building a nice new law school.</p>