The legal profession is obsessed with prestige, which helps explain why the highly influential U.S. News & World Report law school rankings loom so large in law dean and applicant decision-making. U.S. News is, of course, the most recognized when it comes to law school rankings. But the recent release of Billboard Magazine's list for best law schools for music law reminded us of the plethora of other rankings out there that purport to analyze law schools on different fronts. Some are clearly more rigorous than others—a few seem downright silly—but the start of the school year is good to time take a look at what else is available, beyond the scope of U.S. News.

Entertainment Law  

Which law schools are tops at producing the lawyers who become movers and shakers in Tinsel Town? The Hollywood Reporter has you covered with its annual Top 10 law school list. The ranking is based on the number of a school's alumni who land on the publication's "Power Lawyer" list. The 2019 iteration has the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, Harvard Law School and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in the top 3 slots.

Architecture  

Who doesn't like a pretty building? The website Best Choice Schools has put out a list of the 50 Most Impressive Law School Buildings In the World. We can't argue with the top two picks: The campus of the U.K.'s Durham Law School looks like something from the set of a "Star Wars" film, while the futuristic exterior of Northumbria University Law School in Newcastle, England, reminds us of a laundry basket from West Elm that you can't justify the exorbitant price but covet nonetheless. But we have to quibble with the No. 3 pick—Thomas Jefferson School of Law's 2011 San Diego building. The school was forced to abandon that location in 2018 and relocate to a humdrum office building amid financial woes.

Music Law 

As we mentioned, Billboard Magazine is also in the law school rankings game, though its ranking of law schools that excel at producing lawyers for the music industry isn't strictly a numerical one. Rather, the publication this month released its list of 15 Top Music Law Schools based on alumni included on its Top Music Lawyers of 2019 list. Unsurprisingly, the list is dominated by schools in Los Angeles and New York, although the University of Tennessee College of Law (Howdy, Nashville!), Harvard, Yale Law School , the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the University of Miami School of Law, and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law also made the cut.

Big Law Hiring  

OK, we're partial to this one since Law.com produces the annual Go-To Law Schools ranking, but so be it. This annual list looks at the percentage of new law grads who land associate jobs at the largest 100 firms in the country. Columbia Law School has held a stranglehold on the No. 1 spot for the past six years, with 71% of 2018 grads going into Big Law. It was followed by Penn at No. 2 and the New York University School of Law at No. 3.

Above the Law 

The legal press' snarkiest member offers up a surprisingly straitlaced annual ranking of the top 50 law schools, giving hefty weight to employment outcomes while also factoring in student costs and debt loads. The 2019 edition gives top billing to the University of Virginia School of Law, followed by Duke University School of Law and the University of Chicago Law School.

Fun  

Here's where things get really subjective … and a little bit silly. A website called Online Paralegal Programs put out a list of the 30 Law Schools With The Most to do For Fun. The authors apparently looked at factors such as entertainment and nightlife as well as access to outdoor pursuits such as hiking. Law schools in major tourist locations appear frequently, as do schools in well-known college towns. At the top of the list is the University of Colorado Law School, with the site noting Boulder's renowned natural setting.

International Quality  

While U.S. News ranks only law schools in the United States, QS World University Ranking's law rankings look at schools across the globe, weighing criteria such as academic reputation, citations and employer reputation. Despite the added competition, stateside law schools do quite well on the list, occupying 14 of the top 50 slots. Harvard comes out at No. 1, with Yale and Stanford Law Shool at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.

Scholarly Impact  

Interested in how often a law school's faculty is cited? There's a ranking for that, too. U.S. News is working on its own scholarly impact ranking of law schools, but University of Chicago law professor Brian Leiter pioneered the method of using citations to rank law faculties. His work has been carried on by University of St. Thomas School of Law professor Gregory Sisk and several other co-authors. Every three years, they update their citations data to show the most cited faculties and individual scholars. The 2018 update showed Yale Law School, Harvard Law School and the University of Chicago to have the greatest scholarly impact.

Affordability 

The website Student Loan Hero crunched the numbers to determine the 20 best law school for being able to repay your student loans. Their 2018 analysis considered tuition costs, indebtedness and postgraduation employment rates and salaries. The Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School topped this list, with Mormon students paying just about $12,000 annually. (Non-Mormons pay about twice that.) Georgia State University College of Law and Rutgers Law School round out the top 3.

Princeton Review  

Yes, it does have a law school ranking, though you probably didn't know that. Princeton Review doesn't offer a single overall ranking a la U.S. News. Rather, it lists the top 10 law schools in 12 different areas, ranging from hardest to get into (that would be Yale) to best quality of life (UVA). Most of these ranking rely exclusively on student surveys, which is another major departure from the U.S. News model.