Fordham University School of Law (courtesy photo).

Fordham University School of Law is the big winner in the latest law school rankings from U.S. News & World Report, released Tuesday.

The Manhattan law school rocketed up 12 spots to land at No. 27 in the closely watched rankings—by far the largest jump among the top 50 schools.

Otherwise, it was largely business as usual elsewhere among the elite schools: Yale Law School retained its stranglehold on the top spot, with Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School repeating at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively. The only change among the top five schools was Columbia Law School moving up one slot to tie with the University of Chicago Law School at No. 4.

Duke Law School fell two spots to No. 12, pushing it out of the top 10, while both Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law gained one spot to tie at No. 9. The rest of the top 10—New York University School of Law at No. 6; the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School at No. 7; and the University of Virginia School of Law at No. 8—remained unchanged from last year.

It remains to be see whether the influential rankings will generate much reaction among the legal academy this go around. They are being released at a time when every law school in the country is struggling to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and virtually all 200 schools are moving classes online. Typically, deans at schools with large moves up or down the rankings either trumpet that improvement or offer explanations or reactions to major drops. But the rankings may well be overshadowed by the push to keep law schools functioning virtually. Unlike in years past, early versions of the rankings did not leak on legal blogs ahead of the official publication.

It appears that Fordham's impressive gain is due largely to improved employment outcomes for the class of 2018. More than 74% of that class had jobs at graduation, and nearly 88% were employed at graduation—up from 62% and 77% last year, respectively.

"We judge ourselves more by the accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni than by an external ranking, but I am pleased to see the excellence of our law school recognized," said Fordham law dean Matthew Diller. "Our rise was fueled by strong employment numbers—both at graduation and 10 months after, as well as increases in reputation among the bench and bar and strong admissions. The school also did well in a broad range of specialty areas."

Elsewhere among the top 50 schools, the University of Florida Levin College of Law picked up seven spots to land at No. 24—a gain that comes on the heels of a 10-spot move up the list last year. The University of North Carolina School of Law also moved up seven spots to No. 27. The University of Illinois College of Law and the College of William and Mary Marshall-Wythe School of Law both gained eight spots to tie at No. 31.

Wake Forest University School of Law posted the biggest decline among the top 50 schools, falling 11 spots to No. 42. The University of Alabama School of Law fell 6 spots to No. 31.

As usual, the biggest moves up and down the rankings occurred outside the top 50. Washburn University School of Law posted the single largest gain this year, moving up 25 spots to No. 107. That upward movement follows a 13-spot drop the previous year. Cleveland-Marshall College of Law moved up 24 spots to No. 102, while Texas A&M University School of Law gained 23 spots to land at No. 60.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law had the largest drop this year, falling 25 spots to No. 133. The school had climbed eight spots on last year's list. The University of Tulsa College of Law had the next largest drop, at 24 spots. It landed at No. 111. (The Oklahoma school had moved up 11 spots the previous year.)

U.S. News added four new specialty rankings to its offerings this year to the existing seven—business and corporate law, contracts and commercial law, criminal law and constitutional law. The specialty rankings are calculated by survey responses from legal academics.

Columbia snagged the top spot in both the business law and contracts categories, while NYU took the No. 1 ranking for criminal law. Yale topped the list for constitutional law.

The rankings released Tuesday did not include the much-discussed new scholarly impact ranking, which U.S. News has said it plans to release later this year. Legal academics have fiercely debated the merits of the proposed new ranking, which will based on the citations of faculty scholarship.