Continuing declines in law school enrollment and drops in bar-exam passage rates around the country made top headlines in the legal profession in 2015. But it didn't stop wealthy benefactors from donating generous sums to their pet law schools, nor did it slow the time-honored role of law schools serving as cushy landings for former headliners in public office.

The list of law schools that benefited enormously from donors' largesse won't surprise anyone: Yale, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern, among others. Nor will the law schools that topped various “best of” lists: Columbia held the No. 1 spot on The National Law Journal's annual Go-To Law Schools report; Yale continued its leadership on U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings; and Harvard topped a third “alternative” list.

Despite gloomy news of lower enrollments and bar exam scores, however, and growing debates over rising law school loan debt, the lure of building and populating law schools hasn't waned: the country's 49th state can finally stake a claim to one. Sort of.