DU’s Sturm College of Law ranked among the top 100 best law schools in the county by U.S. News and World Report for the 10th consecutive year, improving three spots this year to No. 77 from No. 80 last year.

The Sturm College of Law shares the No. 77 spot with the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Miami (Fla.).

In specialty rankings, the college’s part-time law program was ranked No. 13.

The source takes into account 12 factors when determining which schools will appear on the list, grouped into a quality assessment by law school peers and legal professionals, selectivity, placement success and faculty resources.

A factor that contributed to Sturm’s increased ranking include the student-to-teacher ratio, which is now 15:1.

Dean Martin Katz felt that Sturm should work to admit students with higher LSAT scores and hopes to increase the median undergraduate grade point average of admitted students.

“The quality of incoming students should be higher and pushing that is important,” Katz said. “We would like to push the class quality up, but there is a tradeoff in the sense that we have to take a hit on another factor. One factor goes up at a time, but we feel we are laying good groundwork to be able to push both those factors up next year.”

The increase in ranking is a sign that the college’s vision is moving forward.

A driving mission at Sturm, as with any law school, is to produce individuals that are prepared to practice law immediately following graduation and to give these graduates a specialized and solid education, Katz said. This mission contributes to the whole community of the university.

“I think that one of the graduate schools in DU that can really shine is the law school,” Katz said.

First year law student Michael Connor is happy to see the law school receiving recognition for its quality and improvements.

“It’s great that the quality of DU law continues to be acknowledged and appreciated,” he said. “The ranking increase speaks volumes about the faculty, staff and administration regarding their diligence and determination in striving to continually improve the program, and the student body taking their DU law experience in stride by representing the university well within the legal community.”