How to Improve the Law School Rankings
U.S. News has received some interesting suggestions for improving our law school rankings since they came out in March.
One of the more interesting ideas is from a U.S. Appellate Court judge who proposes that we take into account how many of each law school's graduates are placed yearly in federal clerkships. The judge said:
"The quality of our law clerks from year to year is one of the most important factors determining the productivity and efficiency of our individual chambers. Heavy caseloads and difficult legal issues make it imperative that we select not only the brightest students but also those who have received the best training in the law. Determining which law schools provide an excellent legal education is critically important to us, and we have a good opportunity to make that determination because we work with our clerks 'elbow to elbow' on a daily basis. We find out not only how much they know about the law but also how well they have been trained in legal research and analysis. Our willingness to hire law clerks from a particular school is dependent to a large extent on our past experience with the graduates of that law school. Incorporating the clerkship hiring decisions of federal judges into your rankings will provide you with what is, in a sense, a survey of the quality of law schools as reflected in the actions—not just the opinions—of a group of highly selective employers who have every reason and opportunity to learn which law schools do the best job of educating their students."
Carl J. Zahner, director of the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism, and John T. Berry, director of the Legal Division, both at the Florida Bar, discussed the need for U.S. News to take into account in some way the degree to which legal ethics were being effectively taught at law schools. Dan Popeo, chairman and general counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation, believes that law schools need to play a much bigger role in raising the ethical standards for future practicing attorneys, given some of the recent scandals. Zahner and Berry stressed that there was almost a complete lack of practical training at law school in how to be a lawyer and how to manage a legal practice, which some think is a key factor in why so many young lawyers are becoming quickly disillusioned with their field. Mentioning no specific ranking indicators, they merely pointed out the need to look at how effectively law schools teach Professional Responsibility, or legal ethics and "Law Office Management."
Tags: law school | rankings
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (14) | Print
Reader Comments
The LSAT SCORES ARE A JOKE
I graduated from undergrad in 1994 with a 3.8 gpa, I scored 146 and 148 on the LSAT, I applied to 14 law schools, I was denied entrance into any of them for two years in a row. I never applied again because of my disgust, not with my LSAT scores, but that so much emphasis is put on that test. A good friend of mine scored a 174 on the LSAT and flunked out of U. of Miss first semester, It is difficult to get into law school, but once in, guess what, nobody fails, the school doesn't want to hurt their rankings with failing students. Furthermore why not admit every applicant and have extremely challenging course work for the first semester. I looked at scores around the country and people with scores lower than mine were admitted, passed, and passed the bar. I wonder how they got admitted, maybe daddy knew the dean?, and anyway they were able to pass and pass the state bar. The law schools destroyed my dream of becoming an attorney and im sure im not alone, hopefully a law school graduate with some nerver will sue the LSDAS and a few law schools, I am white, but I can't believe that the ACLU has not sued them for discriminating against poor people that work hard in undergraduate school just for their dreams to be destroyed.
To eliminate bias, blind evaluation is needed
Clerkship data is essentially another way of surveying judges about their views on the relative quality of various schools. As the rankings already include such a survey, including clerkship data would be double counting.
A truly new meausre that might add accuracy to the rankings would be a school's performance in blind-graded legal skills competitions. The ABA sponsors negotiation and moot court competitions and several nationally regarded trial associations sponsor mock trials. In these competitions, students from various schools compete on an even plane because no one knows where they go to school. They are judged by practicing lawyers and judges on their mastery of real legal skills. Blind grading makes people focus on substance over pedigree and including such competitions in the rankings would give lower-ranked schools that are truly doing an outstanding job preparing students the opportunity to be recognized for their work. Regarding the mathematical complications this raises about which competitions to include, the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence has a well-tested formula that might be considered as a model. A running, three-year average of performance or similar measure could smooth out fluctuations to produce a measure more reflective of the school and its programs than of the individual students competing in any one year.
Law Placement _ABA differences
The new ABA book is out. There seems to be a strange reporting of employment
20 GW reports 97.1 ABA 96.2
21 BU reports 98.7 ABA 96.2
22 Emory reports 98.3 ABA 95.9
22 MN reports 97.5 ABA 97.7 -hmm
22 ND reports 97.3 ABA 95.3
25 W & L reports 92.4 ABA 92.7 - hmm
26 BC reports 97.6 ABA 95.5
27 Fordham reports 94.7 ABA 94.7 -hmm
27 IL reports 92.6 ABA 90.1
27 Iowa reports 92.8 ABA 89.9
30 W & M reports 96.3 ABA 95.0
Adding Pursuing graduate degrees gets yet another number - many higher than the US News number, adding .25 of unknown gets yet another number - help
do you use a different methodology from ABA 9 months out?
advertisement
