About That ABA Journal Cover Story...

It seems naive to think that all schools are playing by the same book. Traditionally the rankings will have a natural flow to them in categories like LSAT or GPA that will have a gradual decline as one goes down the list.

However, there are large discrepancies in how schools treat the employment at graduation numbers. This statistic is useless when one considers schools that play by the rules and don't count certain non-legal types of employment, or those that have larger numbers of students taking public interest or government jobs that won't be solid offers until after bar passage.

The real number the rankings should track is the 9 months number. Even that is probably longer than necessary. Why not have one employment number that corresponds to the usual period of time when bar results are received and offers are in place? Given the May-October turnaround, 5 months would be more than adequate.

Bob Morse responds: The nine month figure is determined by ABA and the National Association of Law Placement (NALP) standards. U.S. News uses at graduation since we think it's important. Don't think the ABA or NALP would change to 5 months. If they did, we would.

Skeptical of MA 6:39PM March 27, 2008