How Deans Should Game the Above the Law Rankings
The popular legal news website Above the Law just announced its 2014 Top 50 Law School Rankings. ATL’s methodology focuses exclusively on outcomes: only jobs, total cost, and alumni satisfaction...
View ArticleATL Law School Rankings
Above the Law (ATL) has released the third edition of its law school rankings. Writing about rankings is a little like talking about intestinal complaints: We’d rather they didn’t exist, and it’s best...
View ArticleMore on Rankings: Three Purposes
I want to continue my discussion of the law school rankings published by Above the Law (ATL). But before I do, let’s think more generally about the purpose of law school rankings. Who uses these...
View ArticleATL Rankings: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe
In my last post I used Above the Law (ATL)’s law school rankings to explore three types of ranking schemes. Now it’s time to assess the good, bad, and maybe of ATL’s system. In this column I explore...
View ArticleATL Rankings: The Bad and the Maybe
I’ve already discussed the positive aspects of Above the Law (ATL)’s law school rankings. Here I address the poorly constructed parts of the ranking scheme. Once again, I use ATL to provoke further...
View ArticleHow To Fix The U.S. News Law School Rankings
This was originally published on Above the Law. To put it mildly, I’m not a fan of the U.S. News law school rankings. They poison the decision-making process for law students and law schools alike. For...
View ArticleWhy Ranking Law Schools Nationally Is Nonsensical
This piece was originally published on Bloomberg. Earlier this month, at the American Association of Law Schools’ annual meeting in New York, the AALS’s Section for the Law School Dean hosted a panel...
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The U.S. News Rankings Are Horrible. Stop Paying Attention.
Note: A version of this piece was published last year on Law.com, but the U.S. News rankings remain as toxic of an influence as ever. This years version was published on Above the Law. Next week, the...
View ArticleEngines of Anxiety
Two sociologists, Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder, have published a book that examines the impact of US News rankings on legal education. The book, titled Engines of Anxiety, is available as...
View ArticleRanking Academic Impact
Paul Heald and Ted Sichelman have published a new ranking of the top U.S. law schools by academic impact. Five distinguished scholars comment on their ranking in the same issue of Jurimetrics Journal...
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