Interesting article in this week’s National Law Journal:  Law Schools Unlikely to Boycott Magazine Rankings; Fallout from Liberal Arts Boycott Minimal — So Far, by Leigh Jones:

Despite law schools’ widespread criticism of the rankings by U.S. News & World Report, it seems unlikely — at least for now — that they will band together in a boycott that would follow the lead set by a group of liberal arts colleges. … . At most, a "handful" of law schools may follow suit, said Saul Levmore, dean of University of Chicago Law School and a board member of the Association of American Law Deans.

Nancy Rogers, president of the AALS, said that her group was not considering a move similar to that of the Annapolis Group. "While the AALS believes that any composite rankings system is inherently flawed, the AALS supports the efforts of magazines or other entities to provide information to those interested in pursuing legal education," she said in an e-mail message.

Law schools generally fear the consequences of not participating, Levmore said, especially because the publication could go ahead and include much of the information that is available from the ABA, absent input from the individual schools. "I’m not sure what they would gain," he said.

Any abandonment of the rankings would need to be large scale, which is unlikely, said Michael Schill, dean of University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. "We shake our heads and we say how having U.S. News & World Report has harmed law schools," he said. "Despite all that, I’ve never heard of a serious effort to have law schools band together to do this."

But at least one academic sees the move by the Annapolis Group as perhaps a precursor for a similar decision from law schools. Eileen Kaufman, president of SALT, said that, up to this point, law school leaders have only talked about resisting the rankings. "The fact that this Annapolis Group has issued its statement could prompt the deans to take it more seriously," she said.