Wendy Nelson Espeland (Northwestern University, Department of Sociology) & Michael Sauder (University of Iowa, Department of Sociology) have published Rankings and Diversity, 18 S. Cal. Rev. L. & Soc. Just. 587 (2009).  Here is part of the Introduction:

We begin with a brief overview of the meanings of “diversity” and offer a definition, a summary of how rankings are created, and the methods used in our research. Next, we discuss the actual and potential consequences of the rankings for diversity at three levels of analysis: 1) the individual decision-making of law school applicants; 2) the organizational decision-making of law schools in the admissions practices that create classes and distribute students across schools and programs; 3) and the heterogeneity of law schools as kinds of organizations with distinctive missions and niches in the field of legal education. We conclude by offering some strategies for mitigating the pressure that rankings place on diversity in legal education and law in the short term, and suggest the research needed to further specify the impact of rankings on diversity. This essay draws on evidence collected as part of a large, multi-method research project on the impact of USN rankings on law schools, as well as the findings of a small but growing literature on the effects of rankings on legal education. Elsewhere we have analyzed some of these processes in more detail. Our aim here is not to present a detailed empirical analysis, but instead to provide an overview of our findings, report on administrators’ and faculty’s concerns about the impact of rankings on diversity, and raise questions about how to think about professional diversity.