Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Law School Rankings
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Henderson & Morriss: Placement Data and the U.S. News Law School Rankings
William Henderson (Indiana) & Andrew P. Morriss (Illinois) have published Measuring Outcomes: Post-Graduation Measures of Success in the U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings, 83 Ind. L.J. 791 (2008). Here is the abstract: The U.S. News & World Report annual rankings play a key role in ordering the market for legal education, and,
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Update on The Green Bag’s “Deadwood” Law School Rankings
I previously blogged the Green Bag’s forthcoming annual ranking of law schools — the "Deadwood Rankings": Fair Warning to Law Schools … , 11 Green Bag 2d 139 (Spring 2008). The Green Bag has posted an update: Deadwood Report Update: Paperweight, 11 Green Bag 2d 414 (Summer 2008). Here is the abstract: When we introduced
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Rating the New Forbes College Rankings
I previously blogged Forbes’ new ranking of 569 colleges and universities, based on this methodology: Listing of Alumni in Who’s Who in America (25%) Student Evaluations of Professors from RateMyProfessors.com (25%) Four- Year Graduation Rates (16 2/3%) Enrollment-adjusted numbers of students and faculty receiving nationally competitive awards (16 2/3%) Average four year accumulated student debt
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Bell: Z-Scores in 2009 U.S. News Law School Rankings
Tom Bell (Chapman), featured in yesterday’s front page Wall Street Journal article, Law School Rankings Reviewed to Deter "Gaming," has published the Z-Scores in his model of the 2009 U.S. News Law School Rankings: U.S. News & World Report publishes scores for each of the hundred or so schools that it ranks highest, and offers
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Roundup of Commentary on WSJ Article on Law School Gaming of US News Rankings
Following up on yesterday’s post on the front page Wall Street Journal article, Law School Rankings Reviewed to Deter "Gaming," by Amir Efrati: David Bernstein (George Mason), WSJ Article on Law Schol Rankings Carolyn Elefant (Legal Blog Watch), U.S. News to Step Up Efforts to Stop Law Schools From Gaming the Rankings Michael Heise (Cornell),
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Front Page WSJ Story on Law School Rankings
Riveting front page story in today’s Wall Street Journal: Law School Rankings Reviewed to Deter "Gaming," by Amir Efrati: The most widely watched ranking of U.S. law schools may move to stop an increasingly popular practice: schools gaming the system by channeling lower-scoring applicants into part-time programs that don’t count in the rankings. U.S. News
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National Jurist Law School Rankings: Attrition Rates & Clinical Opportunities
The September 2008 issue of the National Jurist is out, with two new rankings of law schools: by (1) 1L attrition rates, and (2) clinical opportunities available per student: Dropping Like Flies: 1L Attrition Numbers Top 30% at Some Law Schools (pp. 12-13): 1. Whittier: 51.5% 2. Touro: 37.4% 3. Golden Gate: 36.9% 4. Western
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The Ethics and Economics of American Legal Education Today
The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues has published a symposium issue on The Ethics and Economics of American Legal Education Today: University legal education, like higher education generally in the United States, has become sharply more expensive in the past three decades. Many law students now take on substantial loans to attend law school, and
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2009 U.S. News College Rankings
U.S. News & World Report today released its 2009 College Rankings. Here are the Top 25 National Universities, along with their 2008 ranking [click on chart to enlarge]: Here are the Top 25 Liberal Arts Colleges, along with their 2008 ranking [click on chart to enlarge]: For press and blogosphere coverage of the
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Sauder: Interlopers and Field Change: The Entry of U.S. News into the Field of Legal Education
Michael Sauder (University of Iowa, Department of Sociology) Interlopers and Field Change: The Entry of U.S. News into the Field of Legal Education, 53 Adm. Science Q. 209 (June 2008). Here is the abstract: This article analyzes a process by which established organizational fields change through the incorporation of new field-level actors. Drawing on 137
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Publication Study of Faculty at Non-Top 50 Law Schools
Last fall, I blogged a publication study of the faculties at Tier 3 and Tier 4 law schools (as well as the New England law schools) by Michael J. Yelnosky (Roger Williams). This year, Michael is expanding the study to include all law schools ranked 51 or lower by U.S. News (as well as the
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The Top 20 Law Faculties
In our article, Ranking Law Schools: Using SSRN to Measure Scholarly Performance, 81 Ind. L.J. 83 (2006), Bernie Black and I discuss the four existing methods for measuring the scholarly performance of law faculties — publication counts, citation counts, SSRN downloads, and reputation surveys. With Brian Leiter’s update of his 2007 citation count study, I
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Deans React to Call for U.S. News Rankings Boycott
Following up on Case Dean Gary Simson’s call to boycott the U.S. News rankings (blogged here and here): National Law Journal: Deans Say Call to Boycott Law School Rankings a Good Idea — But Only in Theory, by Leigh Jones: Andrew M. Coats (Oklahoma, #68): "As long as they tell us that we need to
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U.S. News Roundup of Debate Over Proposed Changes to Rankings Methodology
I previously blogged (here, here, here, here, here, and here) the announcement (here and here) by Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News & World Report, that the magazine is considering counting both full-time and part-time entering student admission data for the median LSAT score and median undergraduate GPA ranking categories. Mr. Morse
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Henderson: The Data Behind the Part-Time Law Student Rankings Loophole
I previously blogged (here, here, here, here, and here) the announcement (here and here) by Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News & World Report, that the magazine is considering counting both full-time and part-time entering student admission data for the median LSAT score and median undergraduate GPA ranking categories. Bill Henderson (Indiana)
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Taking Back the U.S. News Rankings: Value-Added Law Schools
Jason Solomon (Georgia) has begun an intriguing series of posts on PrawsBlawg on taking back the U.S. News law school rankings and producing a "Voters’ Guide" to assess the "value added" for students at different law schools: Preparing to Vote…for U.S. News (7/7/08) What are we voting about in US News? (7/8/08) What Would Leiter
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U.S. News to Change Placement Component of Rankings to Exclude Unemployed Grads Who Are Not Seeking Work
Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News & World Report, has just announced that the magazine will be changing the job placement component (at graduation (4% of ranking) and 9 months after graduation (14%)) of its law school rankings in light the change in the way the ABA requires schools to report its
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U.S. News Reacts to Criticism of Proposal to Include Part Time Students in Selectivity Data
I previously blogged the announcement of, and critical reaction to, the proposal by Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News & World Report, that the magazine is "seriously studying" two changes to its law school rankings methodology that would affect 24.5% of the overall ranking: Counting both full-time and part-time entering student admission
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Minnesota’s U.S. News Rankings Gaffe
Brian Leiter flagged this report of a hilarious U.S. News rankings gaffe by a fundraiser for the University of Minnesota Law School A University of Minnesota fundraiser sent an urgent e-mail this week to law school alumni: Please give even $1 by week’s end. Why? Even 100 pennies from 200 new donors might boost the
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U.S News Considers Two Changes to Law School Rankings Methodology
Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News & World Report, notes that the magazine is "seriously studying" two changes to its law school rankings methodology that would affect 24.5% of the overall ranking: Counting both full-time and part-time entering student admission data for the median LSAT score (12.5% of ranking) and median undergraduate
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Updated Law School Moot Court Rankings
Following up on this morning’s post: a reader informed me that more up to date law school moot court rankings are available at LawSchoolAdvocacy.com. The rankings for the complete 2007 moot court season list 69 schools. Here are the Top 25 law school moot court programs for 2007: 1. South Texas 2. UC-Hastings 3. Chicago-Kent
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Law School Moot Court Rankings
Best Moot Court Programs ranks the Top 53 law school moot court programs, based on this methodology. Here are the Top 25: 1. UC-Hastings 2. Washington University 3. Georgetown 4. Chicago-Kent 5. South Texas 6. Brooklyn Georgia 8. Lewis & Clark 9. American 10. George Mason 11. Mississippi College 12. Michigan State 13.
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NY Times on SSRN Download Rankings
As regular readers of this blog know, I publish monthly rankings of Tax Profs as measured by downloads of their papers from SSRN, and Ted Seto publishes here similar rankings of tax faculties and graduate tax faculties. Today’s New York Times hsa an article on the SSRN rankings, Now Professors Get Their Star Rankings, Too,
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The Nadir of Rankings Puffery: Quinnipiac’s WSJ Ad
In our Moneyball article, we note several glaring of examples of deans who have signed the LSAC letter urging law school applicants to ignore the U.S. News rankings who nevertheless issue glowing press releases when their schools advance in the rankings. What Law Schools Can Learn from Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics, 82 Texas
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Law School Transfer Student Rankings
Brian Leiter lists the ten law schools that take the most transfer students as a percentage of their first year class. Because 22.5% of the U.S. News rankings is based on the quality of the 1L class, decreasing the 1L class and making up for the foregone revenue by increasing the number of transfer students