National Jurist - November 2007 - (Page 17)

“Flipping burgers counts,” Seto said. “U.S. News necessarily uses the same ninemonth employment data tracked by the [American Bar Association].” Most surprising, Seto said, was the lack of importance for LSAT scores at the high end. There has been a popular myth that LSATs account for most of everything. They turn out to be important at the low end, he said. The fact that LSATs were converted into percentile equivalent stunned him. “There are a lot of built-in biases here that make the rankings suspect in a variety of ways,” Seto said. The study found an undisclosed adjustment made to expenditures for cost of living. The theory is that it cost less money to hire a law professor in North Carolina than in Washington, D.C., Seto said. ficulty of compiling the information. Seto agrees. “As a practical matter, U.S. News must base its rankings on information that is relatively easy to collect,” he said. Evan Cline, 3L at Emory University School of Law, said he believes that the U.S. News & World Report ranking uses adequate factors to determine the rank of U.S. law schools. However, he would also like to see more of a focus on quality of teaching. “Although publication is crucial to any academic organization, the students at Emory Law School value professors who exhibit excellence in the classroom,” he said of the school that placed No. 22 in the 2008 rankings. Colleen Tang, a 3L at University of Oregon School of Law, said she would redo the rankings in many ways. “I don’t believe that median undergrad GPA is a strong indicator of how successful a law student will be, considering the endless undergraduate degrees available,” she said. “I definitely looked toward bar passage rates when I decided which law school to attend.” Seto said the single most damaging feature of U.S. News’ ranking practice is that it lumps schools into tiers. “Moving down a rank, or even ten ranks, is unpleasant but not a disaster. Moving down a tier can be catastrophic,” he said. Is a better ranking possible? John Mittelbach, a 3L at Emory University School of Law, said it’s easier said than done with using quality of teaching as the top-scored factor, due to the dif- Watch an interview with Professor Theodore Seto, as he talks about the problems with the U.S. News & World Report rankings. www.NJPLonline.com/bestschools.html Seto’s paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) electronic library at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=937017 International and Comparative Law Programs at the University of Baltimore School of Law As part of its comprehensive international law program, the University of Baltimore School of Law, in partnership with other law schools, offers two unique study abroad programs designed to introduce U.S. and foreign law students to a broad array of transnational legal issues. STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS Curaçao, the Netherlands Antilles Dec. 21, 2007–Jan. 12, 2008 http://law.ubalt.edu/curacao ABA approved For more information, contact: curacao@ubalt.edu or 410.837.4635 Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom mid-June–mid-July, 2008 http://law.ubalt.edu/aberdeen ABA approved For more information, contact: aberdeen@ubalt.edu or 410.837.4631 LL.M. PROGRAM The University of Baltimore School of Law offers a Masters of Law (LL.M.) program in the Law of the United States. The program is for lawyers, judges, judicial officers, professors and other legal professionals who have received a first law degree from an institution outside of the United States and who may want to practice in the United States. For more information, visit http://law.ubalt.edu/academics/concentrations/llm.html or contact: University of Baltimore School of Law, LL.M. Program, 1420 N. Charles St., LC Suite 202B, Baltimore, MD 21201; 410.837.4532; meghbal@ubalt.edu. November 2007 THE NATIONAL JURIST 17 http://www.NJPLonline.com/bestschools.html http://ssrn.com/abstract=937017 http://law.ubalt.edu/curacao http://law.ubalt.edu/aberdeen http://law.ubalt.edu/academics/concentrations/llm.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of National Jurist - November 2007

National Jurist - November 2007 Contents Disturbing the Peace For the Record Blogs: The Death-knell for Law Reviews? Chemerinsky Heads UC-Irvine Ave Maria Dispute Raises ABA Inquiry John Marshall Establishes Veterans Clinic The Firm Report The Paper Chase Chronicles Law School Rankings at Math's Mercy Academic Freedom Called into Question St. Thomas Students Choose ‘Quality of Life’ Experience The Hidden Debt Crisis The Global Frontier International Education has to be a Part of Any Legal Education Employment Defender Career Hotline Off the Bench

National Jurist - November 2007

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