Atty’s that brag about where they went to law school usually lack any significant accomplishments, whereas those individuals that “save the world” so to speak, rarely mention where they went to school.

For a moment consider those schools that refuse to rely heavily on LSAT scores to determine admission. Many of these schools allow anyone in, and they matriculate out. Over 20 years of data (in some instances) has shown that people with low LSAT scores who are in the top 10% of a class after their first year will usually remain there for the duration of their education.

Granted the LSAT is a prescreening method to aid admissions, but when you think about all of the time, money and sleepless nights wasted over something that is virtually irrelevant, there is only one true motive, dollar signs. You need to sign up for the data service, you have to pay them to submit your apps, it’s like they spent time figuring out how to nickel and dime people. The sad part is that it’s all electronic, and it costs relatively nothing to maintain.

Moreover, I wouldn’t be surprised if USNWR allows schools to bid on their placement within their annual publication. Think about it, Georgetown receives more money in application fees than they make in tuition for an entire class (this holds true with many T1, T2 and T3 schools). It would be a wise business investment to influence USNWR’s rankings in order to perk people’s interests in applying.

In all, its extremely superficial and useless. The only reason there is such a heavy emphasis on the LSAT, and USNWR’s report is to help regulate the number of practicing atty’s. If everyone can be a lawyer, they’ll flood the market, and you will have reduced what was once considered an elite profession to a blue collar job. Any idiot can pass the bar, and in california you don’t even need to graduate from a law program to take the bar.

Yet here we are arguing over the relevance of this garbage. The most important question I have to ask people, mainly those practicing, “How many clients have ever asked you where you graduated from?” – 0…. Lawyers solve people’s problems, the client is only concerned with their problem and it is up to us to provide them with the best representation we possibly can. I know many IVY league brats that can’t walk and chew gum, but yet their parents generous endowment to the school prior to their admission is what got them in. It doesn’t matter that they don’t understand simple procedure because they have a diploma that says YALE.

http://resipsablog.com/2008/04/12/the-law-school-rankings-czar-speaks-out/

Princeton and M.I.T. are not even on the list!!

Princeton and M.I.T. are not even on the list!!

Washington and Lee is a liberal arts school and would not be ranked with universities

and michigan and berkeley ranked above duke, northwestern, etc? haha, what kind of methodology would lead to that.

don’t post stuff like this, it’s just irresponsible

If you look at the number of major firms which hold on-campus interviews at St. John’s, compared to other schools in the second tier, it is almost surprising the school isn’t ranked higher. I have a lot of friends I graduated with who are working at major NYC firms. And the school is doing all the right things in terms of expanding its course offerings. For example, I took National Security and the Law (with Prof. Borgen, who I recommend highly) during 3L, and we had a drill in which we role-played as Defense Department employees in the aftermath of a hypothetical terror attack.

So while I would say that the rankings are kind of unpredictable, and shouldn’t be used as your main factor in choosing a school, it wouldn’t surprise me to see St. John’s move up to somewhere in the 60’s during the next few years.