Rankings Ridiculousness Reaches a New High/Low
Posted by Alan Childress
Rating law schools by the number of “SuperLawyers” as alum is not a ranking of any kind. It is flat wrong 
Well, no. In addition to actually addressing the “ranking,” the dean at Northwestern has gone so far as to rewrite its [non]methodology to suit his school’s purported image, combining it with the top 14 by USNews and adjusting for class size. Story here, with a twist: the writer’s editorial view that essentially all’s fair in war and rankings. Well, no — again.
As John Steele has written on several occasions, how can we teach ethics to law students if we are not acting ethically as regards to ratings and reputation? Actually he said it better: “I think that law schools are teaching by example that cooking the books is what lawyers do.”
Update: combining the top 50 of USNews with the metric of number of alum over age 45 who have attended at least two Jazzfests, Tulane is the #1 law school in the country!
Update 2: Brian Leiter on the specious methodology used by SuperLawyers Inc.
Update 3: Jeff Lipshaw on the hoax here.
Update 4: our prior post on Attorney Man and lawyer portrayals in comics.