Yale and Harvard Law Schools Abandon U.S. News Rankings – WSJ

Yale Law School and Harvard Law School are pulling out of the U.S. News & World Report law-school ranking that they have dominated for decades, issuing a significant blow to the credibility and power of the high-profile rankings.

The departures stand to disrupt what had become a fairly static and influential list of the nation s best law schools, and administrators say the moves could help shift how schools make decisions in admissions, financial aid and whether to encourage students to pursue public-interest jobs.

The U.S. News rankings are profoundly flawed, Yale Law Dean Heather Gerken said Wednesday morning in announcing the move. Its approach not only fails to advance the legal profession, but stands squarely in the way of progress.

Specifically, she said, the rankings devalue programs that encourage low-paying public-interest jobs and reward schools that dangle scholarships for high LSAT scores, rather than for financial need.

Later Wednesday, Harvard Law announced that it was withdrawing from the rankings as well, with its dean, John Manning, saying that the school had been deliberating the move for several months.

It has become impossible to reconcile our principles and commitments with the methodology and incentives the U.S. News rankings reflect, he wrote in a message to the school community. He cited many of the same reasons as Ms. Gerken.

He also said a student-debt metric the rankings adopted a few years ago may reward schools that offer generous financial aid, but could also lead schools to admit more well-off students who don t need to borrow. Harvard held the No. 4 spot in the latest ranking.

via www.wsj.com

Big news. This will allow law schools to keep doing things the way they do them now, only more so.