Angie's Law School List

The AALS, ABA, and LSAC announced today that they have partnered with Angie's List to construct a new law school rankings based exclusively on student reviews -- Angie's Law School List.  Beginning in Fall 2013, LSAC will provide funding for Angie's List subscriptions to all law students, who will be asked to review all aspects of their law school experiences.  Angie's List will compile the reviews and create rankings of all 200 law schools. From a spokesperson:

"I realized the need for such a rankings system when I had to hire a plumber last month. Following the U.S. News law school rankings methodology, I tried to select a plumber based on educational qualifications, reputation among other plumbers, and expenditures on their businesses. Then it hit me:  I only cared about the reviews of plumbers submitted by their customers.  I consulted Angie's List and found a great plumber, and thought: why not do the same thing for law schools."

For more, see here.

Update #1:  The Volokh Conspiracy:  Watch Out U.S. News, Angie’s List to Rank Law Schools, by David Bernstein (George Mason):

I wonder how giving all law students free Angie’s List memberships will skew local reviews of other businesses. Nascent lawyers are known to be, shall we say, more combative than the average twenty-something. Meanwhile, Paul Campos complains that Angie’s List will only survey current students, excluding those who (a) either failed out after falling victim to the law school scam or dropped out after recognizing that their job prospects were nil; and (b) law students who are so discouraged by the debt they are taking on that they are too depressed to respond to surveys. Thus, he claims, the rankings will actually be skewed in favor of bad law schools who are responsible for (a) and (b). 

Update #2:  ABA Journal, Is Angie’s List Getting Into the Law School Ranking Business?