Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Pasquale Responds to Tamanaha: A 'Torrent of Words' on the Value of Law School
Following up on this morning's post, Tamanaha Responds to Leiter (and Leiter Replies): Frank Pasquale (Maryland), A "Torrent of Words" on the Value of Law School:
Professor Tamanaha (BT) complains that Simkovic and MacIntyre (SM) have unleashed a "torrent of words" in response to his criticism. ... SM have responded to a fusillade of criticism, much of it ill-informed. BT is welcome to dismiss their work, but as he does so, he should also be more cautious about his own claims. If the "law school reform" movement simply cannot acknowledge a piece of "good news" about legal education, it risks looking like the more dubious branches of "tort reform," driven by motives far afield from its stated aim of helping consumers.
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- What Is the Economic Value of a Law Degree -- $1 Million? (July 17, 2013)
- More on The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree (July 18, 2013)
- NY Times, WaPo, Others Debate The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree (July 18, 2013)
- What Is the Economic Value of a Law Degree -- $1 Million or $100,000? (July 19, 2013)
- More on The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree (July 20, 2013)
- Merritt on The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree (July 21, 2013)
- Diamond on The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree (July 22, 2013)
- Tamanaha: How 'The Million Dollar Law Degree' Study Systematically Overstates Value (July 23, 2013)
- Tamanaha: How the 'Million Dollar Law Degree' Study Understates Risk (Part I) (July 24, 2013)
- Tamanaha: Why the “Million Dollar Law Degree” Study Fails (Final Post) (July 25, 2013)
- Rasmusen: Critics of The Economic Value of a Law Degree Are Making the Paper Better (July 25, 2013)
- Pasquale and Simkovic Respond to Tamanaha (July 25, 2013)
- The American Lawyer: Paper on Law Degree's Economic Value a Non-Sequitur (July 26, 2013)
- Simkovic Responds to Tamanaha (Part 3) (July 26, 2013)
- Tamanaha: Short Term Versus Long Term Perspective (July 27, 2013)
- Harper, Diamond: The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree: Distraction, Astronomy, or Astrology? (July 28, 2013)
- Simkovic Responds to American Lawyer Op-Eds (July 29, 2013)
- Diamond Responds to Tamanaha (July 29, 2013)
- Rasmusen: The Economic Value of a Law Degree and the 'Typical' Law Student (July 29, 2013)
- Simkovic Responds to Tamanaha (Part 4) (July 30, 2013)
- Campos on The Economic Value of a Law Degree: The Problem With Back in the Day (July 30, 2013)
- Leiter's Reflections on The Economic Value of a Law Degree (July 30, 2013)
- Tamanaha Responds to Leiter (and Leiter Replies) (July 31, 2013)
- The $1 Million Value of a Law Degree and the Limits of Empirical Studies (July 31, 2013)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/07/pasquale-responds.html
Just to be sure readers have the context, I am pasting in some of the rest of the post below. Links are available back at the Balkinization blog.
1) Tamanaha (BT) claimed that 16 years of data was insufficient for their study. SM have demonstrated that "We use better (and more) data than studies Tamanaha praised in his book." BT appears to have a double standard: predictions of doom get a pass, but SM's work merited vituperative attacks immediately upon its release.
2) BT claimed that SM were "cherrypicking data." The pair immediately gave scientific explanations for their data set. They also suggest that BT is guilty of the very opportunistic use of data he accused them of.
3) BT has claimed that SM's research could mislead current applicants about the current value of legal education. SM respond that "We would have to be off by 85% for our basic conclusion to be incorrect."
Posted by: Frank | Jul 31, 2013 3:02:20 PM