Paul L. Caron
Dean





Monday, December 5, 2022

George Mason Is 5th Law School To Reject Boycott Of U.S. News Rankings

Washington Post, Law School Revolt Against U.S. News Rankings Gains Steam:

George Mason Scalia (2020)Ken Randall, dean of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, which is ranked 30th, said he has no plans to withhold data from U.S. News. He’s sharply critical of their methodology, though, especially the reputational survey, which he compared to an Olympic diver climbing out of the pool, giving herself a “10” and then sitting down at the judging table to rate her competitors.

Randall said the rankings exert a powerful influence in the legal field. “The big bulk of schools,” everyone from about 15 to 100 or so, “really do think about rankings a lot,” Randall said. Applicants scrutinize them when deciding where to enroll. Employers bear them in mind when hiring.

A big law firm, he said, might look at hiring graduates in the top 30 percent of their class at a top-10 law school. But they might not dip so far down into the class to hire graduates from a lower-ranked school. “It’s a lot of weight,” Randall said.

Law.com, George Mason Law Becomes 5th School to Announce Plans to Continue with US News Rankings:

The George Mason Scalia Law School, “which is subject to freedom of information guidelines, is not planning to withhold rankings data from U.S. News,” Ken Randall, Allison and Dorothy Rouse Dean and George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, said in a statement emailed to Law.com Monday.

“Having said that, the rankings system needs reform, especially the subjective reputational survey,” he added.

U.S. News coverage:

Boycott

U.S. News Response to Boycott

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/12/george-mason-is-5th-law-school-to-reject-boycott-of-us-news-rankings.html

Law School Rankings, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink