Law School Rankings Unkind to Michigan Law Schools

Once again, the highly controversial national law school rankings have been published by the US News & World Report. Although you have to pay to see them in full, University of Cincinnati Law Professor Paul Caron has published a segment of the rankings; peer reputation vs "overall" rankings.

Some movement was observed at the top of the rankings.  The University of Michigan Law School, for example, fell three spots from 7th to 10th.  Harvard also fell a spot.  To the USN&WR editor: really; what changed at UM and Harvard to merit the drop?  Go figure.

Proving that it never hurts to associate with a huge public university, Michigan State University's "College of Law" [formerly the unaffiliated Detroit College of Law] is now ranked #82 overall.  Not happening in the law school's "stand alone" days.  Not yet 1st tier, but improving.

MSU bested Wayne State, which now sits at #112 overall; that never would have happened in the 1980s.

While my law school alma mater, University of Detroit Mercy, did well in the NCAA men's basketball tournament seeding, in the law school rankings, er...not so much; stuck at #178 in the peer reputation category with an "overall" ranking simply noted as "tier 2" and trending downward from its whopping 169 rank back in 2009.  Guess that means, "second rate".  What's going on over there?

Finally, we would be remiss if we did not at least mention Michigan's other perennial basement dweller in these confounded rankings: the mighty, albeit somewhat narcissistic, Thomas M. Cooley Law School; ranked at #184. 

If you care enough to drill into Cooley's own website, however, you will see that they persist in publishing their own law school ranking which places them second [to Harvard] based on a variety of class-size factors.  And perhaps that is as it should be, with a whopping 3727 Juris Doctor candidates currently enrolled [yes folks, that's Three Thousand Seven Hundred Twenty Seven students; can you say, you are just a number...].  The next highest enrollment is Georgetown University, with 1982 students.

Again, we have to ask, do we really need that many lawyers out there on the street?  Really?

                                                                      www.clarkstonlegal.com

                                                                     info@clarkstonlegal.com

Read more »

Posted in: Cooley Law School,law student,lawyer,Professor Paul Caron,University of Detroit Mercy Law School,University of Michigan Law School,US News and World Report,Wayne State University

Consumers of Legal Services Force Change in Law School Curriculum

Last Sunday's NYT had yet another above the fold, law school-related headline: What They Don't Teach Law Students: Lawyering.  In a sustained economic downturn, corporations (and individuals) that have reduced their legal budgets want lawyers with practical knowledge; not theoretical brilliance.

The academic template for law schools has been around, with very little change, since Harvard Law School branded the so-called "case method" in the late 19th Century.  This traditional legal pedagogy was memorialized in the 1973 movie, The Paper Chase.

The Socratic case method calls for students to read and break down cases that illustrate a particular, albeit ancient or esoteric, legal principle.  A law professor calls on students who must answer hard questions about the cases they have briefed.  The law students are forced to reason and think on their feet, like a lawyer in a courtroom.

The Socratic case method does not teach the student, however, how to handle contemporary problems faced by real-life clients in today's unforgiving marketplace.  Today, the cost-conscious consumer makes every effort to avoid the courtroom.

In our era of sustained economic downturn, the traditional law school model is under attack from two sides: there are very few legal jobs waiting for the legions of debt-burdened graduating law students; and clients generally do not want to see first or second year lawyers' time on their monthly invoices.

In response, many law schools have attempted practical innovations, introducing a "legal writing across the curriculum" component, and developing various legal clinics where students represent actual clients.  The effort has been to produce market-tested graduates.

Former Vanderbilt Law School Dean Edward Rubin has isolated the following areas where corporate clients are demanding better training from the academy:

• A better understanding of modern litigation which now includes an e-discovery component, diligent fact gathering, and a settlement process designed to avoid court; 
• Deeper knowledge of transactional law, including how to properly draft, evaluate and challenge a contract; 
• How to perform basic corporate due diligence in the modern government regulatory context; 
• Stronger legal writing skills (age-old complaint); and 
• Getting a clue about the economics of a law practice.

Locally, both the Wayne State University Law School, and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (this blogger's alma mater) have robust legal writing programs and have been leaders in developing urban clinics which provide students with practical experience serving real clients.

Like any customer, law clients want excellent service for a reasonable fee.  Hiring a law firm that implements cutting edge, cost-sensitive technique is more important than ever in reducing a corporation's or an individual's legal bills.

www.clarkstonlegal.com

info@clarkstonlegal.com

Read more »

Posted in: e-discovery,Harvard Law School,law school,law student,lawyer,New York Times,Paper Chase,University of Detroit Mercy,Wayne State University