Law School Discussion

I was looking at the USNWR Website today and read an explanation of why the rankings do not change. It discusses market forces and law school culture that stabilizes the rankings, but makes a really bad assumption: that such stability is indicative of a lack of improvement in the schools, when it could be that many schools are improving, but "comparative improvement" is stable. Hence, many schools are unfairly characterized as not making substantive changes to the educational quality of their programs, and it could very well be that the quality of legal education, overall, is better than it has ever been. 

It also cops out on the topic of (what I believe to be) arbitrary metrics used by the rankings, by not discussing them - avoiding the much larger issue of whether rankings should exist until more research, surveys and planning are done.

For what it's worth, it does offer some good insights. 

http://legalresearchplus.com/2008/07/10/of-rankings-and-regulation-are-the-us-news-world-report-rankings-really-a-subversive-force-in-legal-education/

LIFE WITHOUT BLACK PEOPLE

A very humorous and revealing story is told about a group of white
people who were fed up with African-Americans (all Blacks, really), so they joined together and
wished themselves away.

They passed through a deep, dark tunnel and emerged in sort of a
"Twilight Zone" where there is an America without black people.

At first these white people breathed a sigh of relief. At last, they said,
no more crime, drugs, violence and welfare. All of the blacks have gone!
Then suddenly, reality set in. The "NEW AMERICA" is not America at
all, only bare land.

1. There were very few flourishing crops because
the original nation had been built on a slave-supported system.

2. There were no cities with tall skyscrapers because Alexander Mills,
a black man, invented the elevator. And without it, they could not reach higher floors.

3. There were few, if any, cars because Richard Spikes, a Black man,
had invented the automatic gearshift; Joseph Gambol, also Black, invented
the "Super Charge System" for Internal Combustion Engine Technology, and Garrett
A. Morgan, another Black man, had invented the traffic signals still in use in the "old" America.

4. Furthermore, one could not use the rapid transit system because
its procurer was the electric trolley, which was invented by another
Black man, Albert R. Robinson.

5. Even if there were streets on which cars and a rapid transit
system could operate, they were cluttered with paper because an African
American, Charles Brooks, invented the street sweeper.

6. There were few, if any, newspapers, magazines and books because
John Love invented the pencil sharpener, William Purveys invented
the fountain pen, and Lee Barrage invented the Type Writing Machine.
W. A. Love invented the Advanced Printing Press. They were all,
you guessed it, Black.

7. Even if Americans could write their letters, articles and books, they
would not have been transported by mail because William Barry invented
the Postmarking and Canceling Machine, William Purveys invented the
Hand Stamp (when he was inventing the fountain pen) and Philip Downing invented the Letter Drop.

8. The lawns were brown and wilted because Joseph Smith had invented the
Lawn Sprinkler and John Burr, the Lawn Mower.

9. When they entered their homes, they found them to be poorly
ventilated and poorly heated. You see, Frederick Jones invented the
Air Conditioner and Alice Parker the Heating Furnace. Their homes
were also dim. But, of course, this was to be expected, as Lewis Lattimer invented the Electric
Lamp, Michael Harvey invented the lantern and Granville T. Woods invented
the Automatic Cut off Switch. Their homes were also filthy because Thomas W. Steward invented the Mop and Lloyd P. Ray invented the Dust Pan.

10. Their children met them at the door-barefooted, shabby, motley
and unkept. But what could one expect? Jan E. Matzelinger invented the
Shoe Lasting Machine, Walter Sammons invented the Comb, Sarah Boone
invented the Ironing Board and George T. Samon invented the Clothes
Dryer.

11. Finally, they were resigned to at least have dinner amidst all of
this turmoil. But here again, the food had spoiled because another
Black Man, John Standard invented the refrigerator.

Now, isn't that something? What would this country be like without
the contributions of Blacks, as African-Americans? Martin Luther King, Jr.
said, "by the time we leave for work, Americans have depended on the
inventions from the minds of Blacks."

Does all of this go to say that whites have not invented anything great? Preposterous! blacks understand this. But do whites know of, understand and value OUR many contributions to history and human progress? 

I am thinking of taking a pre-law bootcamp course. Law preview makes some strong claims, and I have looked at their materials. Is this the best such one-week program? Which of their techniques work and which do not? Can you recommend a better program? I attended Charles Hamilton Houston Pre-Law at Georgetown University Law Center (CHH) a few years ago, so I do not need another six-week program (like CLEO, etc).

In fact, I still have all of my exams, essays and briefs, and I earned A's in all of my courses (Torts, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Appellate Advocacy, Legal Writing, and Legal Research), except for one B+. I need to find the best brushup course that will tell me how to approach/organize my studies (for the best time-management, etc). CHH did everything but that. 

Also...Read and brief every case? Or no? I have heard conflicting advice.

Like several media outlets, U.S. News Magazine is struggling financially, and there are rumblings that it may not survive the current economic crisis. If U.S. News was no longer a player in the rankings game, what effect(s) would it have on the way schools operate? Would the effects be positive or negative? Which ranking(s) would be the "go-to" source?