What Did Everyone Do Before USN&WR??

[RockinJay]

I'd be interested to know what everyone did before USN&WR began it's reign on all of us applicants?  How did the law firms match up all the applicants?  Were the LSATs weighed so heavily back then as they are now?  Etc. etc.?  Not a brain buster here, just curious.

[Harsh Reality]

Ivy League, then everything else.  Pretty much the same today except not all T14 schools are Ivy League.

[Pop Up Video]

I'm pretty sure Michigan, Georgetown, Chicago, Virginia, etc have long enjoyed a strong reputation in the legal community.

[Rhymnoceros]

Yeah I think there was just a general understanding of rankings based on alumni in hiring positions or in prestigious government positions, etc. CM is right that it certainly wasn't just ivy league.
But there was definitely an order. Why else do you think so many SC justices went to Harvard and Yale?

[RockinJay]

I think it's a given that the top 14 schools have ALWAYS been the top 14.  I should clarify my question and ask what about the rest of the 180+ schools (granted, some of them are fairly new)?  How were they "classified" by the legal community without the USN&WR? 

For hypothetical purposes, lets say there were only 100 law schools 25 years ago (I have no idea, just shooting off the top of my head) and lets NOT TALK ABOUT THE T14 SCHOOLS FOR ONE MOMENT ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD (sheesh!), how did firms match up a Wisconsin versus an Illinois, or a Washington-St.Louis versus University of Texas?

[gatornation]

I was talking to some older lawyers about this, and for the rest (outside the top 17 or so), people usually just went to the best school in their region if they could.  It was generally understood which school was the best in each area, although I'm sure there were exceptions (BC and BU?)

[RockinJay]

Exactly!  I've had many attorney's at Big Law firms tell me that schools such as St. John's in New York (which has a massive alumni pool) used to have a better rep before the USN&WR rankings came out because of the school's regional reputation.  Now, you have schools matched up nationally which can produce a lower ranked school as being subpar.  Interesting stuff!

[Law Boy]

USNWR is a joke.  People salivate over arbitrary rankings.  The most foolish part is that it is an established consensus among EVERYONE that rankings are overrated and arbitrarily contrived but we still remain obsequious to them.

Note: Out of the reputation calculation which combined accounts for 40% of the ranking is made up of surveys sent in by LESS THAN 10% of those surveyed.  Now lets go adjust our lives for the outcome. 

The ABA should publicly denounce the USNWR ranking and let firms and attorneys make up their own conceptions of schools and their alumni.

[Pop Up Video]

USNWR is a joke.  People salivate over arbitrary rankings.  The most foolish part is that it is an established consensus among EVERYONE that rankings are overrated and arbitrarily contrived but we still remain obsequious to them.

Note: Out of the reputation calculation which combined accounts for 40% of the ranking is made up of surveys sent in by LESS THAN 10% of those surveyed.  Now lets go adjust our lives for the outcome. 

The ABA should publicly denounce the USNWR ranking and let firms and attorneys make up their own conceptions of schools and their alumni.

I somehow doubt firms pay that much attention to USNWR 

[greenie]

USNWR is a joke.  People salivate over arbitrary rankings.  The most foolish part is that it is an established consensus among EVERYONE that rankings are overrated and arbitrarily contrived but we still remain obsequious to them.

Note: Out of the reputation calculation which combined accounts for 40% of the ranking is made up of surveys sent in by LESS THAN 10% of those surveyed.  Now lets go adjust our lives for the outcome. 

The ABA should publicly denounce the USNWR ranking and let firms and attorneys make up their own conceptions of schools and their alumni.

I somehow doubt firms pay that much attention to USNWR 

They pay attention to everything believe me, including the LSAT scores required to get into schools.  I saw a legal recruiters book once, and it included a list of schools and their median LSAT scores.  This is what she looked at to give me advice, so yeah, they are paying attention.