Dive Summary:
- Marketing materials designed by law schools in an attempt to boost their U.S. News & World Report rankings aren’t just widely criticized anymore—a new study released on the Social Science Research Network suggests they don’t have any impact on the rankings at all.
- For the study, Larry Cunningham, an associate dean and associate professor at St. John’s University, examined 427 pieces of marketing materials from 125 law schools before trying to identify patterns between the 2011-12 and 2012-13 rankings list and finding no statistically significant relationship.
- Stopping short of suggesting law schools drop the marketing (often referred to as “law porn”), Cunningham’s study does note other choice digs by professors that include “beneath the dignity of scholars,” “futile,” and “crap.”
From the article:
Marketing materials by law schools -- designed to help them in the rankings -- are widely called "law porn." These materials have been widely criticized for years, yet most law schools mail them out each rankings season, trying to out-boast and out-glossy their competitors. Leaving aside the wisdom of playing the rankings game, do such efforts succeed in pushing various law schools up a few notches? A new study released on the Social Science Research Network suggests that they don't. ...