My former colleague Scott Moss (now teaching at Colorado Law) recently posted his Moss Law School Rankings. Harvard and Yale took the top spots, but you may be surprised by the remainder of the top 10.
#1: Harvard (7 points)
#2: Yale (4 points)
#3: Tulane (3 points)
#4: NYU (2 points)
#5: Georgetown (2 points)
#5: Cincinnati (2 points)
#5: Rutgers (2 points)
#5: Pepperdine (2 points)
#5: Louisiana State (2 points)
#10: Fordham (1 point)
#10: Washington & Lee (1 point)
After the list, Scott explains his methodology.
Law schools accrue points by having alumni who were high public officials convicted, or simply forced to leave office, following criminal or otherwise serious unlawful misconduct they allegedly committed while in office in the 1990s or 2000s. [Footnote: I carefully say “alleged” so nobody on this list should sue Dan Solove, Concurring Opinions LLC, or (especially) me.] A law school gets four points for a President, two points for a Governor or Senator, and one point for a member of Congress or non-Gubernatorial high statewide official.
Reading the methodology, you might find yourself thinking about Marquette law alumni, wondering how close we came to earning a spot on the ranking. Moss explains:
A final note: by gerrymandering the criteria (a) to include only 1990-present illegality and (2) to cover only statewide or federal officeholders, I spared by former employer, Marquette University Law School, a high spot on the list based on Sen. Joe McCarthy (whose 1950s antics do not qualify) and recently convicted Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci (who never has held federal office despite sufficient popularity to get elected after a conviction for assaulting a man with a lit cigarette, an ashtray and a fireplace log). Were I to stress these two alums, the school slogan — “We are Marquette!” — might take on a somewhat different meaning than intended.
Indeed. Thanks, Scott!
With the “top” school only having 7 points, this could definitely benefit by going back a longer time or including more offices.
Interesting, though!
Yeah, but, much as I enjoyed Professor Moss while he was teaching here, I think his statistics aren’t legitimate. Rightly or wrongly, people equate Ivy League with the highest intelligence. As such, given the pool of potential people, there’s a disproportionate number of Ivy Leaguers in the pool. I’d be willing to wager that if you looked at the percentage of that pool that were graduates of specific schools, Harvard and Yale would fall far down the list.