Which Tail Wags?

By now we have all heard of the decidedly not Moneylaw practices that USN&WR rankings give rise to. You know -- temporary jobs for grads in order to report higher placement rates, massive efforts to draw applicants who have no chance of being admitted in order to decrease the acceptance percentage, weighing GPA or LSAT one way or the other depending on how USN&WR treats them, massive expenditures on decanal glossies that typically find there way to tne nearest recycling bin. All great examples of the ranking wagging Law Schools.

Nothing, however, captures my misgivings about rankings more than an interaction today. I was discussing Ted Seto's lastest post on SSRN downloads (leaving out the top three downloadees) with two colleagues at different times. We were wondering, as usual, why our school is not ranked higher. The reaction of one: "This means we need to produce more articles." The reaction of the other: "How can we increase our SSRN visibility."

There is a difference. One is the dog doing what dogs are supposed to do. The other is yet another version of doing something new or different because the SSNR ranking exists.

SSNR downloads, yet another tail to be wagged by.