In Brief Law School Publications

Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons In Brief Law School Publications 1990 In Brief Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/in_brief Recommended Citation In Brief, iss. 49 (1990). https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/in_brief/48 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Publications at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in In Brief by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Case Western Reserve University School of Law COKU 3n XT nw QTW9< in brief Number 49 Inside this issue. Published three times a year by the Case Western Reserve University School of Law for alumni, students, faculty, and friends. Editor Kerstin Ekfelt Trawick Professor Mehlman on Director of Publications and External Affairs Underservice: The Faculty Editor Wilbur C. Leatherberry Patient’s Perspective Professor of Law Contributing Editor Elizabeth Hlabse Photographers Mike Sands Kerstin Ekfelt Trawick Professor Jensen on Buffalo Law Law School Administration Peter M. Gerhart (216) 368-3283 Dean Daniel T. Clancy (216) 368-3308 Vice Dean Melvyn R. Durchslag (216) 368-3293 Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Remembering JoAnne Urban Jackson (216) 368-.')139 Sidney Jacoby Associate Dean for Student and PosbJ.D. Programs Barbara F. Andelman (216) 368-3600 Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid Debra Fink (216) 368-6353 Associate Director of Career Planning Two New Kerstin Ekfelt Trawick (216) 368-6352 Endowment Funds Director of Publications and H External Affairs Scott R. Lange (216) 368-4495 Director of Development Robin L. Meinzer (216) 368-6355 Development Officer Adrienne Potts (216) 368-6363 Coordinator of Continuing s Legal Education Faculty Notes Betty J. Harris (216) 368-3280 a Registrar Ann Marcy (216) 368-6350 a Director of Budget and Human Resources Case Western Reserve University School of Law Copyri^^it Case Western Reserve I Si University All rights reserved. I Design: Design Assocyttes, I Cleveland, Ohio I Manufactured by the Schaefer Printing I Company, Cleveland, Ohio. The Dean Reports I know that our graduates and friends are deeply inter ested in the strength of our educational program and the quality of the intellectual life of our students. 1 also know that our graduates and friends are gratified by the great progress the law school has made over the past two decades, and that you are committed to an even stronger program and an even better education for our students. What 1 do not yet know is how good you want us to be. By any measure, we can be proud of the work of our graduates, our students, and our faculty. Our graduates provide leadership to law firms, corporations, govern ment agencies, and other institutions around the coun try. They serve our society well. Our student body is drawn from all over the country (currently, from twenty- eight states), from all of the best undergraduate schools, and from a wide variety of prior careers. The faculty are recognized around the country for their scholarly writ ing and their professional activities. I cannot prove it, but I would be surprised if even a dozen law schools can claim the uniformly high quality of classroom teaching that we have, or such a vibrant intellectual atmosphere rations and moving as quickly as possible to achieve outside the classroom. We are very, very good. And we them, we should rank ourselves high, and outside sur ate getting better. veys and rankings should not especially bother us. Yet when rankings of law schools are published, we are But the U.S. News survey was based in part on a series of not always listed among the top twenty-five. Should that reputational surveys conducted both inside and outside bother us? of academia, and our reputation is important. Aside from the fact that it influences our sense of well being, how 1 was forced to ponder that question recently when the others perceive us affects our future because it affects U.S. News and World Report issued its ranking of the top our continuing ability to attract top students, employers, twenty-five law schools in the country and did not faculty, and new resources. Moreover, the U.S. News rank include us. Nor did they recognize us as one of the “up ings were also based on a factual analysis of law school and coming” law schools. We have to suppose that we operations. While facts are only a distant proxy for qual are in some never-never land in the law school hierarchy: ity, an analysis of them can tell us interesting things we are already up and already arrived, but not in the top about some differences between our school and other twenty-five. It was some consolation to remember that schools, and about our ability to influence the rankings. just a little over a year ago a survey conducted by Of Counsel magazine found us among the top twenty-five Of the four factual categories measured by U.S. News, we schools from which law firms around the country look must be among the top law schools in two. 1 cannot for associates. It was also some consolation to remember imagine that many schools have a significantly better that there are now perhaps as many as forty law schools placement rate (94 percent) or a significantly better generally agreed to be very good, so that trying to select graduation rate (96 percent) than we do. In another cate which ones beyond the “name” schools to include in the gory-institutional resources—we score well in some top twenty-five is to draw a fairly meaningless line. indices and poorly in others. Our student-faculty ratio Clearly, if we are not in the top twenty-five, the distance (18:1) is certainly quite competitive, but we are less between “us” and “them” is insignificant. competitive in terms of total dollars spent per student, and we are simply not competitive in terms of volumes Still, one must consider the significance of the U.S. News and volume equivalents in the library. rankings. Fortunately, none of those measures is a certain indica We all know—even U.S. News and World Report knows — tor of quality. We know that our library has a good col that one cannot measure the quality of education by lection and that our investment in electronic information numerical indices, and that reputation surveys are pale sources makes the relative paucity of volumes increas images, generally out of date. We know that law schools ingly irrelevant. We are, after all, fifth in the country in differ in their strengths and their character, and that the amount that we spend on electronic databases and, different schools are best for different types of people. by any measure, a leader among law schools in the elec- As long as we are satisfied that we are setting high aspi in brief May 1990 tronic library movement. Our commitment to get infor cycle, and increase our recognition enough to increase mation to people when and where they want it should be our recognition further? Of course we can. We are well enough to move us to the top rank. Similarly, we may be on our way. But we must first decide whether we want spending less per student than the schools ranked by U.S. to. News, but we may be more efficient, with lower overhead and less waste. 1 have no doubt that our alumni outside of Ohio would love to see our national reputation increase. They are, But we have to acknowledge that there is some truth in after all, more dependent on our national reputation than the U.S. News figures. In particular, 1 would judge that all Ohio alumni are. Ohio alumni know of our quality of the private schools (and some of the public schools) because they see so many of our graduates in action and because they know that our reputation in this part of the in the U.S. News survey have significantly larger endow ments than ours, making them less dependent on tuition country is unparalleled. They rub up against our quality and better able to keep up with, for example, inflation in every day. To Ohioans our national reputation may not library materials and the need for scholarship aid for seem so important. students. To a large extent, what differentiates “us” from “them” in terms of the rankings game is simply a matter But it is. Our national reputation is important because of money. improving it is the best way to insure the long-term health of our law school. By improving our national The fourth category analyzed by U.S Afetcs—student reputation we will insure a steady stream of qualified selectivity—is the one that most plagues our claim for applicants far into the future, and improved placement recognition. For whatever reasons, for the last fifteen opportunities for our graduates, which will generate still years or so we have not attracted the number of appli more applicants; we will insure our ability to attract and cants that other first-rate law schools have. We can point hold outstanding faculty. The entire process becomes to declining demographics within our region and we can self-regenerating. 1 do not mistake reputation for real blame the national reputation of Cleveland, but we can quality, but an enhanced reputation will allow us to con not ignore the facts. That is why since 1 became dean 1 tinue to improve the quality of our program far into the have said that our first goat must be to make ourselves future.

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