Academic

In Defense of Law School Publicity

By propertyprof

It's common practice around the legal blogosphere to make fun of literature that law schools send around to promote their students, faculty, and alumni.   I actually enjoy reading the literature--it gives me a sense of what other people are doing; every once in a while I get some ideas from it.  And I think these publications can be helpful for getting the law schools' communities excited about what's happening as well.

But it's the University of Akron's most recent, impressive list of faculty publications that's warming my heart right now.  It cites my study in the University of Colorado Law Review last year on law review citations' emerging importance for law school rankings.  How's that for combining two things that legal academics care about?!  I highlighted the schools whose law reviews have been improving a bunch of late--including the University of Akron Law Review.  My hypothesis in the piece was that law reviews are an indicator of what's happening at a school and so good reviews are reflective of an intellectual ferment.   And law reviews that are improving maybe give us a particular idea of the schools on the move.

As long as I'm talking about Akron, I want to mention their fabulous conference on the new women's legal history.  Might even help us address the gender imbalance in legal history.

Now, this is the kind of promotional material I really like!   And I'm not just saying this because they cited me (though I'm certainly highlighting Akron because they cited me!)--I've been defending the promotional literature for a long time.

Alfred Brophy

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 10, 2008 (boomark / email).