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Yale got rocked in the first round of our attempt to replace the embattled US News rankings. The law schools don’t want to cooperate on a data-driven ranking model, so we’re going with a pure popularity contest.
And that turned out to be the only significant upset… but not the only one.
At this point, we can show off both ends of the full bracket. Today we’ll focus on the right-hand side.
Texas, who once graced the top 14 law schools itself, has that in its reputation which helped it outkick its current USNWR ranking to upset UCLA in a squeaker. Otherwise… it’s a lot of chalk.
So here’s the second half of the Sixteen matchups. Voting will end Thursday night and then we’ll move into the Educational Eight matchups.
(2) Stanford v. (18) Texas
Stanford’s women’s basketball team got toppled from its top regional perch, but the law school held on. Though their matchup this round may have a leg up when it comes to Texas bar admission, with grandstanding politicians asking Texas to punish Stanford students for asking Judge Duncan hard questions that he couldn’t answer.
(7) NYU v. (10) Michigan
Michigan gets matched up with another purple team in a redux of the college football playoffs. The Violets have a chip on their shoulder after US News knocked them out of the “CCN” bundle last year. Michigan is trying to get its due.
(6) Penn v. (11) Duke
These are the two schools with the highest employment numbers this year. That’s a stat that has helped both schools overperform in the ATL Top 50 over the past few years because our ranking, unlike USNWR, maximizes outputs so employment figures matter a lot. Our rankings preferred Duke last year for whatever that’s worth.
(3) Chicago v. (14) Northwestern
Crosstown rivalry renewed in this year’s challenge. Will voters try to manufacture another upset or are they just riding hard for ASS Law because it’s funny to say? Would it help if Northwestern’s Pritzker School started letting you call them PisS Law?
So there’s the second half of the Sixteen. Voting will close Thursday night at midnight Eastern.
Earlier: Yale Stripped Of Top Law School Honors In Purely Nonsense Ranking
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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