Law School Rankings Bar amp Bench to float new rankings suggestions invited

Bar & Bench News Network On July 22, 2011 - 3:39pm

Back in August 2009, Bar & Bench published a story titled “A three-way shootout” highlighting the discrepancies in college rankings published by three prominent magazines. The article highlighted the flaws in ranking methodologies and their impact on increasing ambiguity in rankings.

Back in August 2009, Bar & Bench published a story titled “A three-way shootout” highlighting the discrepancies in college rankings published by three prominent magazines. The article highlighted the flaws in ranking methodologies and their impact on increasing ambiguity in rankings.

In August 2010, Professor Shamnad Basheer and the students of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata wrote to the Outlook publication regarding the methodology used by the magazine to rank colleges, specifically law colleges.

The NUJS letter listed 8 flaws in the methodology adopted by Outlook and provided details of disparity in the methodology. As Outlook’s reply to this letter was not satisfactory to NUJS authorities; NUJS abstained from the 2011 Outlook rankings.

Also, recently Bar & Bench reported about the differences between Outlook and Week rankings and concerns with the India Today rankings.

Given the significant differences in ranking of certain law colleges, it appears that rankings have become mere opinions or comments of news magazines. We are all aware of the vast differences in the rankings published by India Today, Outlook and The Week.

NUALS which was ranked 2 by The Week and 18 by India Today did not find a mention in Outlook rankings. NLIU, Bhopal was ranked 3 by India Today and Outlook; but The Week ranked them 11. Symbiosis Society’s Law College, Pune was ranked 5 by India Today, 6 by Outlook and 18 by The Week. ILS, Pune was ranked 7 by India Today, 5 by Outlook and 21 by The Week. Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University was ranked 8 by India Today, 7 by Outlook and 15 by The Week. NLU Jodhpur was ranked 4 by Outlook, 10 by India Today and 25 by The Week. HNLU, Raipur which was ranked 11 by India Today was not ranked by Outlook and The Week. GNLU which was ranked 12 by India Today and 10 by Outlook was not ranked by The Week. This is to list a few; there are so many other instances.

Law School Rankings Graph

India Today and Outlook magazines have used almost similar methodology to come to different results and The Week has provided no indication as to the methodology.

Therefore, we have decided to come out with law school rankings, where the methodology and data collection is transparent. The rankings will be based on ten broad parameters (in alphabetical order):

1) Diversity of Courses /Subjects offered

2) Entry Cut Off (based on CLAT)

3) Exposure and Diversity of Students

4) Faculty Quality

5) Infrastructure (Hostel, Campus, Library)

6) Journal Publications

7) Location of the University

8) Moot Court Performance

9) Recruitment

10) Research Initiatives

This being our first ranking exercise, we would like to limit the number of colleges ranked by Bar & Bench to 30 top law schools in the country. We are also constituting an expert panel to assess these law schools based on the empirical data collected. The members of the Panel would consist of jurists, senior lawyers, eminent academicians, law firm partners and industry representatives. These top 30 colleges will be chosen by the in-house team at Bar & Bench along with suggestions from the expert panel. Once these top 30 colleges have been identified, we would proceed to obtain data about these law schools in order to rank them under the above 10 parameters.

We, however, would put out the finalized parameters and weightage along with the list of colleges that are considered to be ranked on September 5, 2011. For each parameter certain points will be awarded subject to a maximum of 10. The overall score would be out of 100.

Bar & Bench representatives and journalists will also visit individual universities to collect data and relevant information. We are working with expert statisticians in order to obtain error free and accurate data from the universities.

Bar & Bench invites suggestions, recommendations if any from our readers on the parameters or thoughts on the ranking process. Readers are welcome to send their suggestions and views to lawschools@barandbench.com.

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Comments

Ajay

July 22, 2011 - 6:20pm

Who cares... ??everybody knows which colleges are good and which colleges are not so good, rather at the end of the day, no matter what, your ranking system will face criticm no matter how diligently responsibly they are conducted. I would suggest you put this effort for bringing out some good stories, which require more attention. Trust me... this will not work, if it would have been of such importance legallyindia would have already conducted the same.Stop wasting your time,no body cares. no matter how good you are you will face critiscs..!!!

Chandigarh boy

July 23, 2011 - 11:42pm

Department of Laws PU, Chandigarh consist of 2 departments- 5 year law and 3 year law, while the quality of teachers in 3 years is excellent, quality of students is pathetic, most just joining the course as a step-stone to politics and to flash their "daddy's" allotted red and blue beacons on campus.While 5 year law has probably the most amateur faculty out of any law school. Average age of teachers is around 35 with no prior experience of teaching, to make it worse, all teachers are ex-alumni of the university itself, which speaks loads about quality of staff. Placement cell is a joke for both institutes, infact 'in-charge' have been unable to place themselves, let alone others. Students who went for LLM have all returned and are now practicing at local courts. LOL!

Raunak Mohta

July 24, 2011 - 3:20pm

Some important colleges like RMLNLU,Lucknow and RGNUL,Patiala have been left out also there are many other colleges which deserve to be in the list ....

Kiran.G

July 24, 2011 - 6:01pm

There could be one more parameter, number of former students(alumni) who have actively contributed to the legal system of our country in the past years(range 3-4 years), like filing PIL's, suggestions on draft bills, number of former students appointed to the judiciary etc. This will give a real world output of the students and the institution that they were moulded in.

GLC

July 25, 2011 - 5:42pm

i would like to give a few suggestions as there are some preconcieved notions about GLC1.B&B should look into the quality and quantitiy of practicing lawyers being produced2.They should look into the number of people judicial services and UPSC3.They should look into the exposure given by colleges in terms of internships and articleships4.The ALUMNI5.Students working in top law firms and Placements6.The number of students...i say this because GLC provides 44 0 students every year as compared to only 100 by NLU's plus they should even llook into the affaordability and chances given to the pooor section of the society...7.PLACEMENTS....GLC places around 60-70 students every year in addition to 50-60 who take up articleship with various solicitrors and get absorbed8.Basic infrastructure9.FACULTY10.LLM's both quantity and Quality..for example GLC has sent arounf 60 students for LLMs all across the world in the last 3 years11. History and legacy of the college and the opportunities a college provides....for example in GLC one can do anything he or she feels like...law firm lawyer LPOetc12.add on courses like CS/CA/CFA etc

Anuskha

July 26, 2011 - 12:34pm

1. you can obtain certain object information like quality of faculties (active), campus and library from the website of the colleges (I assume those information to be generally correct), this information can give you and overall view of the academic opportunity the college might provide.2. quality of placement should come next, I believe B&B has a comprehensive recruitment-records of most of the colleges.3. Since the inception of CLAT based entrance, often debated student preference can also be quantified and be used for the ranking purpose.4. University exchange programs should also count when students' exposure is taken into consideration, having stated that I also think such programs are slightly tricky for they are completely self-funded and thanks to the affordability issues it is often reduced to a rich student's academic tours.5. Market perception of the respective graduates can again be measured from the level and quality of recruitment.I hope you guys do a good job.

Sarthi

July 26, 2011 - 9:26pm

Looking forward to an official ranking system! B&B would be known for its integrity

le

July 27, 2011 - 8:07pm

only include universities or colleges which have at least one passout batch

George Giri

August 1, 2011 - 10:32am

It is a very good initiative. But the attempt should be genuine. the criteria used for ranking is also to be transparent. Kindly include SALGAOCAR LAW COLLEGE, GOA in the ranking list.

mukesh saini

August 8, 2011 - 2:30pm

i love you

pranav

August 16, 2011 - 8:36pm

What has the location of the university got to do with anything? If the university is well-equipped with hostels and the students are compulsorily required to stay in the campus, the location should not be a criterion.

Aadhya

July 22, 2011 - 5:28pm

Thank you B&B. It's high time we get something unbiased. These lists were looked forward to some 2-3 years back, when the rankings were genuine. Now the lists appear more like ads.Eagerly waiting for the rank-list :)

john

September 5, 2011 - 1:58am

icfai dehradun and symboisis pune should be der definately in top 10.

Blah

October 4, 2011 - 7:14am

Get these rankings out fast.. considering you've made us wait this long, it better be worth it..

unknown

October 4, 2011 - 3:01pm

what about nirma law institute why no mention

Kapish

October 4, 2011 - 9:05pm

I think B&B is over-reaching. Mooting is over-rated and so is place of the university, they should be removed.Clat ranking means you'll are restricting yourselves to NLU's .how do you rank recruitments? So Universities will be penalised for LLM students ? What about PPO's, do they count ? Litigation has lower starting packages, does that mean that the colleges are worse ? Exposure and Diversity of Students ?? How do the colleges ensure THAT ? admissions are based on aptitude, not where you are from. I love this website, don't jump into this ranking non-sense and go the India Today way.

Anonymous

November 4, 2011 - 5:08pm

Good initiative, glad that someone seems to be taking law school ranking seriously, sadly every other source is a joke. There is no way everyone is going to be happy about it though. If you do incorporate even half of the suggestions given here you will need to hire a big consultancy group to process all the date. Hopefully the editors come out with objective lists based on credible information. Fingers crossed.

Bored

November 10, 2011 - 8:47pm

boring... this is taking too long..

about time

December 13, 2011 - 12:33am

about time you guys came out with this!

nls

July 22, 2011 - 6:20pm

Is the Bar & Bench network owned/managed by an NLS alumnus??

@2and good work BB

July 22, 2011 - 6:25pm

See their about us page. Good work BB? Please have a detailed ranking analysis. Horrible colleges have been ranked in the top10. Please rectify and show these new age law schools where they belong.

Suggestions

July 23, 2011 - 5:07pm

First, you really can't give all the criteria you mentioned an equal weightage. So they can't all be market on 10 with the total being hundred, because somethings are just more important than othersSecond, please don't limit extra-curricular activities to mooting. There's a lot of other things that law schools do, including debates, quizzes, cultural activities, sports, MUNs, etc., and all of these should count and not just moots.Third, you can't have an entry cut-off based on CLAT, because several of the 30 best colleges in the country are likely to be non-CLAT colleges. Having said that, for colleges that do use the CLAT, the ones that have higher cut-offs should be given higher scores in the "selection process" criteria.Fourth, you might also want to look at social initiatives undertaken by the students of these universities, in terms of legal aid, etc.

yiuyhjhjg

July 23, 2011 - 5:28pm

great idea! regarding criteria i think student satisfaction should be there. it is often neglected in india.

Iceman

July 23, 2011 - 7:35pm

a) Why is Faculty of Law, Delhi coming separate from LC-1, Delhi and Campus Law Center, Delhi?b) What about School of Law and Legal Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University?

Le

July 23, 2011 - 11:08pm

I have few suggestions:1) provide objective verifiable facts for every category, one reason why India today rankings were lampooned was the complete opaqueness as to the raw data. Given the culture of thoroughness and transparency at B&B I hope that you would provide a dossier of raw data so that anyone may verify the facts.2) this is infact already pointed out by the NUJS letter to Outlook, let the rankings be dynamic i.e. after you have provided a rankings based on weightages on parameters, let the users generate their own custom rankings based on different weigtage to various parameters of their own choice (this would be only visible to the user). Lot of UK rankings like Guardian, Times etc. follow this pattern.3) as for the parameters chose by you: Entry Cut Off (based on CLAT) - what about institutions which do not take students through CLAT, how are you going to synchronise the stat with NLUs; Exposure and Diversity of Students - how are you going to measure it, what would be objective parameters; Location of the University - how does location affect rankings, when NLS started in Bangalore in late 80s it was a town for retired govt. fellows, pleasant weather, cheap housing etc. but then it became what it is today; Research Initiatives - is it quantifiable?however i am sure B&B would pull off a statistically correct and transparent rankings. pls do remember that whatever you do you can never please all, but you can always strive to be objective and be sure that others would also come to the same conclusion by using similar dataset.

Rohitesh