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

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..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.