Religious Law Schools, Rankings, & Bias
Episode # 191 — Michael Conklin
With the release of U.S. News Rankings last month, renewed interest has surfaced regarding the parameters and impact of placement. Where law schools fall speaks to not only the quality of their percieved education, but also success regarding student employment and faculty publication. On this episode, I speak with Michael Conklin, a scholar who’s been measuring bias within the Rankings system, this time focusing his attention on religious law schools. His paper, soon to be published in the Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy, is entitled Religious Law Schools, Rankings, and Bias: Measuring the Rankings Penalty at Religious Law Schools.
Among the things we discuss includes how rankings systems work, what peers scores actually mean, how bias pervades religious law school rankings, the impact of this bias on students and faculty, and more.
Dr. Michael Conklin is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Law at Texas A&M University Central Texas and a lecturer at Texas A&M University School of Law. He has published in over 100 academic journals. His research focus is expansive, but often centers on bridging the gap between theory and practice, providing valuable insight for policy makers, practitioners, and legal scholars. Full bio and SSRN papers.
Enjoy!