Irish Law School Rankings 2012 - By Entering Student Credentials

Since we are in rankings season, below is a ranking of law schools in Ireland based on the entering credentials of the 2012 class. This is obviously only one measure of how good a law school is, but I think it is an important measure because student quality (to the extent that CAO points are a measure of quality) has a direct bearing on the educational experience. It might also have some predictive value for the quality of lawyers a law school produces, their ability to get jobs upon graduation, and ultimately success in the profession.

The table below lists the ranking for the main law degrees offered by all the law schools in Ireland:

Ranking		Law School			CAO Points
1		Trinity College Dublin			525
2		University College Dublin			495
3		NUI Maynooth			475
=		University College Cork			475
5		Dublin City University			410
6		NUI Galway			405
=		Limerick			405
8		Dublin Institute of Technology			350
9		IT Carlow			305
=		Griffith College			305
11		Waterford IT			295
12		Dublin Business School			230

It is my sense that while there would be movement between the top 4 if other factors like research, employment prospects, average income, peer reputation, etc., are included, there seems to be an emerging divide between these schools and the others. It remains to be seen if this two tier system survives the serious challenges facing Irish higher education.

The table below ranks the law and business programs offered by all the law schools in Ireland:

Ranking		Law School		CAO Points
1		Trinity College Dublin		565
2		University College Dublin		495
3		NUI Maynooth		460
4		Dublin Institute of Technology		400
5		IT Carlow		315
6		Athlone Institute of Technology		270
7		Griffith College		250
8		Dublin Business School		235

I have not provided a ranking for the smaller "law and X" programs offered by some law schools because the trend seems to be against such fragmented degrees.

Lady Gaga's Lessons for Legal Academia?

You never thought you'd read about Lady Gaga on these pages, did you? The WSJ has a nice article on Lady Gaga's lessons for success containing themes that transcend the music business. Here are some snippets:
Underneath Gaga's haystack wigs is a case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today. Gaga, 23 years old, has made shrewd use of new digital platforms, while still leveraging the clout of a major label, an institution deemed obsolete by many proponents of DIY culture. She is a product of a new kind of recording contract which goes beyond just selling records to encompass everything from touring, merchandise–even her make-up deal.

And here's a message for many traditionalists (particularly in Europe) on the importance of open access to material:
In fact, much of Gaga's audience got her music for free, and legally. They have listened to free streams—by the hundreds of millions—on YouTube and the other online services that Gaga currently leads, according to research firm BigChampagne. On MySpace, Gaga has had 321.5 million plays. By contrast, singer Susan Boyle tallied only 133,000 plays, despite scoring the No. 2 selling album of 2009.

This is particularly salient for law publishers. Legal journals in Europe continue with their outdated policies of preventing electronic access to articles without payment. They and their authors are the true losers because most of the really good stuff is available electronically for free on databases like SSRN, and scholars will ignore material that is not easily accessible when there are superior alternatives. Sensible authors are more interested in being read (and cited) and rarely submit to journals with closed access and contractual terms preventing them from uploading articles to free databases like SSRN. This battle was lost by US law journals many years ago, but I was shocked to find out recently that it continues in the UK. Given the low rankings that UK law journals hold, they do not have the ability to move the market, and must move with the times.

Back to Lady Gaga, on the changing music business:
The business needs more Gagas. The upheaval of the last decade has forced the major record companies to cut their work force by 60%, according to a recent report by the Recording Industry Association of America. Within the last week, dozens of Universal Music Group employees were laid off.

On the need to cater to a global audience:
RedOne, Gaga's primary producer, hails from Morocco and has an outsider's take on American music. "The songs have to be lyrically simple and easy to sing along to, even for people in the world who don't speak English," he says. Studio pros like Grammy-winning mixing engineer Manny Marroquin are being hired to replicate her chopping synths and densely-layered sound. "Everybody's saying, 'Make it like Gaga,' " he says.
Read the full article! 

Cambridge to Issue Bonds to Raise Funds

Via Elizabeth Pfeuti of WSJ, comes news that Cambridge is planning to issue bonds to finance infrastructure projects. The offering is tiny - $200-300 million. This is probably a first for the UK, but is commonplace in the US, where university bond offerings are in billions of dollars.
The 'other place' is doing the right thing, although there are doubts about timing because of the glut of university paper on the market as a result of the debilitating knock that US university endowments have taken in recent years.
Oxford's finances are also not where they need to be to compete with US universities. Following Cambridge (it hurts to say this) might be the way forward.

Irish Academics and Public Debate

I had meant to blog over the weekend about a report in the Irish Times about a conference organized by the Royal Irish Academy but was beaten to the punch by President Prondzynski's excellent blog. The Times report painted a gloomy picture about intellectual life in Ireland. Although some of the claims by those quoted in the report seemed exaggerated, I had little evidence to measure their accuracy.

It is a big relief to read President Prondzynski's views: "A quick glance at the opinion pages of Irish newspapers tells you very quickly that they are disproportionately given over to the analysis and recommendations of Irish academics, usually from Ireland but occasionally from the Irish academic diaspora. These contributions cover all shades of academic opinion, but probably with a majority coming from the particular perspectives that were prominent at this symposium. Academics make regular appearances before Oireachtas committees. They are frequently talking to camera during news and current affairs programmes on television. They chair or sit on lots of public committees. Actually, I know of no country where academic opinions are as prominently visible as in Ireland. For heaven’s sake, even I have a newspaper column. Not to mention blogs."

He is absolutely right in pointing out that "academic opinions should be heard in relation to matters on which they are expert. It does not necessarily mean that their recommendations must always be followed, but they should get some space. And they do. In spades."

Read more at his incisive blog.