Schools Touting Appearance In 'Best Law Schools' Sponsored Content Article

Are these law schools paying for accolades?

Laptop in classic libraryIf your school is paying to be hailed as one of the “Best Law Schools [of] 2016,” then it’s probably not one of the actual “Best Law Schools of 2016.” And yet, a few law schools appear to be banking on some less-than-diligent prospective students who might take a passing reference in a sponsored article as genuine praise. Moreover, the schools are actively patting themselves on the back for these accolades that they actually paid for in the first place!

Alas, this is where our profession sits in 2016. Forget adopting the GRE, law schools are now no better than those “Best Steakhouses in America” you find in the back of an in-flight magazine. Except, at least a bad steakhouse experience only leaves the customer out $100 or so. Law school puts more of a dent in the ole pocketbook.

Nonetheless, a string of law schools, mostly in the “Rank Not Published” cellar of the U.S. News & World Report rankings, have profiles up in the “Best Law Schools 2016” section of Newsweek — U.S. News and World Report’s sadder former news magazine competitor — along with a glowing article about their accomplishments. It seemed suspicious when Nova Southeastern, Appalachian School of Law, and Western State College of Law at Argosy University all showed up in a section like that, so we did some digging and found this rate sheet (screenshots available here).

Moral of the story, for the low, low cost of $9,950 (for a national run) or $5,950 (for a run in the school’s home state and up to three other states of its choosing) Newsweek will tag any school as one of the best (we reached out to Newsweek to verify these rates but they did not respond). New York Law School and the University of Maryland School of Law also show up in this abomination, but at least they’re ranked by U.S. News. Seattle University and St. Thomas University School of Law appear in the accompanying article, but their profiles aren’t accessible in the margin. Could they be regional subscribers?

But the most egregious aspect of this story is not the misleading sponsored content — sponsored content is a staple of media and as long as it’s appropriately flagged and not used to make ridiculous claims like “Nova Southeastern is one of the ‘Best Law Schools 2016,'” it’s just simple advertising — but the fact that some of these schools are using this ad to applaud themselves as though it’s an accomplishment.

Here’s a shot of Appalachian’s Facebook:

App

Sponsored

At least it’s carefully crafted to avoid saying that Newsweek dubbed it a “Best Law School.” Rather, they just note that they were featured in an article with that title. It may be gently misleading, but it’s pretty fair.

NovaMeanwhile, Nova Southeastern’s homepage includes the gem to the right. Unlike Appalachian’s status, this goes that extra mile to insinuate that someone, somewhere, using any methodology other than “congratulations, your $6000-$10,000 check cleared!” tagged this joint as a top school.

I guess, technically, each of these schools are among the 203 best law schools in America, so maybe this isn’t as much of a stretch as we’re making it out to be.

Several years ago, Thomas M. Cooley Law School tried to gin up its enrollment with a laughable set of law school rankings that conveniently placed the lowly Michigan program second only to Harvard as the best law school in the land. The potent cocktail of intellectual dishonesty and chutzpah remains unmatched in the annals of law school marketing, but a school touting an accomplishment it bought is a fine second-place effort.

(Screencaptures of the Newsweek advertisement and the rates it charges are available on the next page.)

Sponsored

Who Wants To Be An Attorney? You Do…. [Newsweek]
Best Law Schools 2016 [Newsweek]

Earlier: Latest Cooley Law School Rankings Achieve New Heights of Intellectual Dishonesty
Law Schools Reveal Their Future Plans For The LSAT And GRE


Joe Patrice is an 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.