Populist Outrage, Reckless Empirics: A Review of Failing Law Schools

Simkovic, Michael; McIntyre, Frank

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2306337

Populist Outrage, Reckless Empirics: A Review of Failing Law Schools

27 Pages Posted: 6 Aug 2013 Last revised: 26 Nov 2014

See all articles by Michael Simkovic

Michael Simkovic

University of Southern California Gould School of Law; University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business

Frank McIntyre

Amazon.com

Date Written: March 1, 2013

Abstract

The authors of "The Economic Value of a Law Degree" (available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2250585) review Brian Tamanaha's "Failing Law Schools."

The review focuses on problems with empirical claims in "Failing Law Schools" regarding outcomes for law graduates and also regarding law faculty compensation. The review also discusses Professor Tamanaha's proposals for reform of legal education in light of economic theory and the empirical economics literature, and finds reasons to doubt that Tamanaha's proposed reforms will have the effects he predicts.

Keywords: Economic value of a law degree, failing law schools, Tamanaha, labor economics, legal education, law school crisis, law school reform, Human Capital

JEL Classification: C1, I2, J24, J31, J44, J6, J7, K4, L31

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Simkovic, Michael and McIntyre, Frank, Populist Outrage, Reckless Empirics: A Review of Failing Law Schools (March 1, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2306337 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2306337