Lawyer/Judge Reputation Score v. Firm Reputation Score? Forum

[nowhatareyoudoing]

I'm rather naive about the USNWR scoring system, but I'm curious how most people interpret these rankings? For example, Michigan is tied for forth in Firm Rep., and Chicago is tied for eighth. But in the Lawyer/Judge rankings, Chicago is tied for forth with Columbia and UVA. Penn seems to be all over the map, seventh in one and fourteenth in the other. It does seem clear that Columbia, Stanford, Harvard and Yale are a head above all the rest, but from Chicago to Duke, there seems to be a lot of variance and discrepancy. Where are these numbers culled from? Who is answering the survey? How much stock do you, or anyone put in these scores? Anyone care to offer a more nuanced breakdown or an explanation of these two scores?
Thanks!

[tourdeforcex]

key question is:

How much stock do you, or anyone put in these scores?

none. this is the most i've ever seen written on it.

[tgir]

I'm rather naive about the USNWR scoring system, but I'm curious how most people interpret these rankings? For example, Michigan is tied for forth in Firm Rep., and Chicago is tied for eighth. But in the Lawyer/Judge rankings, Chicago is tied for forth with Columbia and UVA. Penn seems to be all over the map, seventh in one and fourteenth in the other. It does seem clear that Columbia, Stanford, Harvard and Yale are a head above all the rest, but from Chicago to Duke, there seems to be a lot of variance and discrepancy. Where are these numbers culled from? Who is answering the survey? How much stock do you, or anyone put in these scores? Anyone care to offer a more nuanced breakdown or an explanation of these two scores?
Thanks!

Neither score has much importance on its own. The difference in scores is just a reflection of the group sampled. The firm recruiter score is just that: firm recruiters and only firm recruiters--and a tiny sample at that. The lawyers/judges reputation score is a broader sampling of legal practitioners, but also suffers from the problem of lots of non-response to the survey.