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Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:30 am
by flcath
So there's been serious disagreements (and Wikipedia edits which I would bet my scholarship are being done by TLS posters) on the meaning of the T14 term, with the 3 most popular being:

(1) The top 14 USNews schools, no shit. (ATL apparently subscribes to this definition, incorrectly asserting that they've "always" been the same 14 schools... though that is almost true.)

(2) They are the only 14 schools to ever be in the top 10. I don't have a link to this one, but there are plenty of TLS threads claiming that this has "always" been the definition. (I should point out that GULC has been in the top 10 a grand total of 1 time... at #10.)

(3) I'm a lawyer and a law professor, and neither I nor anyone IRL has ever heard of anything called the T14. Get off TLS and get a job. /s/ Brian Leiter

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:41 pm
by protein
What's this thing you call a job???

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:39 pm
by tehrocstar
Number 2 seems the most plausible since it's the one that's actually true

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:41 pm
by FiveSermon
tehrocstar wrote:Number 2 seems the most plausible since it's the one that's actually true
Yeah, wasn't Texas ranked 11 before?

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:23 pm
by LiveFreeOrLaw
Are you guys talking about the magazine rainkings?

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:10 pm
by flcath
tehrocstar wrote:Number 2 seems the most plausible since it's the one that's actually true
While semblance of truth (i.e., sounding true) is desirable in a meme, actual truth is unnecessary

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:22 pm
by barry
it's number 2

and the reason why UT is not in the T14

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:29 pm
by BruceWayne
flcath wrote:So there's been serious disagreements (and Wikipedia edits which I would bet my scholarship are being done by TLS posters) on the meaning of the T14 term, with the 3 most popular being:

(1) The top 14 USNews schools, no shit. (ATL apparently subscribes to this definition, incorrectly asserting that they've "always" been the same 14 schools... though that is almost true.)

(2) They are the only 14 schools to ever be in the top 10. I don't have a link to this one, but there are plenty of TLS threads claiming that this has "always" been the definition. (I should point out that GULC has been in the top 10 a grand total of 1 time... at #10.)

(3) I'm a lawyer and a law professor, and neither I nor anyone IRL has ever heard of anything called the T14. Get off TLS and get a job. /s/ Brian Leiter
I've said this for a while. One thing that I noticed after actually attending law school is that a lot of the stuff said on here is just internet hearsay that get's passed around/circulated so frequently that it become "fact" in the eyes of TLS posters/people under 30 who like the internet a lot. The idea of CCN MVBP DCGN etc. is especially bullshit. Basically once you get involved with people in the legal field it quickly becomes apparent that it's HYS (the only real world grouping) and then the rest of the schools that are well known are all sort of mushed together with each being a bit well known for certain things (Columbia in the NYC firm world, Berkeley in the California firm world, GULC and UVA in DC etc.).

Re: Above the Law weighs in on the Definition of the T14

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:15 am
by flcath
protein wrote:What's this thing you call a job???
It's what used to happen when you finished law school. (Don't blame me; I was just paraphrasing Brian Leiter.)

It's one of those things like a happy marriage and "the American middle class," that our parents' generation keeps harping on about, but I don't know if they ever actually existed.