Do all law schools do blind grading? Forum

[TierForceOne]

Where there isn't a name on the exam to identify the student, just a number?

(attend a tier one and I know our Writing class is graded blind, but haven't heard if our other exams are. (hoping they are))

[BVest]

They are. Generally they'll assign an exam number to you. IME, that number changes each semester, so as to remain blind even from semester to semester.

Some profs at schools reserve the right to adjust by a half letter grade (technically a 1/3 letter grade), based on participation or attendance; and some of those profs will do that but only up, not down. But when they do that, they blind grade first and only after they've distributed grades do they look for who to nudge.

Obviously seminar-type papers are not blind graded (at least in most cases), especially where you have to get your topic approved by your prof.

[GreenEggs]

Now you've made me curious. Is the blind grading an ABA thing, or just all law schools somehow decided to do it?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Accordingly to almighty Wikipedia, many schools adopted blind grading after the civil rights movement resulted in greater admission of minorities into law schools.

[BVest]

Good question. A ctrl-f of the standards does not find any relevant occurrence of "anon" or "blind." Additionally, the occurrences of "grade" and "grading" does not turn up anything relevant, except that the grading policies of the schools must be made publicly available.

e: Following up the wiki find, there's this source:

[T]he now pervasive practice of grading law school examination papers "blindly" (i.e., under a system in which the professor does not know whose paper she is grading) indicates that such evaluations are possible--indeed, perhaps more reliable--when any bias associated with the author's identity is prescinded.

McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U.S. 334, 342 n.5 (1995).

[lawstudent-18]

Depends on the specific school and professor. At my law school most classes are blind graded but some are not (very small amount that don't).

[dodint]

I was surprised to find that our exams were blind graded.

Even more surprised to find out that our Law Review write-on is also completely blind.

[thesealocust]

Blind grading is a pervasive tradition. Many professors reserve the right to modify grades based on participation, but in my experience that's mostly just an empty threat designed to incentivize doing the reading/participating in class.

[NoDayButToday]

.

[JenDarby]

My friend at South Carolina said her 1L year lawyering/legal research class was not blind graded but that their other exams were. So, it's not every class everywhere, but it does seem to be the norm.

The complication with LRW is that there's often a drafting process which would be hampered by blind grading. You can't exactly meet with someone about papers if you don't know who wrote them.

I went to Fordham and all 1L courses had blind grading except LRW.

[A. Nony Mouse]

My friend at South Carolina said her 1L year lawyering/legal research class was not blind graded but that their other exams were. So, it's not every class everywhere, but it does seem to be the norm.

The complication with LRW is that there's often a drafting process which would be hampered by blind grading. You can't exactly meet with someone about papers if you don't know who wrote them.

I went to Fordham and all 1L courses had blind grading except LRW.

Yup. I think graded LRW is always an exception, same as small paper-based seminars where participation is graded and, again, you do drafts of papers. Any exam-based class is going to be blind-graded, though.

[buckiguy_sucks]

Yup. I think graded LRW is always an exception, same as small paper-based seminars where participation is graded and, again, you do drafts of papers. Any exam-based class is going to be blind-graded, though.

not always an exception we have blind graded LRW at gulc

[BVest]

Yup. I think graded LRW is always an exception, same as small paper-based seminars where participation is graded and, again, you do drafts of papers. Any exam-based class is going to be blind-graded, though.

not always an exception we have blind graded LRW at gulc

SMU too.

[Toni V]

Because mine did, I never understood why anyone would believe being a gunner was advantageous.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Because mine did, I never understood why anyone would believe being a gunner was advantageous.

1) some profs actually do bump for participation
2) some people need recommendations from profs for clerkships/fellowships
3) some people learn material better when they talk about it.