School of Law ranked No. 78
nationwide by annual report
Officials blame the law school’s
second-tier ranking on low state
funding, but said that law students
still receive a ‘four-star education’
By A. Sho Ikeda
Reporter
U.S.News & World Report's annual
law school rankings have placed the
University's School of Law in the sec
ond tier this year, putting it among
the nation's top 100 law schools.
Ihe School of Law tied with five other
schools for No. 78, and it has consistent
ly placed in the top two tiers since 1995,
when it placed in the top tier at No. 40.
U.S.News & World Report bases its
rankings on several measures of quality,
including median Law School Admission
Test scores, median undergraduate GPA
and average per-student spending. The
ranking also takes into account employ
ment rates for graduates, library resources,
student-to-teacher ratio and other data.
The greatest weight in the rankings
are given to surveys, which are filled
out by the dean and three faculty
members at each participating school .
The participants are asked to rate oth
er schools from "marginal" to “out
standing." Additionally, lawyers,
judges and other law professionals are
invited to participate in the survey.
Law school Assistant Dean Merv
Loya said he was "generally pleased"
with the rankings, but he warned
that the scores could mislead poten
tial law students.
"I think that most law schools feel
that the rankings aren't something stu
dents should rely on when making de
cisions on picking a school," Loya said.
Loya blamed low state funding for
the School of Law's second-tier ranking.
"I think that it has become com
mon knowledge that the dollar-to
student ratio at this school is less than
that of schools in other states," Loya
said. "As Dean Kirkpatrick likes to say,
We provide students here with a four
star education on a two-star budget.'"
Loya said the most important fea
ture of the rankings is how well gradu
ates are viewed by employers. He said
lawyers and judges participating in
the survey have favorably ranked the
law school for the past several years.
"What counts for me is what our
reputation is among people who will
hire and work with our graduates,"
The University
School of Law
Orientation,
designed to
familiarize new
students with
Eugene and the
law school
community,
finished Tuesday.
Legal groups and
organizations®
gather in the
lower hall
of the Knight Law
Center to give
out information
and greetings
to potential
members.
Jessica Waters
Emerald
Loya said. "Based on what they see,
we're a top-tier school."
Loya said most employers familiar
with the law school will ignore the
school's second-tier ranking.
"1 think that the rankings are not
particularly important to employers
who have hired our students over the
years," loya said. "They have a good
sense of who we are."
Margie Paris, associate dean of Acad
emic Affairs for the School of Law, said
the rankings can be helpful to some
students looking for law schools, but
that they omit certain information.
U.S.News & World Report measures
the volume of the law library of each
school, Paris said. 1 lowever, the rank
ings' statistics do not include general li
braries, such as the Knight library. Paris
stated that many important govern
ment documents law students use are
located in the Knight Library and are
not included in the rankings.
Paris added that there are better meth
ods to research academic institutions.
"If I were to give some advice, I would
tell students to take a trip to a school that
they're interested in," Paris said. "Visit the
school's Web site and talk to people who
teach there because that will give you a
multifaceted view of the school."
Contact the reporter
at shoikeda@dailyemerald.com.
TOP LAW SCHOOLS
1. Yale University
2. Stanford University
3. Harvard University
4. Columbia University
5. New York University
6. University of Chicago
7. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor,
University of Pennsylvania (Tie)
9. University of Virginia
10. Cornell University, University
of California-Berkeley (Tie)
Of note:
45. University of Washington
Tier 2 includes:
69. Lewis & Clark Law School
(Second place in environmental law)
78. University of Oregon
Tier 4 includes:
Willamette University
SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
Lawyer
continued from page 1A
"lawyer's lawyer" — doing research
and writing for lawyers in complex cas
es. He also did some limited private
practice and was a mediator.
"I'm a good mediator," he said.
"I'm not attuned to the adversarial
courtroom process."
Though he no longer practices law,
Meisner said he still benefits from the
lessons learned in the legal universe
to help manage city affairs — a time
consuming and multifaceted process,
because city councilors deal with
many issues at once. Meisner said the
volume of work at Eugene City Hall
was part of his motivation for resign
ing from the bar in 2001.
"It was so hard to be available for
research and clients when I'd taken
an oath of office saying my first loy
alty was to be available for service to
the city," he said.
In his work, diversity is one of
Meisner's key concerns.
"Civil rights is a long-time commit
ment of mine, and the city presents an
opportunity to be proactive/' he said.
He cited the decision to create a domes
tic partner registry last year as one exam
ple of the city's work to foster diversity.
Meisner said he is also concerned
about community growth.
"I'm still interested in how the city
grows and how well it grows," he
said. "We've all been to communities
that have grown badly and places
that we might have once loved and
are appalled by now, and I don't want
that to happen here."
All issues on city growth and main
tenance are connected because livabili
ty depends on everything from the
quality of roads and schools to build
ing codes, he said, adding that the city's
biggest challenge is how to pay for all
its services. Diminishing funds both in
the city and across the state are affect
ing fire and police departments and
social and cultural services within the
community and schools.
"We lose money every year; every
year we have less money than the
year before," he said. "And yet, the
population isn't shrinking ... and
people want all the services they've
had — and they want more."
Finding answers to problems re
quires collaboration at local and state
levels, Meisner said.
"We can't come up with a solution
in isolation," he said.
Meisner was also instrumental in
the construction of the Eugene Pub
lic Library and its branches, a project
completed in 2002.
"My biggest legacy — I guess is the
word sometimes used — is the new
public library, and I've worked hard
for that," he said. "It's up and run
ning and thriving."
Eugene Public Library Public Ser
vices Manager Rob Everett, who
worked closely with Meisner on li
brary planning, said he met Meisner
before his council days because Meis
ner is an avid reader.
"He really is passionate about li
braries," Everett said. "He reads a lot.
He knows a lot." Everett, who has ob
served Meisner at various meetings,
also said the councilor always does
his homework on all issues.
"He spends the time it takes to
know the issue and make a fair deci
sion," Everett said.
Meisner said a great part of his job is
listening to what people have to say.
"You can listen to everybody, you
can't satisfy everybody," he said.
"Eventually there's going to be a de
cision that is going to please some
people, but not someone else. That's
sort of the nature of the beast, but
they all get heard."
When Meisner isn't toiling at the
City Hall, he restores antique furni
ture in a workshop at home.
"It's very satisfying work," he said.
"It's something to do with my hands
besides all of the work I do with my
head most of the time."
Meisner said he also walks and bi
cycles a lot and spends time with his
cat, Max. And of course, he reads.
"I think it's important to live life
every moment," he said.
Contact the reporter
at ayishayahya@dailyemerald.com.
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