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Attention. All honor students will be rewarded with a trip to an archeological dig!

. . . Conversely, all detention students will be punished with a trip to an archeological dig.

If you are a Boalt 2L or 3L you are likely aware that there will be a series of meeting this week to discuss how we can improve Boalt's clerkship placement rate. I just attended one, and I'd like to offer a rundown and open a forum.

This year was less successful than years past ? not just for Boalt, but for every law school ? representing a disappointment but also a moment of opportunity. There are a number of plans, proposals, and ideas floating around out there, but the most high-profile ones target our class ranking system. Two proposals occupy center-stage and I would like to share them here for feedback, encouragement, or rejection. Before I describe the proposals, let me briefly set forth the current system:

CURRENT RANKING POLICY

Berkeley Law does not generate or disclose class rank for its students with two limited exceptions:

Order of the Coif: This honor is awarded to the top 10% of a graduating class based on students? 3-year cumulative grade point average (2-year average for transfer students).

Applicants for judicial clerkships and academic positions: Students who apply for these positions may obtain their 4-semester class rank from the Dean of Students. This class rank is calculated for the class of '10, '11 etc. and is reported to students in terms of top 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 33%, 35%, 40%, 45% and 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90%.

In addition, students with the ten highest grade point averages in a class are ranked numerically, 1 through 10. If there is a cluster of students at some of the ranks, more than 10 may actually be ranked in this way. This numeric ranking is also disclosed to students applying for clerkships.

Under the Honor Code, both types of ranking information may be used only in the pursuit of a clerkship or an academic appointment. The information may not be disclosed, in any way, for any other employment opportunity.

The competing (but by no means final) proposals are quite complex and are set forth fully in a detailed memorandum you can obtain from Professor Evidence. The memorandum is intended for internal use only so I will not post it here, but I can distill it to roughly these two proposals:

1. Rank students separately for each year (e.g., top 10% first year, top 20% second year) in 5% increments, down to top 25%, then top third, and top half. Provide a numerical ranking for top 15 students, and maintain the current honor code restrictions on disclosure.
2. Break the classes into top 10% and top 40% and assign a special award to those students. Top 5 students would receive a numerical rank. Maintain the current honor code restrictions on disclosure.

The objectives behind these ranking systems are myriad. But they all revolve around the core goal to place more interested Boalt students into clerkships while maintaining recognition for those students who truly excel, and while also making sure we don't unnecessarily incentivize gunnerish nastiness. To the extent you have remarks, feedback, suggestions and the like, please feel free to share them here. Particularly if you are a current clerk or alum.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on November 16, 2009 (boomark / email).