Lawprofblawg

I suppose it is possible to criticize the law review system without "punching down at students."

However, if I'm criticizing elite law reviews for looking at author data to make selections and I'm first-gen from a low SES, which one of us is "punching down?"

#lawtwitter

Dec 14, 2022 at 3:14amWeb
Show threadprisonrodeoDec 14, 2022
@lawprofblawg I’ve never understood the “punching down” point. When I say “law reviews suck,” I’m not talking about the 24-yos who are there for nine months because it helps them get a clerkship; I mean the profs, deans, administrators, and alums that make the system continue to work year after year. The students are as much victims as the scholarship is.
Show threadLawprofblawgDec 14, 2022
@prisonrodeo I usually hear the "punching down" point from conservative contrarian profs. For example, calling a student cleaning a gun on zoom an idiot is "punching down."
Show threadChris EdwardsDec 14, 2022
@lawprofblawg @cyberdean07 the system is designed to reward mediocrity. When selecting articles, we were told to consider the prestige of the author’s prior publications. That has two problems: it keeps “others” out, but it also allows an author to write junk and have it published, since they’ve had a few high-profile pubs in the past