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New UCC Blog and Using Blogs to Game US News

Jennifer Martin, Kristen David Adams, Robyn Meadows, Marie Reilly, and Keith Rowley have founded a blog dedicated to U.C.C. issues at UCClaw.blogspot.com. They credit University of Louisville Dean Jim Chen with getting them started. Chen was (and I think still is) an active blogger. I wonder if he plans to use blogs as a way of boosting Louisville’s profile?

In fact, Jay Brown recently mused on the question of whether high profile blogs can help move a school up the US News ranks, in which he suggests this is precisely what Chen is doing:

What, therefore, can a school do to move up its rankings?  The question has many answers but blogging is one of them.  Blogs permit the advertising of ideas and expertise, getting the word out so to speak.  Particularly for law schools outside the top tier, they enable faculty to “route around” some of the biases built into the law review selection process and system of SSRN downloads. They are also a way to draw attention to a law school. Finally, blogs are cost effective, sidestepping the often severe problem of resources that can separate highly ranked law schools from those further down in the food chain.

There is the potential for disproportionate benefits from early adopters. Blogging has not yet been targeted by the very top schools. Indeed, many continue to treat the medium with disdain. As a result, opportunities currently exit for early adopters, particularly from lower ranked schools.

How can blogging benefit these schools? They can enhance the reputation of the sponsoring faculty member. Blogs can result in increased media presence.  Particularly with the plethora of online journals and periodicals, a blog can lead to media inquiries, increasing the profile of the faculty member and his or her law school. While the references may or may not impress academia, they may well influence practicing attorneys and judges, some of whom may fill out the US News survey, alumni and prospective students.  With prospective students increasingly obtaining information online, blogs will reach many in this audience as well, particularly if attracted by the substantive area of the blog. 

Blogging will mostly benefit the sponsoring faculty member, providing a degree of notoriety otherwise unobtainable.  But it also provides information about a law school, improving the institution’s notoriety and name recognition.  And, in a resource driven environment, law blogs are not particularly expensive to operate.  Blogging can, therefore, help with the rankings.  The conclusion is speculative although tinged with common sense. 

Nonetheless, there is a test case underway.  With Jim Chen having moved to the University of Louisville, he continues to maintain a high profile on Jurisdynamics.  At the same time, however, he has started a law school blog,The Cardinal Lawyer, where he writes as dean, and a law faculty blog, where faculty contribute.  The Jurisdynamics network has also become a forum for information about developments at Louisville.  See the announcement of the law faculty blog on MoneyLaw.  It is clear, therefore, that he is seeking to infuse a blogging culture at the law school and is using the Internet to promote the institution and the faculty.  We shall see if Louisville moves up in the rankings.  Of course, those that wait for the end of the experiment may already find themselves behind the curve on this new medium.