User talk:96.255.38.82

Possible WP:COI with Georgetown Law?
Hello, I've noticed that you often make that relate to Georgetown University Law Center, and especially make changes that remove information that could be seen as negative, such as at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_school_rankings_in_the_United_States (see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Law_school_rankings_in_the_United_States&diff=prev&oldid=806146095 and https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Law_school_rankings_in_the_United_States&diff=prev&oldid=806146531). I just would like to make sure you do not have a possible WP:COI. If you are involved with Georgetown Law in some way, you should declare that. The changes you reverted there were accurate and referenced, and served to clear up confusion over 15 schools being listed versus the more traditional "T14." The other comment that you reverted simply noted that this was the first change in several years, not for all time, yet your reverting comment claimed it was incorrect and then strangely referenced changes in 1987, which is clearly not within the last "several years." I understand edits made for clarity or correction, but these seem to have been removed simply because they placed Georgetown Law in a slightly less desirable light (simply reflecting what as done by US News, whose rankings are in fact under discussion in this particular section of the article). If you disagree, I'm happy to bring in another editor in order to avoid an WP:EW. Thanks. Transmissionelement (talk) 18:05, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Message text. 96.255.38.82 (talk) 22:14, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Hello, I am not in any way affiliated or involved with Georgetown Law. I do, however, assist in law firms in recruitment practices, and I'm sufficiently familiar with the T14. From the context of recruitment, or that abstract concept called "prestige," the T14 is *codified* by the US News ranking, but it isn't created by them. To explain, the idea that there are 14 or so nationally recognized law schools has existed for decades, and predates the law school ranking system of US News. For instance, the legal community knew that UVA, Michigan, and Northwestern all had prestigious legal programs long before US News said so, and Northwestern and Cornell were considered in the same tier as Chicago and NYU even though they were numerically outside the first 14 law schools in 1987. All that US News did was create a system that ensured this was properly reflected in their rankings. But, the US News ranking correlates with the T14, but it doesn't create it. So, even though US News might codify the T14, it doesn't determine which schools are in the T14.

That's why its inaccurate to say the T14 is somehow determined by US News. If the Wikipedia article suggests that Texas knocking Georgetown out of the #14 slot in the rankings somehow translates to there being a new T14 member. This is incorrect; there is not a single firm that I work with that is changing their hiring practices because of this new ranking, nor is any firm planning on reducing their presence in Washington or increasing their presence in Texas even if US News flipped their rankings for the next ten years. So, the way the article is written currently is incorrect for these reasons.


 * Thanks for the reply, it's very nice of you to explain your thinking! While I'm very familiar with the history of the T14 and these rankings (I am not affiliated with either group), the section under discussion here is the US News Rankings themselves and the consistency at the top of those rankings, not a complete history of the T14 or a discussion of what happened prior to the inception of that designation (or even whether hiring practices have changed in any way). If you'd like to address those issues, I encourage you to add a sourced section on the history of the T14 itself, either here or elsewhere. That said, given the headers here (Consistency at the top of the U.S. News Rankings and, within that, Top 14 law schools), it's appropriate to discuss the schools that have in fact been included in the US News T14 over the years (especially in light of the fact that law students typically equate the two, as pointed out in some of the references cited in this article). Since there is a possible point of confusion over 15 schools being listed in a section called Top 14 law schools, the inclusion of specific current school ranking data (as supported by references) from the past few years for explanatory purposes is not only reasonable but desirable. Thanks! Transmissionelement (talk) 16:27, 24 October 2017 (UTC)