Scroll down to page 20 of this ABA memorandum for the details. In sum: the ABA is going to start asking for details about the types of jobs graduates are taking: whether they require a JD or not, whether they are full-time or part-time, whether they are of limited duration, whether the university is funding the position. They are also going to stop collecting and publishing school-specific salary data. These changes are, of course, salutary, though are going to put real pressure on the general reluctance of law schools to lie to the ABA, at least while USNWR hovers. And, of course, changes in ABA data means changes in what U.S. News does with the data (though it is a bit much for U.S. News--which is entirely responsible for the incentive to fudge reporting due to its heavy reliance on self-reported data--to present itself like a neutral do-gooder in this whole affair).
It looks like the era of reported 100% employment rates are over. Will U.S. News, one wonders, apologize for perpetrating a fraud on its readers for so many years?
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