LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Data trove reveals scope of law schools’ hiring of their own graduates. “At the University of Virginia School of Law, 98 percent of the class of 2010 was employed nine months following graduation. That figure was 92 percent at Vanderbilt University Law School and 90 percent at Washington & Lee University School of Law. All three schools reported those postgraduate employment rates to American Bar Association during an especially tight job market. Additionally, each reported that a relatively high 11 percent of their 2010 graduates were in jobs financed by the schools themselves.”

Book-cookin’ boogie. Or maybe not: “Burk theorizes that the law schools are motivated not by the hope of gaming the U.S. News and World Report rankings, but by the need to help struggling graduates get a foot in the door. A few might be employed by the school directly as research assistants, but most are in public-interest posts where they gain real-world experience, even if the law school signs their paychecks, he said.” The effect on the rankings sure is convenient, though.