WHEN ELITE HIRING IS A BUBBLE, SAYS VIRGINIA POSTREL, YOU AREN’T HIRING AN ELITE: “If everyone you interview comes from the same few schools, the same social networks, the same previous employers or the same geographic regions, you aren’t really fighting for talent. And if talent matters as much as everyone seems to think it does, you probably won’t make it to the big game.”

Well, at my law school we’ve always been willing to hire people other schools passed over because they were too old, or had too much law-practice experience (yes, both of those are big negatives in law-faculty hiring generally) or had graduated from non-elite schools, and some of our best hires have come that way.