We’ve all heard of grade inflation. Normally it’s an incremental process, and there are a host of factors, most of which are not defensible. But rarely is it retroactive.
Now we have no fewer than 10 law schools–including the likes of Georgetown and Tulane–changing their grading systems retroactively in the last two years. The reason: Make its grads look better in the marketplace. Another, even less noble, motivation: protect their own reputations and rankings.
And one other thing. We are already a grossly over-litigated society. We have plenty of lawyers. Inflated law school GPAs are now another part of the problem.