THE CHALLENGE TO HIERARCHY IN LEGAL EDUCATION:

Hierarchy among Boston's law schools (tracking between schools of different prestige leels) is assePqed using a social history. Implications for stratification withtn the contemporary legal profession are also considered. Law graduates are channeled toward those branches of the profession that match their law school's standing in the hierarchy. High-status law firms choose new associates from the most prestigious schools, while low-status schools tend to channel their students into local law practice because of their lower prestige and power within the profession. As unfair as hierarchical ranking of schools might seem today, the profession is far more meritocratic than it was in the early days of the republic. Attention is directed to: early American legal education, class conflict in legal education, the battle over the shape of legal education in Boston, Boston law schools in the 1920's