{"id":145020,"date":"2026-02-27T16:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/27\/new-novel-skewers-law-school-rankings-faculty-politics-and-when-legal-education-gets-kinky\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:39:10","slug":"new-novel-skewers-law-school-rankings-faculty-politics-and-when-legal-education-gets-kinky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/27\/new-novel-skewers-law-school-rankings-faculty-politics-and-when-legal-education-gets-kinky\/","title":{"rendered":"New Novel Skewers Law School Rankings, Faculty Politics, And When Legal Education Gets Kinky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Would Above the Law<\/em> really publish a story about a law school dean\u2019s bio being replaced with dungeon porn? <\/p>\n

Yeah\u2026 that tracks.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve spent any time in the legal academy \u2014 or even just read our coverage of it \u2014 you understand that the annual U.S. News rankings transformed law school administration into a blood sport. The apotheosis of the joke that every academic fight is so existentially fierce because the stakes are so cosmically meaningless. The gap between T14 and the TTT matters, but schools mortgaging integrity to move from 50th to 45th makes makes college football coaches look at deans and say, \u201cthe important thing is that everyone has fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Orey\u2019s new novel, Dean\u2019s List<\/a><\/em>, takes a flamethrower to that whole ecosystem with a glee that only someone who\u2019s spent real time inside the machine could muster.<\/p>\n

Orey, an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and the school\u2019s head of public affairs since 2010, has navigated egos and institutional PR for almost two decades. Before that, Orey worked as a legal affairs reporter and editor at American Lawyer<\/em>, the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, and BusinessWeek. Dean\u2019s List<\/em> marks a foray into fiction after previously releasing Assuming the Risk<\/a><\/em>, a nonfiction account of tobacco litigation. <\/p>\n

Dean\u2019s List<\/em> follows Charles Ogden Dean III \u2014 unfortunately nicknamed \u201cDean Dean\u201d \u2014 taking the helm of a once-floundering law school newly rebranded under the prestigious Brown University banner. Think Cooley\u2019s association with Western Michigan, but with Ivy League stakes. Brown doesn\u2019t have a law school \u2014 even if the real-life Department of Defense doesn\u2019t realize it<\/a> \u2014 but the idea that an Ivy would leap into the law school business by purchasing an existing school has been speculated before. Decades ago, rumors swirled that Princeton would start a turnkey law school by acquiring NYU School of Law. That never came to pass, but Orey envisions Brown pulling off what Princeton couldn\u2019t by acquiring Providence Law School and pumping resources into a mad pursuit of Top 5 status.<\/p>\n

Along the way are moral compromises, institutional absurdities, and outright chaos. A rogue nation bankrolls a secret slush fund and pirates get involved, which sounds comically ridiculous until you remember Yale exists.<\/p>\n

But the heavy satire balances with authenticity. The faculty grievances, the donor politics, the watching rankings become the golden calf that administrators worship all rings true because Orey has been watching the circus from inside the tent. It\u2019s the kind of insider satire where you laugh and then wince because you\u2019ve seen some version of every scene play out in real life.<\/p>\n

And, yes, Above the Law<\/em> gets multiple shout-outs in the book. Orey graciously provided us an excerpt as a preview for our readers. Complete with an Above the Law<\/em> mention:<\/p>\n

Deans List LP excerpt<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n

Dean\u2019s List<\/em> is available for pre-order now<\/a>. If you\u2019ve ever worked in legal academia, survived a U.S. News ranking cycle, or just want to understand why your dean looks like that, check it out. And if you\u2019re a future military lawyer, you\u2019re apparently not allowed to attend the school described in its pages anyway, so at least you\u2019ll have time to read the book.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post New Novel Skewers Law School Rankings, Faculty Politics, And When Legal Education Gets Kinky<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Would Above the Law<\/em> really publish a story about a law school dean\u2019s bio being replaced with dungeon porn? <\/p>\n

Yeah\u2026 that tracks.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve spent any time in the legal academy \u2014 or even just read our coverage of it \u2014 you understand that the annual U.S. News rankings transformed law school administration into a blood sport. The apotheosis of the joke that every academic fight is so existentially fierce because the stakes are so cosmically meaningless. The gap between T14 and the TTT matters, but schools mortgaging integrity to move from 50th to 45th makes makes college football coaches look at deans and say, \u201cthe important thing is that everyone has fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Orey\u2019s new novel, Dean\u2019s List<\/a><\/em>, takes a flamethrower to that whole ecosystem with a glee that only someone who\u2019s spent real time inside the machine could muster.<\/p>\n

Orey, an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and the school\u2019s head of public affairs since 2010, has navigated egos and institutional PR for almost two decades. Before that, Orey worked as a legal affairs reporter and editor at American Lawyer<\/em>, the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, and BusinessWeek. Dean\u2019s List<\/em> marks a foray into fiction after previously releasing Assuming the Risk<\/a><\/em>, a nonfiction account of tobacco litigation. <\/p>\n

Dean\u2019s List<\/em> follows Charles Ogden Dean III \u2014 unfortunately nicknamed \u201cDean Dean\u201d \u2014 taking the helm of a once-floundering law school newly rebranded under the prestigious Brown University banner. Think Cooley\u2019s association with Western Michigan, but with Ivy League stakes. Brown doesn\u2019t have a law school \u2014 even if the real-life Department of Defense doesn\u2019t realize it<\/a> \u2014 but the idea that an Ivy would leap into the law school business by purchasing an existing school has been speculated before. Decades ago, rumors swirled that Princeton would start a turnkey law school by acquiring NYU School of Law. That never came to pass, but Orey envisions Brown pulling off what Princeton couldn\u2019t by acquiring Providence Law School and pumping resources into a mad pursuit of Top 5 status.<\/p>\n

Along the way are moral compromises, institutional absurdities, and outright chaos. A rogue nation bankrolls a secret slush fund and pirates get involved, which sounds comically ridiculous until you remember Yale exists.<\/p>\n

But the heavy satire balances with authenticity. The faculty grievances, the donor politics, the watching rankings become the golden calf that administrators worship all rings true because Orey has been watching the circus from inside the tent. It\u2019s the kind of insider satire where you laugh and then wince because you\u2019ve seen some version of every scene play out in real life.<\/p>\n

And, yes, Above the Law<\/em> gets multiple shout-outs in the book. Orey graciously provided us an excerpt as a preview for our readers. Complete with an Above the Law<\/em> mention:<\/p>\n

Deans List LP excerpt<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n

Dean\u2019s List<\/em> is available for pre-order now<\/a>. If you\u2019ve ever worked in legal academia, survived a U.S. News ranking cycle, or just want to understand why your dean looks like that, check it out. And if you\u2019re a future military lawyer, you\u2019re apparently not allowed to attend the school described in its pages anyway, so at least you\u2019ll have time to read the book.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post New Novel Skewers Law School Rankings, Faculty Politics, And When Legal Education Gets Kinky<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Would Above the Law really publish a story about a law school dean\u2019s bio being replaced with dungeon porn? Yeah\u2026 that tracks. If you\u2019ve spent any time in the legal academy \u2014 or even just read our coverage of it \u2014 you understand that the annual U.S. News rankings transformed law school administration into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Headshot-300x200-bHurfV.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}