making it a job to get a job...

The Times published an article yesterday called, 'In Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That".  It chronicles to a tee the games schools play so that more of their students will get jobs post-law school.  I found particularly entertaining (and sickening) SMU's practice of paying Dallas firms to hire their students.  Perhaps this is why certain law firms are not hiring any 3Ls who are not from SMU.  
Law Schools are now engaged in a frightful race-to-the-top make their students look more attractive.  Will Loyola Law School's students look more attractive to employers after this?  I doubt it.  The article does point out that some firms follow Above the Law's reports on schools changing grading system and take that into affect when hiring... but some do not.  
The hope for those still in law school (especially with the traditional grading curve) seems to remain in Journal activity and Moot Court teams.  Firms say that they can usually tell a student's rank based on these factors without even looking at a G.P.A. Some other highlights from the article appear below:

"In the last two years, at least 10 law schools have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. These include law schools like New York University and Georgetown, as well as Golden Gate University and Tulane University, which just announced the change this month." 

A Dallas family law firm will receive $3,500 to “test drive” him this August.

"It is unclear whether grade inflation is particularly effective at helping students get jobs, especially because many large firms adjust their expectations accordingly."

"These moves can create a vicious cycle like that seen in chief executive pay: if every school in the bottom half of the distribution raises its marks to enter the top half of the distribution, or even just to become average, the average creeps up. This puts pressure on schools to keep raising their grades further."