Historically, they were works of the imagination, not factual. Once USNews.com began relying on ABA data, they improved, since schools that would fudge with (or simply lie) to USNews.com were less likely to do so with the ABA. But as lawprof Derek Muller notes, the definition of law students pursuing “graduate studies” is ripe for abuse, since it counts part-time, non-degree-seeking studies. That means, of course, that an unemployed JD graduate who takes one course while looking for jobs is a “graduate student” so not unemployed. The category should only include those studying full time for a degree after law school. USNews.com is an amateur operation, that has been extremely bad for legal education, but they could at least fix this howler to thwart even more cheating.