Page 6 - Law Schools

S6 | MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2014 | Law Schools
| NYLJ.COM

Education

Reap the Beneits of a Bar Association

Legal education continues long after receiving the J.D.

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which are acquired only through experience the continuing legal education requirements. working groups, seminars and a convocation.
and a continuation of the learning process.
There is often little support for the time and We devoted the September 2013 issue of
And I believe that there is no better way to dues, however modest, required for bar asso- our Bar Journal as well as portions of every
BY GLENN LAU-KEE
gain this experience than by interacting with ciation participation. If this erosion of support State Bar News to the topic. At our Annual
other lawyers in the context of participating is a consequence of the practice of law becom- Meeting in January, our Presidential Summit
First, I was a law student for three years. in bar association work. More than that, bar ing more like a business, it is a big mistake.
focused on “Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers”
Then I became a student of law for 37 association work engages a lawyer in issues Law makes great demands on its practitio- and “Supporting Today’s Lawyers.” In May,
years. After receiving my J.D. from Bos- beyond his or her day-to-day work, and gives ners, who must keep vigilant watch as legisla- the Association and the New York State Judi-

ton University in 1974, I began the second a lawyer the opportunity to connect with a tive bodies crank out new laws and courts cial Institute on Professionalism in the Law
phase of my legal education by practic- sense of high purpose that comes with a legal overturn existing ones. In addition, today’s sponsored a day-long Convocation on “The
ing law—a quest that both challenges and education.
attorneys must contend with outside forces Coming Changes to Legal Education: Ensuring
rewards.
It used to be that when a new lawyer joined that are altering the profession profoundly: Professional Values.”
A true legal education never stops—the a irm, it was expected—if not required—that new technology, globalization and more cost- Our standing Committee on Legal Educa-
raw knowledge and skills that a lawyer the lawyer would join one or more bar asso- conscious clients.
tion and Admission to the Bar is currently
acquires in law school get tested, reined and ciations. The partners of a irm often took an For more than a year, the State Bar Asso- co-chaired by Eileen Millett (Epstein Becker
absorbed in the process of practicing law. active role in this process and supported the ciation has been examining how law schools & Green) and Touro Law School Dean Patri-

The ultimate goal is the wisdom and skill in new lawyer’s participation. But, unfortunately, should prepare graduates for a rapidly chang- cia Salkin.
the effective use of the law in the real world,
this is less and less the case.
ing profession. With our Committee on Legal The committee’s debates about how to
It seems that there is diminishing recogni- Education and Admission to the Bar, we make attorneys “practice ready,” for example,
tion of the value that active participation in brought together the different perspectives have helped to identify ways that the State
GLENN LAU-KEE is president of the New York State Bar a bar association can play in the continuing of academics, practicing attorneys, judges and Bar Association can contribute to the pro-
Association and partner at Kee & Lau Kee.
development of a lawyer’s skill, even beyond
bar examiners in New York and elsewhere in
fessional development of future » Page S10