Page 5 - Law Schools

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Law Schools | Monday, april 20, 2015 | S5

oranges. By creating this artificial distinction, schools took so long to follow suit and

the american Bar association (aBa), National start offering core business training. we
association for Law Placement (NaLP) and are teaching law students differently than
u.S. News & world Report are taking a stand the last millennium, incorporating technol-
on which track is more valuable or more pres- ogy that is now required for practice and
tigious, even if only by perception. This line of providing more practical training. So why
thinking is sorely behind the entrepreneurial are we not ranking, judging and thinking
mindset of our current economy.
about the law schools and their graduates
The millennial generation, which cur- differently?
rently fills most of the seats in law school Law schools that are wed to traditional

classes, is very focused on anything entre- law curriculums and are not investing in
preneurial. This does not necessarily mean the new landscape are largely threatened
new paradigms need to be created; rather, by the rise of the J.D. advantage jobs. while
these students are looking to do things faculty at schools like Pace are leading the
differently within current structures. They way, there are others that are feeling the
want to do it their way! in July 2013, Kaplan change in a more fundamental way. There
did an (admittedly) small study of students are articles that use the word “threat” when
taking the LSaT. They asked if the students describing the J.D. advantage job market
intended to practice law after law school. versus traditional law school pedagogy. The

more than half of these LSaT takers stated people that credit this argument believe
they had no intention of ever practicing that law schools do not properly prepare
law and were considering employment out-
students for careers in disciplines such as
compliance, hR and entrepreneurial endeav-
ors. This is a false assumption. The mere
fact that so many of the new graduates in
It seems that in these changing recent years have been hired into such roles
times, our focus should be less shows the desire and need for lawyers to be

on holding steadfast to tradi- in these disciplines because of their legal
training.
tion and more on expansion of my response to all of this is an emphat-
the profession.
ic call for the legal profession to embrace
and include these roles in the halls of law
instead of “other.” at the risk of sounding
a bit like chicken Little, i believe that the
side of traditional legal roles. Those same very existence of the legal profession and
LSaT takers are now in our law schools. bar associations must expand to include all

Their entrepreneurial viewpoint and their those areas that utilize the law degree at the
lack of pursuit of the traditional “associ- risk of extinction or at least drastic reduction
ate” position will hurt their law schools in ranks. as the market and law students are
on the post-graduate surveys because any changing, i do not know why all of our legal
other thing they pursue will be counted educators are not following suit.
in the J.D. advantage column rather than one of the hard truths of the current legal
required. as the market and law students economy is that there are not enough tradi-
are changing, i do not know why all of our tional associate positions for every law school
legal educators are not following suit. The graduate. Therefore, law schools are encour-

law schools are responding to this shift in aging students to seek jobs in compliance,
many different ways. one of the ways is risk, health care, technology and labor that
by offering more and different experiential may be outside of the traditional lawyer role
learning classes than ever before. at Pace but fit squarely into the law as a profession.
Law School where i work, the number of Yet, those that review law schools still want
curricular offerings far surpass the bar to differentiate these jobs and judge the law
tested subjects and include areas such schools based on the landing of the few in
as compliance, e-discovery and forensics the smaller pot of associate positions instead.

in the curriculum and externships includ- That is clearly out of step with the way legal
ing these disciplines. There is not an mBa education and the legal market is headed. we
program out there that does not have some need to review how we critique law schools,
form of business law classes weaved into because as with many things, the old rules
the curriculum. i am not sure why law
are no longer applicable.

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