Category Archives: Law School

Reading A Scholar's Book Adds Layers of Complexity to the Schindler Legend together with Superman is bad role model reinforces something I have long believed about law graduates, and indeed suggests it is a more general human tendency.

Law students typically graduate with substantial debt. The path of least resistance is work in firms, which pays well, or work in large firms, which pays very well. It is very hard to land any sort of public interest work without experience, and the pay is relatively low, especially for those with debt and especially for those with debt and families. (A compromise is government work, which pays ok, and is in theory work for the commonweal.)

So I think a significant number of people [no, not everyone!] just surrender when they work for the firm. They figure they can't be a saint (or Mother Theresa, or Superman, or Ralph Nader before he went nuts), either because the sacrifices are too great — and anyway no opportunity seems available. So they give up and go corporate, and in time stop looking for even the chances to do good in small ways or part time. (It doesn't help that junior lawyers in firms are encouraged to compete for promotion to partner, and some firms do not smile on non revenue enhancing activities, although the enlightened ones do.)

The truth, though, is that Superman is a myth (and so, to some extent, is Mother Theresa, but that's another story). There was a real Schindler. It seems that he wasn't such a great guy in many ways: a drinker, an adulterer, maybe a thief. But he rose to an occasion.

There is hope for us all.

Congrats to our neighbors at FIU Law who (unsurpringly) have secured provisional accreditation. I'm sure it's deserved, and I'm sure FIU will be fully accredited as soon as it can be.

I do object, however, to the claim routinely repeated by the Miami Herald that because a majority of FIU's small class is Hispanic, this adds a great diversity element otherwise absent from the Florida bar. UM already has an substantial number of Hispanic students every year. Hispanics may not be a majority of our class, but they form a large fraction of a larger class than FIU fields. And we also have a substantial number of Black students. (I'd quote the actual numbers if I could remember what they are—they're good numbers and we are proud of them. And they are well-credentialed students who do well here too.)

The more the merrier and all that, but I sort of resent the implication that we have not been doing well in this area for at least the dozen years I've been watching, and indeed no doubt much longer.

The title is not a misprint. This is not a post about Iraq. It's about IRAC — a technique for answering American law school exams.

UM has a lot of services designed to help students who are having trouble in law school. Most of these push IRAC, a very mechanical and ultimately unhelpful approach to answering questions. Since this is the lifeline we throw the flailing I feel somewhat estopped from undermining it. But I have never liked IRAC. IRAC will sometimes take a “C” or “C-” student up to a C+, which is something (it can keep you off academic probation), but not enough. Until now I've never had a good short explanation of why it's unlikely to take you much farther.

In the future, however, I will point students to Heidi Bond's latest essay, Exam Tips 1: Why IRAC sucks.

And, as always, I will tell them that their goal should be to get to Maybe.

This ad popped into my mailbox:

Faculty Positions. Phoenix International School of Law (PISL) seeks candidates for full-time and visiting faculty positions. Applicants should be (1) student-centered; (2) skilled instructors and effective mentors; (3) comfortable with change; (4) attracted by the unique challenges and opportunities of a start-up institution; (4) multiculturally competent; and (5) committed to management and faculty development based on a best practices model. They also should have the capacity not only to educate but inspire, share the institution's priorities of graduating practice-ready lawyers, possess interpersonal skills that contribute to positive group dynamics, and appreciate the need for processes that facilitate a nimble and agile institution. PISL is committed to meeting all standards necessary for approval by the American Bar Association, including those governing job security and academic freedom. It seeks to attract individuals, however, who understand that these interests are optimized not by formal safeguards but upon the quality of group dynamics. PISL anticipates commencing operations with a small part-time division in Spring 2005 and full-time and part-time divisions in Fall 2005. Please submit applications to Donald E. Lively, Dean, at cwarner@carolynwarner.edu.

Despite the stuff about “meeting all standards necessary for approval by the American Bar Association, including those governing job security and academic freedom” this doesn't sound like they believe in tenure, does it? That should set the cat among the pigeons.

As it happens I agree that it's group dynamics — esprit de corps, shame even — that keeps some tenured people being good citizens, teaching well, and being productive long after their salaries have maxed out in real dollar terms. (For most, though, it's their natural obsessive-compulsive tendencies.) But an ad that feels a need to make a point of this stuff, plus the reference to “comfortable with change” and “committed to management and faculty development based on a best practices model,” well, that looks like code for something I don't think I'm going to like the looks of.

Continue reading →

Heidi Bond, the law student we all wish we had in our classes, has excellent advice for law students about What to get from your classes. I also liked her advice for summer associates.

Although I did not realize it at the time I hired him, it turns out that my new research assistant has a blog.