Challenges Present a Time to Reflect and Adapt

By Associate Dean Sean Scott

This column first appeared in the Daily Journal's "New Lawyer" supplement on May 21, 2013.

The law, whether in its study or its practice, is a social institution. As such, it influences and is influenced by other social forces such as politics, economics and social-policy movements. The force that has been the subject of commentary the past few years is the national economic recession and its impact on law practice and on legal education. Much of the commentary has been pessimistic and negative. The pessimism is not unwarranted. The job market for law graduates is weak and tuition at most law schools tops $40,000, resulting in students graduating with debt often in excess of $100,000. The poor job market makes repaying this amount of debt daunting. Rather than pointing fingers at who or what is to blame for these conditions, I encourage law schools and the profession generally to view this period as a time to reflect and then adapt. The revolution brought on by economic retrenchment, technology and globalization provides the academy with the opportunity, perhaps even the obligation, to innovate. Law schools should be open to innovations in the way they teach critical-thinking skills and provide experiential offerings.

It is the obligation of law schools to best prepare their students to adapt to the shifting landscape in which the law operates. I teach Contracts and Commercial Law. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, there was no coherent, cohesive body of commercial law. However, industrialization created a greater need for standard rules to govern commercial transactions. Legal practice and academia had to respond to this new need. Just as the growth of mechanization created a revolution, so too have technology and globalization created a revolution.

There are some skills that law schools must teach regardless of the era in which they find themselves: They must teach students analytical and critical-thinking skills. The law changes and evolves because law schools give lawyers the tools to assess the policies underlying current rules and to analyze the validity of those underlying policies and concerns. Legal educators teach students to assess with a critical eye, and to question and reveal underlying assumptions. Without these skills, and the ability to move the law forward, there is no justice.