“A review of catalogs and entries in the Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools, published by the Law School Admission Council in cooperation with the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools, provides evidence that schools are not doing a good job distinguishing themselves from one another. Many appear to be all things to all people.” The MacCrate Report
Maybe that’s because, for the most part, law schools are doing the same thing (they are certainly not all things). Law schools teach you how to think like the proverbial lawyer. There are no majors. When you leave, you seek a position somewhere “in the law” and begin to learn what to do.
What I propose is that law schools promote something unique; i.e, a specialty, an area of concentration or an approach, something that will make the law school stand out and appeal to many considering law school and a career in the law. Think PierceLaw’s IP reputation and Vermont’s environmental niche.
Here’s a few that came to mind:
The ten fundamental skills (or specific ones like problem solving or dispute resolution)
The four fundamental values (or specific ones like promoting justice)
Drafting commercial transactional documents
Representing corporations generally or in one or more practice areas (M&A, taxation, trusts and estates, healthcare)
Attaining a level of competence to be able to zealously represent a client
Experiential teaching (performance and evaluation)
Clinical teaching
Research and writing
Appellate work
Working with a team on projects
Trial advocacy
Intellectual stimulation
Mediation and collaborative law
Representing individuals & consumers generally or in one or more practice areas (employment, education, product liability, immigration, family)
Increasing the Delivery of Legal Services to the Public
Training to be a Professor
Holistic jurisprudence
Starting a solo practice – entrepreneurship
Small firm practice
Corporate Counsel
Working as a lobbyist, legislator, district attorney or government official.
Executive Director of a Non-Profit
Law and Economics
Taking positions consistent with your professional goals and personal values
Developing neglected areas of the law
Improving the profession
Social Networking in the Law
Technology in the Law
Faith-based, spiritual, religiously focused
Cultural and ethnic diverse student body
On-line law school
Law school without books, all on-line
State run or privately operated apprenticeship system not requiring attendance at a
law school
Faculty all adjunct, all practicing lawyers
Faculty primarily focused on research and publishing
Faculty primarily focused on mentoring, advising and counseling
School has eliminated on-campus interviews