Modernizing legal education is essential to the future of our democracy. Lawyers hold a time-honored place in society as keepers of the rule of law with a professional obligation as special citizens charged with improving our system of government. The legal profession is central to the “effective functioning of ordered society.” Lawyers advocate for individual rights and liberties, advise governments and businesses, mediate conflicts, and solve problems. Lawyers also disproportionately serve in positions of influence and leadership in all manner of organizations. To ensure future generations of guardians, advocates, wise counselors, and effective leaders, the legal academy must teach, train, and mentor future lawyers to fulfill these roles. Those of us in legal education must shoulder that burden and carry it out intentionally. We must dedicate ourselves to finding better approaches to instilling a sense of ownership in professional obligations to clients and communities, and to better prepare them for the influential opportunities they will have as lawyers and leaders.
The current challenges facing the legal profession are daunting; adding further obstacles for legal education to overcome. The public lacks trust in the profession and judicial system. The legal system does not meet the legal needs of the majority of ordinary citizens. The legal system, and the country, lack diversity. Inclusive environments cannot exist in polarized communities. Legal education costs too much, leaving students with crushing debts to bear. Some students are ill-equipped for the demands of law schools or legal practice. Law students and lawyers struggle with well-being. Technology both advances and disrupts systems. Civil discourse is sometimes strained among lawyers, shamefully absent in some public forums, and too often rebuked in social media. Law school resources are taxed by the tension between the public benefit of faculty scholarship and the need to invest more in the teaching and training of future guardians, advisors, and leaders. Tenured law faculties resist professional formation, clinging to the traditional focus of “thinking like a lawyer;” the mistaken notion that law students are either born leaders or they are not, and the reticence to “impose” professional values upon our students. While hardly the first time the legal system has been challenged and overcome significant challenges, nonetheless, we seem to stand at a precipice where changing the profession and better preparing its future members is imperative.
The focus of this special edition, and this Article, is legal education’s need to embrace its responsibility to form the professional identities of its students. For too long, law schools have failed our system and our students by abdicating professional formation to law firms, Inns of Court, bar associations, and other professional groups. We can no longer allow that inertia to continue; we must change course and do so decisively. The challenge we face defines the role of our profession in society. From the founding of our nation, lawyers played a central part in our democracy. But will that continue? Is it possible the legal profession might have a Kodak moment? Without principled lawyers ready and willing to serve in crucial roles, who will protect the rights of ordinary citizens? Will those who step into the market space without the benefit of a legal education and professional training be as skilled and judicious in honorably serving and leading organizations and communities?
Fueled by recent amendments to the ABA Standards, law schools are now investing new resources to ready our students for their future roles armed with the professional values, skills, and competencies expected of lawyers. But will it be enough? The legal academy can and should do more to address the demands on modern lawyers. Critical leadership is needed to set the path for the future of the profession, beginning with the teaching, training, and mentoring of our law students for success in the law, service to clients, significance in communities, and personal satisfaction in the life they choose.
