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Jungle Law: After graduating from Harvard Law in 1986, clerking for Thurgood Marshall, and serving on Clinton's Domestic Policy Council, you've now been named the first female dean in your alma mater's history. Are you a pioneer?
Elena Kagan: I don't see myself as a pioneer in the sense that I've done things that no one else has done before. I am the first woman dean of Harvard Law School, but so many women who came before me made my and other women's achievements possible. I think they're the real pioneers.
JL: Harvard has been criticized for its polemical atmosphere. Does contentiousness facilitate good legal training?
EK: If you look at the law school's history, you can see that the school was quite divided in the 1980s. The faculty was divided, and the students experienced that division. Today Harvard has its differences and disagreements, but I don't believe that we go over the line. It's good to have diverse views and opinions, with people passionately caring and debating. But the intensity and bitterness of the rivalries that existed 20 years ago have disappeared. Right now we have the best of both worlds.
JL: What's the most pressing concern in the legal community these days?
EK: One thing that all law schools have to think about is how they relate to the legal profession. In recent years schools have become more academic in focus, while firms have become more commercial and market driven, and the links between schools and the profession have weakened. Deans ought to be reforging the connections between the two, which is a hard thing to do given the disenchantment on both sides.
JL: How do you advise students in choosing a career?
EK: I tell them to follow their hearts. Often they know what they really want to do, but they think, "I don't want to close off any options, and I don't want to do something that's different." That's unfortunate. People should ask themselves, "What job out there strikes me as the most interesting right now?" And then they should do that job. They shouldn't try to plan a career 20 years down the road — that never really works. Obviously there are students who come out of law school with large debt loads, and they feel pressure to go to large firms even when they don't want to. What law schools have to do is reduce that pressure to the extent that they can.
JL: Now for the important part: How did you celebrate your appointment?
EK: I didn't have time! Everything happened very fast. They said, "You got this job and you have to be here and do this, and could you write the following statement." But once those intense first few days ended, I went out with some friends and we opened a bottle of champagne.
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