What's wrong with this picture?
The November 21st huffingtonpost.com article, “Memo to the Legal Community: It Takes a Village to Make a Good Lawyer”, the author suggests the entire legal community is responsible for the development of lawyers.
In the end, the legal profession, in my opinion, is no different from any other profession, and to use my own example for illustrative purposes, it's rather like being a parent: you can read all the books you want, but nothing can prepare you for two days of sleep deprivation, dirty diapers and teething. Or the first time your child smiles at you. In other words, only when you're in the trenches will you gain the practical, hands-on experience you need to not only get the job done, but broaden your skill set, grow, and let's face it – survive. That includes another whole skill set independent of legal knowledge and know-how, including communication, people, and diplomatic skills.
The huffingtonpost.com article suggests that law schools and law firms need to meet somewhere in the middle so as to produce capable lawyers. Although there seems to be a trend toward this type of thinking, it perhaps needs to happen a little more quickly. There is value in variety: law schools, of course, must teach critical thinking, and the theory of law, but they must also embrace the real world experience of practicing attorneys. Practicing attorneys need to remember what it was like to be a new law graduate, burgeoning with ideals and a burning desire to set the world on fire. They need to strategically and systematically take said attorneys under their wings, and focus their energy through mentoring.
Jeffrey W. Carr, the general counsel of FMC Technologies, was quoted as saying in the nytimes.com article: “The fundamental issue is that law schools are producing people who are not capable of being counselors. They are lawyers in the sense that they have law degrees, but they aren't ready to be a provider of services.”
Drinker Biddle, a national law firm with over 650 lawyers in 11 offices around the United States, is taking a new tactic: first-year associates are trained for four months in corporate law, paid a reduced salary, and during that time, do not, and cannot, bill a client. Makes sense, right?
New Drinker Biddle associate Dennis P. O'Reilly, a graduate of the George Washington University School of Law, seems to agree: “What they taught us at this law firm is how to be a lawyer. What they taught us at law school is how to graduate from law school,” he was quoted as saying in the nytimes.com article.
Aside from preparing students for what it's like to actually practice law, more hands-on experience might actually help students to decide if being an attorney is something they want to do. Maybe they'll love it, and maybe they'll hate it – always a good thing to know before plunking down over $100K. After all, a happy attorney is arguably, a better attorney.
