Law Commons^™

Letting Go Of Old Ideas, William D. Henderson

Michigan Law Review

Two recently published books make the claim that the legal profession has changed (Steven Harper’s The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis) or is changing (Richard Susskind’s Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future). The books are interesting because they discuss the types of changes that are broad, sweeping, and dramatic. In suitable lawyer fashion, both books are unfailingly analytical. They both also argue that the old order is collapsing. The Lawyer Bubble is backward looking and laments the legacy we have squandered, while Tomorrow’s Lawyers is future oriented and offers fairly specific prescriptive advice, particularly to those lawyers entering …

The Deprofessionalization Of Legal Teaching And Scholarship, Richard A. Posner

Michigan Law Review

The editors have asked me to comment on Judge Edwards' double-barreled blast at legal education and the practice of law. This I am happy to do. It is an important article, stating with refreshing bluntness concerns that are widely felt but have never I think been so forcefully, so arrestingly expressed. Nevertheless I have deep disagreements with it.

Students As Teachers, Teachers As Learners, Derrick Bell, Erin Edmonds

Michigan Law Review

Judge Edwards divides his analysis of the cause of the crisis in ethical lawyering into an overview and three parts. The overview and first two parts deal mainly with the role of law schools and legal curriculum in what he views as the deterioration of responsible, capable practitioners. This article takes issue with some of the assumptions, analyses, and conclusions those sections contain. The third part of Edwards' article analyzes the role of law firms in causing that same deterioration. This article agrees with and will elaborate upon that part of Edwards' treatment.

We approach Judge Edwards' article, we hope, …

The Growing Disjunction Between Legal Education And The Legal Profession, Harry T. Edwards

Michigan Law Review

This article is my response to Professor Priest and all other legal academicians who disdain law teaching as an endeavor in pursuit of professional education. My view is that if law schools continue to stray from their principal mission of professional scholarship and training, the disjunction between legal education and the legal profession will grow and society will be the worse for it. My arguments are quite straightforward, and probably not wholly original. Nevertheless, they surely merit repetition.

Persuasion, Joseph William Singer

Michigan Law Review

Lawyers spend a lot of time attempting to persuade other people. They persuade judges to promulgate rules of law that favor their clients. They persuade their law partners to adopt their interpretation of existing law or to adopt their strategy for litigation. They persuade clients to accept the dictates of the law. They persuade adversaries in settlement negotiations and their clients' business associates in contract negotiations. They persuade legislatures to fund legal services for the poor, to adopt or to reject law reforms.

Law professors spend most of their time teaching - or at least practicing - the art of …

A New Role For The Black Law Graduate--A Reality Or An Illusion, Harry T. Edwards

Michigan Law Review

It is not really surprising that so much attention has recently been given to the gross disparity in White v. Black participation in the legal profession. Indeed, the question of quality participation by Black lawyers is an irrelevant consideration until there is a real commitment to give Blacks equal access to the formerly all-white legal educational institutions. In examining the nature of this heretofore obvious (but only recently acknowledged) problem of Black underrepresentation within our society? (3) What must be done by the legal profession not only to alleviate the negative impact of such a shortage, but also to enhance …

Legal Aid Clinics In Less Thickly Populated Communities, John S. Bradway

Michigan Law Review

Legal aid work, whether performed by independent societies, or by clinics connected with law schools, has ceased to be a novelty in large cities, especially in the northeastern and extreme western parts of the United States. When one comes to examine the progress of this charitable aspect of law practice in less thickly settled communities, a definite orientation is necessary. There is little literature dealing either with the need in rural sections and the smaller cities for definite organizations or the question as to whether there is enough clinical material to make possible a law school course in this field. …