Legal Education Commons^™

How And Why Did It Go So Wrong?: Theranos As A Legal Ethics Case Study, G. S. Hans

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Theranos saga encompasses many discrete areas of law. Reporting on Theranos, most notably John Carreyrou's Bad Blood, highlights the questionable ethical decisions that many of the attorneys involved made. The lessons attorneys and law students can learn from Bad Blood are highly complex. The Theranos story touches on multiple areas of professional responsibility, including competence, diligence, candor, conflicts, and liability. Thus, Theranos serves as a helpful tool to explore the limits of ethical lawyering for Professional Responsibility students. This Article discusses the author's experience with using Bad Blood as an extended case study in a new course on Legal …

Legal Deserts, Lauren Sudeall, Lise R. Pruitt, Danielle M. Conway, Michele Statz, Hannah Haksgaard, Amanda L. Kool

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Rural America faces an increasingly dire access-to-justice crisis, which serves to exacerbate the already disproportionate share of social problems afflicting rural areas. One critical aspect of the crisis is the dearth of information and research regarding the extent of the problem and its impacts. This Article begins to fill that gap by providing surveys of rural access to justice in six geographically, demographically, and economically varied states: California, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In addition to providing insights about the distinct rural challenges confronting each of these states, the legal resources available, and existing policy responses, the Article …

Legal Education In The Blockchain Revolution, Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P.M. Vermeulen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The legal profession is one of the most disrupted sectors of the consulting industry today. The rise of Legal Technology, artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, and, most importantly, blockchain technology is changing the practice of law. The sharing economy and platform companies challenge many of the traditional assumptions, doctrines, and concepts of law and governance--requiring litigators, judges, and regulators to adapt. Lawyers need to be equipped with the necessary skill sets to operate effectively in the new world of disruptive innovation in law. A more creative and innovative approach to educating lawyers for the twenty-first century is needed.

Clinical Legal Education At A Generational Crossroads: Shades Of Gray, Karla M. Mckanders

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Clinical legal education is at a crossroads. With studies like the Macrate Report, Carnegie Foundation Report “Educating Lawyers,” and Best Practices for Legal Education there is greater focus on experiential learning. Consequently, clinics are at an inflection point regarding their future. Three distinct generations will determine the path forward: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. Each generation brings a different set of preferences, biases, perspectives and strengths to the table. Given the changes in legal academia, what will the future hold for clinical legal education?

The following are four essays by clinicians from the three generations. They each relay their …

Mr. Sunstein's Neighborhood: Won't You Be Our Co-Author?, Tracey E. George, Paul H. Edelman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Six Degrees of Cass Sunstein: Collaboration Networks in Legal Scholarship (11 Green Bag 2d 19 (2007)) we began the study of the collaboration network in legal academia. We concluded that the central figure in the network was Professor Cass Sunstein of Harvard Law School and proceeded to catalogue all of his myriad co-authors (so-called Sunstein 1's) and their co-authors (Sunstein 2's). In this small note we update that catalogue as of August 2008 and take the opportunity to reflect on this project and its methodology.

What's Wrong With Langdell's Method, And What To Do About It, Edward Rubin

Vanderbilt Law Review

Here we are, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, using a model of legal education that was developed in the latter part of the nineteenth. Since that time, the nature of legal practice has changed, the concept of law has changed, the nature of academic inquiry has changed, and the theory of education has changed. Professional training programs in other fields have been redesigned many times to reflect current practice, theory, and pedagogy, but we legal educators are still doing the same basic thing we were doing one hundred and thirty years ago. Many law professors are conscientious and …

Can Law Survive Legal Education?, Ernest J. Weinrib

Vanderbilt Law Review

Legal education exists at the confluence of three activities: the practice of law, the enterprise of understanding that practice, and the study of law's possible understandings within the context of a university. The first of these, the practice of law, consists of the activities consciously governed by law, including, for example, lawyers giving legal advice, citizens contemplating the legality of prospective actions, legislators creating law within the limits of their jurisdiction, and judges determining the rights and duties of litigants. It thus comprehends the entire field of legal institutions, legal doctrine, and legal interaction. The second activity, the enterprise of …

2007 Symposium On The Future Of Legal Education, Nicholas S. Zeppos

Vanderbilt Law Review

Like the proverbial elephant, law school appears different when perceived from different perspectives. During my twenty years as a law professor, I saw law school as a professional training program, a legal research institute, and a wonderful group of academic colleagues. The articles in this Symposium on the Future of Legal Education, based on a conference held at Vanderbilt in spring of 2006, generally view law school from a similar perspective. Now that I'm a Provost, my perspective is different. This raises some new issues, but it also underscores the basic theme of the Symposium. Law schools, like business schools, …

A Damn Hard Thing To Do, John H. Schlegel

Vanderbilt Law Review

Back in the mid-eighties, I offered a first year, second semester "un-elective" called American Legal Theory and American Legal Education. It scrunched together two history courses I had taught irregularly before. I liked the way the two topics fit together and still do, but with so many recalcitrant law students enrolled in it, the course was an unmitigated disaster. As is always the case with such attempts at offering perspective, amidst the shambles I had acquired at least a few devoted students. At the end of the last class one of them came up to the front to ask a …

A Case For Another Case Method, Todd D. Rakoff, Martha Minow

Vanderbilt Law Review

American legal education is pretty good. Generally speaking, it is rigorous, and generally speaking, students learn a lot. After three years in law school, students usually leave not only with knowledge of specific legal materials, but also with the sharp analytic skills and ability to work in existing legal institutions that people expect from lawyers. But our society is full of new problems demanding new solutions. Less so than in the past-less than in the 1930s and less than in the 1960s-are lawyers inventing those solutions. Much of the action is moving to graduates trained in other disciplines and professions, …

Taking Law And _______ Really Seriously: Before, During And After "The Law", Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Vanderbilt Law Review

Any consideration of what legal education should consist of must begin with the question of what "law," as a field of study, is. Whether a study of "the law" is science, philosophy, political science, or a field unto itself, or is more like a social science study of the norms and behaviors that human beings create and enforce for their self- governance, what the field is should have something to do with how it is studied.

So, one can ask, what is the object of study when one studies "the law"? Court decisions and interpretations (doctrine) and statutes and regulations …

A Teacher's Teacher, Lonnie T. Brown Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Jackie Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." By that measure, Harold Maier has led an extraordinarily important life. I know that he has had a profound impact on innumerable students throughout his career and upon one in particular. I continue to learn because Professor Maier inspired me, and I teach others because of the wonderful example he set. Though he has now left the classroom, Professor Maier's legacy as a teacher will always endure through the countless minds he has awakened and lives he has touched.

Four Decades Later, Robert Covington

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Hal Maier and I have taught on the same faculty for four decades. I still like him and enjoy his company, and there are not many people of whom I can say that forty years later. We have agreed and differed with one another on a whole range of issues, from the shape of the first-year curriculum to politics and back again, but have managed to stay friends through it all. Perhaps this is because we could put our differences to one side in the interest of what we insisted was music back when Hal was the drummer and I …

Professor Jonathan I. Charney: Commitment Underpinned By Conviction, James R. Mchenry, Iii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When I was asked to speak on behalf of the students regarding Professor Charney's contributions to the Law School, I did initially wonder how closely my relationship with him mirrored the experiences of other students. I worked for him for almost two years as a research assistant for the American Journal of International Law; I spoke with him frequently, either in person or via e-mail, about various international legal issues; and he advised me on both my student note for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and on my PhD dissertation. Thus, I knew the image that I had of …

Joining Forces: The Role Of Collaboration In The Development Of Legal Thought, Tracey E. George, Chris Guthrie

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For every reason to believe that collaboration has been influential... there is a countervailing reason to believe that it has played a minor role in the evolution of legal thought. It may be easy to bring to mind a handful of prominent collaborations, but most law review articles seem to be written by one author (notwithstanding their lengthy acknowledgment footnotes, suggesting that even single-author works are shaped by the insights and input of multiple scholars). And while it is true that legal scholars often collaborate on their practically oriented works, scholarly articles might not be well suited to collaboration.

Comments Of A Commissioner, Peter D. Ehrenhaft

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

These comments are solely the views of Peter D. Ehrenhaft, one of the twelve members of the ABA Commission on Multijurisdictional Practice. They are not the official views of the Commission and, indeed, may be modified by the presenter based on the further information the Commission is now gathering from interested parties. These comments are intended to stimulate thought and discussion of the issues and to encourage all sectors of the profession to submit their views to the Commission. The final deadline for the submission of written materials for the Commission's consideration in the preparation of its Initial Draft Report …

Comparing United States And New Zealand Legal Education: Are U.S. Law Schools Too Good?, Gregory S. Crespi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article offers a thoughtful comparison of the legal educational systems of the United States and New Zealand. The author highlights the significant differences between these two legal educational systems by contrasting their admissions policies, clinical programs, "law-and-economics" electives, and staffing of required courses. Based on this analysis, the author concludes that although U.S. law schools are clearly "better," such superiority may have been achieved at too high of a cost, in terms of both the substantial resources now devoted to legal education which could otherwise be applied to alternative uses and the problematic effects of the stratified legal educational …

Legal Education In Germany And The United States--A Structural Comparison, Juergen R. Ostertag

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Mr. Ostertag compares German and United States legal education. He believes that the differences in the two educational systems result from such factors as the separate development of the respective educational programs, the different training goals each system has for law students, and the relative significance of code law instruction and case method instruction. The author perceives a dichotomy between legal theory and practice, and he believes that law schools could bridge this gap through a comprehensive internship program that would expose students to all aspects of legal practice.

Keepers Of The Flame: Prosser And Keeton On The Law Of Torts, Craig Joyce

Vanderbilt Law Review

Rarely in the history of American legal education has one author's name been so clearly identified with his subject as the name of William L. Prosser is with the law of torts. Even today, fourteen years after his death in 1972, "Prosser on Torts" remains in the minds of students, teachers, the bench, and the bar alike a single thought, its parts indistinguishable one from the other. Indeed, the passage of time has done nothing to diminish the influence of the man on the subject. His articles remain landmarks in the development both of the literature of torts and of …

Professional Competence And Social Responsibility: Fulfilling The Vanderbilt Vision, Sandra D. O'Connor

Vanderbilt Law Review

In our laudable attempt to train law students to "think like lawyers" by teaching them legal method, we must not lose sight of the fact that questions of professional responsibility cannot properly be resolved with the same legal framework of analysis. Rather,we must see that as professionals with almost exclusive access to our system of justice, we have moral responsibilities totally outside the scope of the legal rules, and not amenable to analysis in terms of legal method. It is time to return to consideration of the moral and spiritual foundations of our legal system. It is time to train …

The Evaluation Of A Clinical Legal Education Program: A Proposal, Junius L. Allison

Vanderbilt Law Review

Even though the Code of Professional Responsibility sets only general standards for competency, the competence of individual lawyers is now an area of active inquiry by the courts. Likewise, Legal Services are subject to regular evaluations. While these evaluations have had poor track records, the fault lies with their administration rather than their concept. If the practice of law is subject to scrutiny, it follows that schools for training the lawyers, and certainly parts of their curricula, such as clinical programs, can be evaluated." Legal education on its most basic level is preparation for a profession, the 'public profession of …

John W. Wade: An Appreciation, Reber Boult

Vanderbilt Law Review

Without going back to the year of his advent as Dean when the placement of law graduates was largely a catch-as-catch-can proposition, but starting with the academic year 1965-66, there were approximatly 35 law firms, government agencies, or other entities that sent representatives to the Law School to interview candidates and to make offers for legal opportunities. During the 1971-72 academic year, there were over 100 such interviewers, a number of whom represented some of the most prestigious law firms in the United States. This record of achievement speaks eloquently of the end work product of the Vanderbilt School of …

Law Reform And Law For The Layman: A Challenge To Legal Education, Walter Barnett

Vanderbilt Law Review

Most of the current debate over academic neutrality has centered on whether the university as an institution--the faculty and students as a corporate body--should take formal positions on political issues, such as the war in Vietnam. This article will address the related, but perhaps more mundane, question whether law professors should take a more active role in providing legal services to government and to the public when this activity might provoke attacks on academic freedom. Traditionally, law professors who have sought to serve society in ways other than educating lawyers have engaged in the following five extramural activities:' (1) The …

Book Reviews, Elliot E. Cheatham, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

SOURCES OF LAW By Helen Silving Buffalo: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 1968. Pp. viii, 404. $20.00.

reviewer: Elliot E. Cheatham

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LAW OF PARTNERSHIP By Judson A. Crane & Alan R. Bromberg St.Paul: West Publishing Co., 1968. Pp. xviii, 615. $12.00.

reviewer: Robert N. Covington

Elliott E. Cheatham - Gentleman, Richard R. Powell

Vanderbilt Law Review

It was suggested to the writer that he write about Elliott E. Cheatham as a colleague in the field of legal education. This is but one aspect of his special preeminence, but any aspect of this man finds its ultimate foundation in his underlying and pervasive qualities as a gentleman. Kindly in the face of student stupidity, gentle in persuading his obstinate colleagues, loving in his more personal relations, the man embodies the best that can be connoted by the phrase "Southern gentleman."

The Published Works Of Elliott E. Cheatham, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Published Works of Elliott E. Cheatham

conflict of laws, legal education, professional standards

BOOKS CASES AND MATERIALS ON CONFLICT OF LAWS Chicago, 1936(with others); 2d edition, 1941; 3d edition, Brooklyn, 1951; 4th edition, 1957; Supplement, 1961; 5th edition, 1964.

CASES AND OTHER MATERIALS ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION. Chicago, 1938; 2d edition, Brooklyn, 1955.

COURS GENERAL SUR PROBLEMES ET METHODES EN MATIERE DECONFLIT DE LOIS. Paris, 1960. A LAWYER WHEN NEEDED. New York, 1963.

ARTICLES

What Can Law Schools Do to Raise the Standards of the Legal Profession? Symposium on Co-operative Efforts to Raise the Standards of the Legal Profession), …

Elliott Evans Cheatham, Willis L.M. Reese

Vanderbilt Law Review

Cheatham has made a marked imprint through his teaching and his writing on five areas of the law: international law, property, legal education, the legal profession, and conflict of laws. Of these, the legal profession is probably the field where his influence has been most deeply felt. Indeed, it is largely because of his ground-breaking casebook that the subject figures so prominently today in law school curriculums. Likewise, his Carpentier Lectures of a few years ago on "A Lawyer When Needed" provided the entering wedge into a subject that is of great contemporary significance. What Cheatham has done in the …

Legal Education And The Demands For Stability And Change Through Law, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

Our theme for this dedication program is "Stability and Change Through Law." The general plan has been to give consideration, first, to the demands made upon law and legal institutions to meet the basic social needs for security and order and to reach out toward the fuller realization of national ideals, while adapting to the stresses brought on by science, technology, and changing political, economic,and social patterns; and second, to the responses of law and legal institutions to these demands. The treatments of the law's response considered not only what has been done in the past and what is being …

Edmund M. Morgan, Austin W. Scott, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

Everyone who knows him well speaks of him as Eddie Morgan--or simply as Eddie. This includes his colleagues, whether they are at the same school or another one; his students, though this is privately, of course, when they are talking about him among themselves; and his former students. Especially his former students. No matter whether they have been out of school for many years or just a few years, they ask about him in the same way. The face and the voice disclose an admiration for him and a touch of awe, and yet at the same time a different …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONDUCT OF JUDGES and LAWYERS

By Orie L. Phillips and Philbrick McCoy

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

By Orvill C. Snyder

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FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN ENGLAND 1476-1776

By Frederick Seaton Siebert

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FREEDOM THROUGH LAW

By Robert L. Hale

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HISTORY OF AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

By Edson R. Sunderland

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HISTORY OF A LAWSUIT

By Abraham Caruthers

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HOLMES-LASKI LETTERS

by Mark DeWolfe Howe

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LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE U. S.

By Albert J. Harno

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LIFE INSURANCE AND ESTATE TAX PLANNING

By William J. Bowe

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NACCA LAW JOURNAL

By the National Association of Claimants' Compensation Attorneys

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PSYCHIATRY …