{"id":470,"date":"2013-07-02T09:19:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T13:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=470"},"modified":"2013-08-28T16:57:59","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T20:57:59","slug":"summer-reading-the-legal-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/02\/summer-reading-the-legal-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Reading: The Legal Apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/02\/summer-reading-the-legal-apocalypse\/reading-glasses-57288_640\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-471\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-471\" title=\"reading-glasses-57288_640\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/reading-glasses-57288_640-500x375.jpg?resize=168%2C126\" alt=\"\" width=\"168\" height=\"126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/reading-glasses-57288_640.jpg?resize=500%2C375&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/reading-glasses-57288_640.jpg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 168px) 100vw, 168px\" \/><\/a>There have been no definitive predictions for a Doomsday, but educators, lawyers, and media argue that legal education is teetering on the brink of catastrophe. Here\u2019s what they say are the warning signs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Disparities in Supply and Demand<\/strong>: Rutgers University School of Law-Newark Dean John J. Farmer, Jr. notes, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abajournal.com\/news\/article\/biglaw_jobs_for_grads_rise_27_percent_in_two_years_even_as_overall_employme\/?utm_source=maestro&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=daily_email&amp;sf14184758=1\">Nearly half<\/a> of those who graduated from law school in 2011 did not quickly find full-time, long-term work as lawyers. Yet the need for legal representation has never been greater. In New Jersey, where I teach law, 99 percent of the 172,000 defendants in landlord-tenant disputes last year lacked legal counsel.\u201d\u00a0 Now, law school applications are at a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/31\/education\/law-schools-applications-fall-as-costs-rise-and-jobs-are-cut.html\">30-year-low<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Flawed Ranking Systems: <\/strong>The profession is governed by U.S News and World Report rankings, which, Northwestern Law Professor Stephen J. Harper <a href=\"http:\/\/chronicle.com\/article\/Pop-Goes-the-Law\/137717\/\">notes<\/a> in <em>The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>, are skewed by low response rates, imperfect criteria, and\u2014most surprisingly\u2014ignorance on behalf of the reviewers.\u00a0 Thomas M. Cooley Law School founder Thomas E. Brennan surveyed 100 lawyers about their opinion of certain law schools.\u00a0 Harper shares Brennan\u2019s results: \u201c\u2018As I recall, they ranked Penn State&#8217;s law school right about in the middle of the pack.\u2019 Brennan said later. \u2026 \u00a0At the time, Penn State didn&#8217;t have a law school.\u201d Lawyers who participate in the U.S. News Rankings are asked to evaluate every law school, without the assurance that these lawyers actually know about the institutions in question.\u00a0 Yet these rankings still influence aspiring law students and law firm hiring decisions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exorbitant Educational Expenses: <\/strong>Tuition increases for these ranked institutions have translated to surges in student debt. Washington University Professor of Law Brian Z. Tamanaha <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/01\/31\/education\/law-schools-applications-fall-as-costs-rise-and-jobs-are-cut.html\">claims<\/a> that in the past ten years alone, tuition has nearly doubled, and average student debt has risen to six-figure marks. And he\u2019s, quite literally, written the book: he published <a href=\"http:\/\/www.press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/F\/bo14279340.html\"><em>Failing Law Schools<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in 2012.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Supremacy of Big Law:<\/strong> Harper rues the switch from viewing law as a career of public service to the emphasis on competition and money.\u00a0 He cites the \u201cAm Law\u201d ranking system as the culprit, and the student debt as a reinforcing incentive for starting lawyers to seek lucrative careers in Big Law.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pyramid Schemes: <\/strong>Salaried employees outnumber the high-rolling equity partners, which Harper believes has contributed to unhappiness throughout the profession.\u00a0 In support of his theory, Forbes ranked associate attorneys as having the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jacquelynsmith\/2013\/03\/22\/the-happiest-and-unhappiest-jobs-in-america\/\">unhappiest jobs in America<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Outdated delivery: <\/strong>John G. Browning rues the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/views\/2012\/11\/19\/essay-criticizing-law-reviews-and-offering-some-reform-ideas\">antiquity<\/a> of student-run law reviews (to which Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution Editor-in-Chief Brian Farkas <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/views\/2012\/11\/30\/student-run-law-reviews-have-much-contribute-legal-education-essay\">responds<\/a>), which he argues are simply not timely enough to contribute meaningfully to legal conversation\u2014in turn doing an educational disservice to student authors. He also argues that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.indiana.edu\/instruction\/wihender\/inferiority_mar12.pdf\">theoretical legal discussion<\/a> is too abstract to be relevant to budding lawyers. Martin J. Katz, Dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, thinks the \u201cbundled\u201d JD degree <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abajournal.com\/legalrebels\/article\/adding_value_managing_costs_and_participating_in_the_conversation\/\">fails to deliver<\/a> legal education who could otherwise benefit from less than three years of training.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Worried yet?<\/em> The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanbar.org\/groups\/professional_responsibility\/taskforceonthefuturelegaleducation.html\">American Bar Association<\/a> seems to be. Their new Task Force on the Future of Legal Education <a href=\"http:\/\/online.iaals.du.edu\/2013\/02\/15\/the-future-of-legal-education\/\">solicited comments<\/a> from individuals and organizations in late 2012 and early 2013\u2014recommended solutions are still in the works.\u00a0 But the blogosphere has had a lot to say as well. In the coming weeks, we\u2019ll be reviewing proposed solutions to the legal ed crisis that have gotten attention on the web.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There have been no definitive predictions for a Doomsday, but educators, lawyers, and media argue that legal education is teetering on the brink of catastrophe. Here\u2019s what they say are the warning signs: Disparities in Supply and Demand: Rutgers University &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/02\/summer-reading-the-legal-apocalypse\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88574],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news-and-debate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-7A","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/16\/summer-reading-legal-educations-9-big-ideas-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":0},"title":"Summer Reading: Legal Education\u2019s 9 Big Ideas, Part 2","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"July 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Four Cs Last week we shared solutions to the crisis in legal education, drawn from the disciplines of science and technology.\u00a0 Particular schools have piloted other new programs for legal education, and these experiential \u201cinnovations\u201d have proven track records in other contexts. The capstone: Boston College Law School Dean\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Legal News and Debate&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/AmeriCorps_logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1124,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/04\/26\/product-summary-corporate-purchasing-project-how-sp-500-companies-evaluate-outside-counsel\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":1},"title":"Product Summary: Corporate Purchasing Project: How S&amp;P 500 Companies Evaluate Outside Counsel","author":"nsoubani","date":"April 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo by Brooks Kraft The Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession\u2019s (CLP\u2019s) mission is to make a significant contribution to the modern practice of law by increasing understanding of the structures, norms, and dynamics of the global legal profession. In pursuit of this mission, CLP conducts rigorous, empirical\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"banner1-2-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/04\/banner1-2-1-1024x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/04\/banner1-2-1-1024x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/04\/banner1-2-1-1024x394.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":644,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/10\/23\/the-1l-as-lawyer-part-2-spotlight-on-nyu-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":2},"title":"The 1L as Lawyer, Part 2: Spotlight on NYU Law","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"October 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Decades before the cries that law school curricula needed stronger practical components, NYU had a practical course called Lawyering. \u201cMy sense is that it was never a response to internal pressure,\u201d says Andy Williams, Director of the Lawyering Program at New York University School of Law. \u201c[The founders] felt it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Legal News and Debate&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":632,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/10\/17\/the-1l-as-lawyer-spotlight-on-university-of-denver-sturm-college-of-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":3},"title":"The 1L as Lawyer: Spotlight on University of Denver, Sturm College of Law","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first-year Lawyering Process Program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, students are encouraged to \u201clean forward\u201d while learning and jump into their identities as lawyers. Beginning in the early 1990s as a basic legal research class taught by adjunct professors, the Program has evolved into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Legal News and Debate&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2017\/11\/13\/meet-our-new-case-writers\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":4},"title":"Meet our New Case Writers!","author":"morourke","date":"November 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Brittany Deitch (left) and Rachel Gordon (right) have both recently joined the Harvard Law School | Case Studies team. Brittany, a recent JD graduate, was sworn into the bar in September 2017. Her role involves writing cases tailored to the JD curriculum. Brittany was inspired to get involved with pedagogy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Experiential Learning and the Case Study Method&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Experiential Learning and the Case Study Method","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/experiential-learning-and-the-case-study-method\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of our new case writers, Brittany Deitch, left, and Rachel Gordon, right, in front of large office window","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/11\/Case-Writers-3-500x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1080,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2016\/03\/08\/amescard-creating-effective-legal-scenarios-for-experiential-learning\/","url_meta":{"origin":470,"position":5},"title":"AmesCard: Creating Effective Legal Scenarios for Experiential Learning","author":"Alec Villalpando","date":"March 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Case Development Initiative (CDI) at Harvard Law School recently debuted a new role play on the HLS Case Studies website. CDI develops role plays and case studies based on strategic and organizational issues faced by legal organizations. These cases focus on real life situations and are suitable for law\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Coates-3-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Coates-3-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2016\/03\/Coates-3-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}