AB INITIO - THE BIRTH OF A LAW SCHOOL

Who will apply to the new University of St. Thomas School of Law?

Over my many years as a dean and as a member of law school accrediting teams, I have had occasion to ask hundreds of law students the simple question, “How did you choose your law school?” The most frequent answer I’ve received is, “I enrolled at the highest ranked school that accepted me.”

I have never liked that answer much, as it is based on at least three questionable premises: that, except for their rankings, all law schools are pretty much alike; that rankings are a good way of deciding whether one school is better than another; and that the choice of a law school is to be made by an institution for a person, rather than by a person for himself or herself.

All law schools are not alike. Teaching, research, and service are the three main goals of any law school, but there are more differences than similarities in the way law schools go about pursing those goals. Law schools have different missions, purposes, priorities, emphases, attitudes, styles, and methods. They differ in size, impact, admissions policies, and career services focus. A law school with a large student population often has the advantage of a hefty budget, a sizeable library collection, and a large faculty of professor-specialists. By contrast, a law school with a small student population often has a low student-faculty ratio, a more personalized approach to admissions and teaching, and a heightened sensitivity to the importance of collegiality and community.

Some will be quick to cite exceptions to the above generalizations about large and small law schools. That only makes my point. Law schools differ. Indeed, the chances that two law schools are exactly alike are about the same as the chances that two snowflakes are exactly alike - or that two prospective law students are exactly alike.

So how should an applicant choose among law schools, if an applicant is fortunate enough to have a choice? The most important criterion by far should be fit. An applicant should ask, “Of all of the law schools that I can attend, which fits me the best? Which seems to share my values? Which seems most able to meet my needs?” Obviously, before an applicant can determine whether a law school will be a good fit, the applicant must ask some questions about himself or herself and about the law school.

An applicant should first think hard about why he or she wants to go to law school. Is it to make a pile of money? To save the environment? To protect the disadvantaged? To promote equality or healing or peace or the dignity of human life? Applicants who have several goals in attending law school should work to prioritize those goals. At the end of the day, which of the reasons for attending law school really counts?

An applicant should also think hard about what he or she wants from a law school. Does the applicant learn better in a large, impersonal environment? Or does the applicant learn better in a small community in which faculty and students have a great deal of contact with each other? Is the applicant interested in the academic or “technical” side of law? Or is the applicant interested in the practical or “artistic” side of law? Does the applicant want to attend a law school in a small town with a minimum of distractions? Or does the applicant want to immerse himself or herself in the opportunities and challenges of a large urban environment? These are but a few of the many questions that an applicant should ask himself or herself.

After such a self-examination, the applicant should next focus on potential law schools. In particular, the applicant should read carefully what each law school says about itself in its statement of mission or goals. Such a statement is almost always reprinted in a law school’s catalog or on its website. Some law schools never fully realize their mission, just as some people never fully accomplish all of their goals. But knowing what a law school aspires to be tells as much about a law school as learning what a human being aspires to be tells about that person.

After narrowing the list of schools to eight or ten potential “fits,” the applicant should investigate each school carefully. In particular, the applicant should try to discern how closely the performance of the law school matches its promise. If the applicant is interested in the academic side of law, the applicant should check out the library. If it’s not a research-caliber library, then the applicant and the school will not be a good fit, no matter what the school says about itself in its mission statement. If the applicant is interested in small classes and substantial faculty contact, the applicant should check out the average class size and the faculty-student ratio. If the classes are large, and the ratio high, then such an applicant and the school will not be a good fit. If the applicant wants a strong law-and-economics program or a well-funded loan repayment program or a variety of clinical experiences, the applicant should make certain that a law school can deliver.

In this process, rankings can be helpful, as long as the applicant bears in mind that rankings are just tools to be used in reaching a conclusion, and not conclusions in themselves. Learning a school’s overall ranking is of little help, but focusing on the factors that go into various rankings - factors such as student-faculty ratio, level of student satisfaction with teaching, and perceived level of competitiveness among students - may very well help an applicant to discern whether the school will be a good fit. Applicants should not consider only the well known U.S. News and World Report rankings, but should also consider rankings published by such sources as JURIST.

An applicant must always remember that a particular law school may be one student’s dream but another student’s nightmare. An applicant who relies solely on overall rankings in choosing a law school is taking a substantial chance that he or she will spend three years living a nightmare. Applicants who have a choice should make a choice, and the more informed that choice, the more likely it is that the law school the applicant chooses will help him or her become the kind of lawyer he or she wants to be. Prospective law students who don’t think they have a choice should look around. They might be surprised at the options available.

A regular reader of this series already knows much about the new law school at the University of St. Thomas. It will be a faith-based institution that will provide outstanding professional training, assist students to integrate their values with their professional lives, inspire students to use their legal training to serve the community, and focus in particular on the moral dimensions of law and the opportunities to use law to bring about healing.

Some prospective students who undertake the kind of examination I’ve described above will conclude that St. Thomas is a good fit. Others will not. That’s how it should be. No law school is for everyone. But St. Thomas will unquestionably be a perfect fit for many applicants. Our admissions policy relies on a simple belief: “If we build it, they will come.”

David T. Link
Dean
University of St. Thomas School of Law

posted January 8, 2001

For more information please contact:

University of St. Thomas School of Law
MPL 440
1000 LaSalle Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55403

E-mail: Lawschool@stthomas.edu
Web: http://www.stthomas.edu/lawschool

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