AB INITIO - THE BIRTH OF A LAW SCHOOL

Often, in the months leading up to the birth or adoption of a child, the prospective parents think twice about what they can do to help their child be all that he or she can be. Those who have decided to open or reopen a law school must make similar plans. The plans are not sufficient if they are just about what kind of institution the university wants to develop. The planners need to think about what kind of lawyer the school will produce.

In the third installment of this series, the reader was introduced to the "CLICIR" plan – "CLICIR" standing for Catholic, Leadership, Interdisciplinary, Community, International and Ready. That column explained the need that scholars, practitioners and the general public see for the legal profession to restore its position of social leadership. The column finished by stating that St. Thomas School of Law, in its efforts to help future generations of leaders, would go beyond intellectual and professional formation to social, cultural and spiritual formation.

Much of great value has been written about how to teach and learn law. However, the formation of leaders requires a school to go beyond teaching and education. Sally Furay, a former provost who is serving as an acting associate dean and vital member of the St. Thomas School of Law planning team, often reminds us that "values are caught, not taught." The same can be said about leadership. If the University of St. Thomas is to pursue its goal of helping to form the future leaders of society, the School of Law must develop an environment conducive to women and men "catching on" to leadership. Creating and maintaining such an environment will affect every facet of the reopened law school and every part of its strategic plan.

Mass production of leaders is very difficult. Therefore, St. Thomas plans to maintain a small student population with a low student-faculty ratio. As is obvious from earlier parts of this series, the University is not re-opening its law school because there is a need for more lawyers in this country. The School of Law is a response to the need for a special kind of lawyer-leader as called for by Dean Anthony Kronman, Professor Mary Ann Glendon and many other scholars, jurists and practitioners. The School of Law will concentrate on quality rather than quantity in both its admissions and teaching goals.

The plan is to have a limited student enrollment. The entering class for Fall of 2001 will be limited to 80-90 students. Limitations on the two subsequent entering classes will be 90-100 and 100-110, respectively. The long-range goal is for entering classes of approximately 120-125 J.D. candidates. This will mean that St. Thomas School of Law will develop and stay in the "small" law school tradition – a student population size which the University and trustees believe fits the School of Law's mission.

The planned student-faculty ratio is 15-1. For the present plans this is an excellent ratio. While it may get to be even lower as the strategic plan develops, this ratio is most appropriate to serve the goals and mission of the St. Thomas School of Law. The planners believe that the practice of law and of lawyer leadership is highly personal. Therefore, teaching must be highly personal. For the educational mission of St. Thomas, large classes should be minimized and small classes and one-on one tutelage made available. If both values and leadership are to be "caught," then student members of the profession must be in a close relationship with the faculty.

Small classes are very important to many aspects of professional education. Students have greater opportunity to participate in class dialogue. Students can readily obtain clarification of readings and discussions. Students can more easily observe their faculty role-models. Faculty and staff can help in individual student formation. Students can better work with faculty research projects. The talents, ambition and potential of each individual student can be observed, understood and encouraged.

The hallmark of St. Thomas School of Law will be the formation of individuals who are holistic problem solvers and leaders. This means that faculty and staff have to get to know students as individual people, and vice-versa. An environment must be created in which the faculty and staff care about what happens to each individual professional student during law school and in each graduate's later career. That can best happen with a small student population, a low student-faculty ratio and a special program designed to take advantage of a close student-faculty professional relationship.

This goal of being a high quality, small sized law school has numerous ramifications in planning for student recruiting and enrollment. The School of Law should search for and admit students who have not only demonstrated their academic talent, but their desire to be leaders and healers in society. A member of the Admissions Committee at Notre Dame Law School once said to me that he thought it might be easier for a candidate to get admitted to Notre Dame if he or she were a member of "Big Brothers" or "Big Sisters" than if the candidate had a perfect Law School Admissions Test score and a perfect undergraduate grade point average. I responded that I hoped it would always be that Notre Dame would be interested in both an applicant's values and his or her academic record.

St. Thomas must be like Notre Dame in this regard – interested in candidates who have high moral and social values as well as the talent and passion necessary to help those in society who are in need of assistance. To be a societal leader, and to be a lawyer-healer takes a special kind of person. St. Thomas School of Law will attract that kind of candidate, then expose her or him to a rigorous program and a caring faculty. To learn how this can be done, "tune in" to future installments.

David T. Link
Dean
University of St. Thomas School of Law
posted July 6, 2000

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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Discussion

JURIST and Dean Link welcome your comments on these columns.