AB INITIO - THE BIRTH OF A LAW SCHOOL

“The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s often-quoted observation is reflected in many aspects of the program at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Legal education is what many refer to as a “people game.” In a law school, “faculty people” train “student people” to represent future “client people.” Obviously, then, people are central to the success of any law school. The formula for developing a great law school is simple: Mix great teaching faculty with great students in an environment that demands a lot of both of them.

That is easier said than done. In particular, it can be a challenge for a law school admissions program to identify which candidates will turn out to be great students and someday great lawyers.

At many law schools, predictions of a candidate’s future success are based almost solely on quantitative measures. These law schools rely on each candidate’s undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) and score on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). Some law schools make decisions based almost entirely on LSAT scores, while others consider an index or other combination of UGPA and LSAT score. Few law schools use only quantitative measures to admit the entire class, but the degree to which individual assessment of personal qualities plays a role varies dramatically from school to school.

In only a small number of schools is every applicant considered on a “whole file” basis. In these schools, no candidate is automatically accepted or automatically rejected based solely on his or her LSAT score or UGPA. Although both of those factors play a role in the decision, they are never, in and of themselves, determinative.

Given St. Thomas’s special mission, it should not be surprising that we will evaluate every candidate on a personalized, “whole file” basis. A faculty committee will evaluate each and every applicant’s potential to excel as both student and lawyer, taking into account academic record (that is, LSAT score and UGPA), writing skills, leadership potential, motivation, and demonstrated ability to contribute to St. Thomas’s unique mission. I will address each factor in turn:

LSAT score. To say that St. Thomas will not reject any student based solely on UGPA or LSAT score is not to say that those measures are not important. Lawyers need at least three academic skills if they are to succeed professionally: logic, intuition, and communication. No matter how good the lawyer’s intuition and ability to express himself or herself, the lawyer will not succeed unless he or she can analyze logically. The LSAT is by no means perfect, but it has proven over time to be a reliable indicator of a candidate’s ability to reason logically.

UGPA. St. Thomas’s academic program will be rigorous, and a candidate will not be admitted unless we are confident that he or she can succeed academically. The best measure of a candidate’s ability to succeed academically is, of course, his or her UGPA. But grades need to be examined with great care. A candidate with a 3.0 UGPA who took challenging courses and whose grades improved over time may be a better bet than a candidate with a 3.5 UGPA who took less challenging courses and whose grades declined over time. In assessing the academic records of applicants, St. Thomas will do a transcript analysis and look beyond the numbers.

Writing skills. To be effective in advocacy, negotiation, conflict resolution, counseling, advising and every other attorney role, a lawyer must be an articulate and persuasive communicator. Lawyers spend their days communicating - with judges, jurors, clients, other lawyers, and members of the public. To be admitted to St. Thomas, a candidate will have to demonstrate, through his or her personal statement and academic record, that the candidate can communicate effectively.

Leadership potential. St. Thomas is not being opened just to produce more lawyers. It is being opened to produce more lawyer-leaders. By creating a close-knit community that brings students into daily contact with professors and practicing lawyers who are themselves proven leaders, St. Thomas will help to foster leadership potential in its students. Candidates who wish to be admitted to St. Thomas must have demonstrated that potential.

Motivation. It is not enough for St. Thomas to know that a candidate wants a legal education. It matters why. Some candidates will pursue a legal career because they believe it is an easy way to make a good living or because they find law interesting. There is nothing wrong with such motivations, but St. Thomas will be looking for more: a desire to use legal skills to make a difference in society. From its very beginning, St. Thomas will be admitting people who have a thirst for justice and peace.

Mission fit. St. Thomas has a unique mission, one that I’ve described in prior installments in this series. No matter how skilled its faculty, St. Thomas can pursue its special mission only by attracting special students. Perhaps no factor will be more important in the admissions process than demonstrated ability to contribute to St. Thomas’s mission. The important word here is “demonstrated.” It is one thing to profess values that are consistent with St. Thomas’s; it is quite another to have borne witness to those values in tangible ways.

Does this mean that it will be easier to get into St. Thomas if one has been involved in Big Brothers or Big Sisters than if one has a perfect UGPA and LSAT score? Not necessarily. A Big Brother or Big Sister will not be admitted without a qualifying academic record. But no one - no matter how strong his or her academic record - will be admitted unless he or she has also, in some way, demonstrated a commitment of social justice.

An often-raised question is whether a law school can truly judge a candidate’s leadership potential, motivation, or values based on an application for admission, a transcript, a personal statement, and the other materials that make up the typical admissions file. After reading thousands of those files over the past quarter century, I can answer with an unequivocal “yes.” These qualities jump off the pages of the right student’s application. Personal qualities are evident in what the student says about himself or herself, in the character traits highlighted by recommendation letters, and, most of all, in the activities in which a student has chosen to engage.

What type of candidate will be admitted to St. Thomas? The “person for all seasons” - the person with a strong academic record, effective communication skills, leadership potential, the “right” motivation for studying law, and, most importantly, a demonstrated passion for using his or her gifts to make a difference in society.

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

posted October 31, 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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