Alumni Weigh In
to teaching their courses,” said Danforth. “It created some energy and excitement that I haven’t felt for a while. In considering the challenges that the new curriculum would present, the faculty also recognized that we’re talking about only one-third of the curriculum. We still need people to teach first- and second-year students.” A secondary benefit was that the third-year discussions generated one of the best faculty recruiting seasons the School has had in a while (see page 3). “The folks we hired are unabashedly enthusiastic about the program,” Danforth added. While developing a rigorous curriculum is important to the Law School, equally important is nurturing lawyers who are able to balance a number of conflicting issues. Not just professionalism, but ethics as well. Johnson describes it as “what it means to live one’s life in the law.” He is troubled by the turnover in the legal profession and wondered, “Are we just letting it happen and then trying to deal with the effects of it after the fact? I’d like to see a more systematic exploration of why this is happening. We should be instrumental in helping our students shape and construct healthy professional identities. I don’t know all that’s entailed, but it’s almost as exciting as the curricular part.” Over the next few months and years, W&L will be fine-tuning its new curriculum. There are practica to create, externships to develop, money to raise and guest speakers and instructors to invite. The new third year will be phased in over the next couple of years and goes into full effect in the 2010-11 academic year. “We can take the fast track,” said Johnson, “because we’re small, we’re nimble.” Inevitably, the curriculum will change as the Law School settles into this new direction. There is a lot of work ahead, with many details yet to be worked out. But the Law School has the support of its alumni, and an advisory board of some of the best legal minds to provide feedback. “I’m excited that the faculty didn’t take the easy road,” said Natkin. “It really shows a commitment to being the best teaching institution out there.” Q
After the Law School announced the new third-year curriculum, many alumni wrote to share their thoughts on the decision. Here are excerpts from two emails.
An Alumnus Remembers Stan Fink ’64, a partner in Fink, Rosner, Ershow-Levenberg in Clark, N.J., enthusiastically endorsed W&L’s new third-year curriculum. He joked that he came up with the idea first. I proposed this to Dean [Robert] Huntley ’50A, ’57 in 1963, while he, several of my classmates and I sat in the student lounge in Tucker Hall over a cup of coffee—of course, we probably should have been studying, not philosophizing over the state of law school education. While a 3L in 1963-64, we had a speaker in our creditors’ rights class who was the bankruptcy judge in the Western District of Virginia. He was bemoaning the fact that because the lawyer population in that geographic area was so limited, he had trouble finding people to appoint as trustees in bankruptcy cases. The few lawyers who actually practiced in the bankruptcy court either represented the debtors or the creditors. I suggested he appoint law students as trustees, which he did. Within days, I received my first appointment. The judge could have accepted much of what we did as trustees in written reports to the court, but he insisted that we actually make court appearances to deliver, present and file our trustee reports. And we had to wear a coat and tie. What a wonderful hands-on experience. I was applying what I learned, and I was becoming a lawyer in the process. Today, law schools offer so many more such opportunities in clinics, etc. Back then, my classmates and I were pioneers. I’m glad W&L is going to be today’s pioneer to benefit future generations and raise the level of the practice and profession.
Why It Matters Heather Boone ’00, general counsel, Los Alamos National Bank, Los Alamos, N.M., expressed her support of the new third year. I applaud your visionary approach and am very glad that W&L is taking the lead on this important change. I have always believed that the practical experience I got through Moot Court, my internship with the AUSA and summer internships was far more important than class after class of textbook law on increasingly specific topic areas. I also believe that only through the actual practice of law can students begin to grasp the ethical and life work balance issues they will face. It is much better for them to have the opportunity to mature in this area before they set out on their own. I believe that this new approach will result in better job satisfaction, as it allows students to understand what will be expected of them and what they enjoy. Not everyone will enjoy litigation, although we all seem to think we will. 24
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