Frank Snyder
I'm a law professor who has taught at law schools in each quartile of the USNews rankings, been a partner at an AmLaw 20 firm, and owned a couple of independent minor league baseball teams.
You can find my current school on a Google search, but I'm not putting it here because I want to emphasize that this blog reflects my personal observations on legal education, the profession of law, and the vast changes (the "Apocalypse") that are looming on the horizon for each. I claim no special expertise in these topics, except for having practiced law for nearly 15 years and taught in law schools nearly as long.
Unlike some other critics, I believe that the law is the greatest of the secular professions It has played a critical role in American life. Law school is not a scam. Law has offered, and continues to offer, incredibly rewarding careers to thousands of new lawyers. My view of the American law school is like that of reforming 15th-century Catholics to abuses in the Church -- a deep love for an institution but a strong concern that it has fallen under some very bad influences.
Unless attributed and linked to specific others, all of the thoughts here are mine, unless I unconsciously stole them, in which case I apologize. None of them should be taken as the opinions of my employer, my publishers, my students, or any other person or institution.
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Category Archives: Law schools
Signs of change at the ABA
Barry Currier (left) has been named the interim Consultant on Legal Education to the American Bar Association, replacing Bucky Askew, who has held the job for the last six years. Mr. Askew has presided over some substantial changes in the ABA’s … Continue reading
“Worst law school in five states”
I was in the law school faculty/staff staff kitchen the other day, making a cup of coffee and overhearing a conversation. Seems some anonymous person on some blog or other called the school that employs me “the worst law school in … Continue reading
Chen steps down at Louisville
One of the few law school deans who has some sense of the coming Apocalypse is stepping down. Jim Chen of Louisville is calling it quits after five years. With any luck, he’ll have time now to do more of the … Continue reading
Making lawyers “practice-ready”?
“If you want law school to be practical, and you want it to do more than train litigators (whose orientation is the enforcement or opposition of legal rights and duties – and where some practitioners get to be appropriately tunnel-visioned), … Continue reading
Shining optimism to alcoholic depression
American law schools are sometimes charged with turning out people who are so driven, competitive, and insecure that they end up hating their lives and their careers, and too often sink into depression or alcoholism. Turns out, this is one thing … Continue reading
Incivility as a tool for the marginalized
Much of the ranting about the problems with American law schools (here and elsewhere) strikes many observers as uncivil. Many critics are over the top when they talk about law schools lying, deceiving, stealing from students, preying on the helpless, engaging … Continue reading
Fewer people want our product? Charge more!
It’s hard to think of a dumber principle on which to base a business decision, but the good folks at the Law School Admissions Council have figured out how to deal with an ugly 15% drop in demand from their customers … Continue reading
Getting rid of “professionalism”
In a thoughtful and perceptive new paper, Calling Law a “Profession” Only Confuses Thinking About the Challenges Lawyers Face, Thomas D. Morgan (Geo. Washington) makes a good case that the term “professionalism,” as currently uses in the law trade, doesn’t do … Continue reading
Challenging “Challenging Carnegie”
The February issue of th Journal of Legal Education, the scholarly house organ of the Association of American Law Schools, has a thought-provoking article by Kristen Holmquist (UC-Berkeley), Challenging Carnegie. For the uninitiated, “Carnegie” means the Carnegie FAT’s report, Educating Lawyers, … Continue reading
Opportunity knocked. My doorman threw him out.
Law school faculty don’t generally pay much attention the the ABA Journal, the official organ of the profession whose future members we’re ostensibly training. But two stories in today’s weekly email version are likely to get at least some notice. The bad news: Law … Continue reading