Law school and "bad sociology"

Catching up on old news, I read an interesting and provocative article by Charles Rounds (professor, Suffolk University Law School) lamenting the decline of the “common law” subjects in law school. (HT: Law School Innovation.) Courses on the bread-and-butter common law courses ought to be at the heart of the law school curriculum, he says.

“Common law, of which agency and trust are critical components, is the bedrock upon which all our statutory and regulatory edifices are constructed. Unfortunately, the old required courses in the law—the courses necessary to master the law’s basic anatomy—have largely been crowded out by courses about the law. Almost every self-respecting law professor is now an amateur sociologist engaged in ‘ground-breaking’ and ‘cutting-edge’ scholarship that has a gender, race, or sexual identity hook. Those who are less sociologically inclined are likely preoccupied with some ultra-technical aspect of the Constitution, some piece of legislation, or a regulation. Many professors manage to cobble together entire courses around their preoccupations.”

Professor Rounds concludes that “law students at great expense are getting little more than bad sociology.”

What’s the solution? Professor Rounds suggests:

“This de-professionalization of the American law school, a phenomenon of profound concern to many in the legal profession, suggests that there is an opening for the for-profit sector. A bare-bones, back-to-basics for-profit law school staffed by seasoned scholar-practitioners may be the answer. The more boot-camp-like the better, in that the rigor will prepare future lawyers for the work they’ll actually confront in the real world.”

Rounds' comments raise some issues that I might quibble about some other time (should a law school curriculum be reduced to just nuts-and-bolts courses to prepare student for practice? I don’t think so). But I think he does raise some thought-provoking points about big issues facing law schools, especially in a difficult economy.

And, ahem. The Oak Brook College curriculum features the common-law staples prominently. The distance-learning methodology makes it possible for OBCL students to get real world experience working in law while still in law school. The faculty is comprised of practicing lawyer-teachers who know what really is happening in the real world. These are pluses that we OBCL grads sometimes take for granted, but shouldn’t.

And ending on a cheerful note, Professor Rounds thinks the future is bright for new approaches to legal education: "A for-profit law school that affords its students a thorough grounding in the fundamentals would soon win the respect and admiration of the hiring partners in the nation’s law firms. In time they would come to take with a grain of salt the puff pieces and propaganda of their non-profit alma maters, and of the American Bar Association which regulates them."

Alumni in the News VI

98B’s Chris Schweickert writes an essay on prayer at public colleges for the American Thinker entitled "Free Speech at College: 'You Can't Do That Here'"

Alumni Peter Fear is featured in a Business Journal story on one of today's most discussed legal topics: "Local Attorney Cautions Against Debt Consolidations"

Matt McReynolds is quoted in an AP story on religious freedom in Southern California.

Jonathan Bechtle and Mike Reitz discuss internet filtering at libraries, rape shield laws, and other recent Washington Supreme Court decisions in their entertaining monthly podcast.

OBCL Grad Meredith Turney discusses the political blame game in the aftermath of BP’s recent offshore oil spill.

Alumni Brian Tyson has a number of informative updates out of Georgia on his firm's SCOG Blog.

Are you an alumni that has recently been published online? Please let us know so that we can highlight your work!

February, 2010 Bar Results

Congratulations to the OBCL Alumni who passed the February, 2010 California Bar Exam! This class did us proud.

Right now, I know of 7 of 9 first-time takers from OBCL whose names were on the pass list. There may be a couple of other first-timers who took it, so check back for an update later today when the school fills us in.

But for now, congratulations to Curtis, Kristi, Caleb, Heidi, Joshua, Laura, and Lael!

Stupendous work, Class 05! May God continue to richly bless your efforts.

***UPDATE***

Looks like the final statistics are in: 7 of 12 first-time takers passed, and 3 of 9 repeat takers passed. Both of those are fantastic statistics on the whole, and we congratulate each individual passer!

Why come to Tahoe?

I hope that you already have the weekend of September 11 highlighted on your calendar. It is, after all, going to be a fantastic weekend of Alumni fellowship and fun in Lake Tahoe.

But if you're on the fence, or making excuses to miss out, you don't have to take my word for it. Here's what Alumni are saying about attending:

Tahoe is a beautiful location to get away to, but the best part of the reunion for me was not the sightseeing but the fellowship- with old friends and new. The highlight of the '09 reunion was the time of worship and sharing Sunday morning. I can't imagine any OBCL'er regretting making the effort to attend. - Sean S.

The weekend in Tahoe made me grateful once again for the strong ties that bind Oak Brook alumni together, and for the fellowship that we have together in Christ regardless of where our professional paths lead. - Emily Y.

More Alumni testimonials to come - as well as registration forms. But mark your calendars now!

Follow the Alumni Association on Twitter!

Taking the next step in our quest to connect Oak Brook Alumni, we've launched a Twitter account! If you're on Twitter follow us @obclalumni. We will be certain to not only follow you back, but to re-tweet your news, accomplishments, and links along with general news from the Alumni Association.

And if there is something that you'd like to see on the Twitter feed, be sure to hit us up with a direct message. Looking forward to following all you twitter-savvy alumni!

"Law School Grads Face Tougher Economic Times"

In a fitting update to Lael's post from last week, US News and World Report is reporting on the status of the legal profession's economy in a write-up entitled "Law School Grads Face Tougher Economic Times."

The truth is that the legal profession isn't what it once was. It is hard to get a job, especially a high-paying entry job to pay off student debt. As is pointed out in that article, it is a gamble for even the most brilliant student to incur a crushing amount of student debt in the hopes that high income will allow the new lawyer to pay it off.

This story is a great reminder to me of two things - first off, how grateful I am to be able to practice law without the burden of debt, thanks to the vision of OBCL. Second, it's a reminder to me of the great potential of the Alumni Association. We exist, in large part, to network graduates with Alumni that are established in their professions, so that institutional knowledge, practical wisdom, and yes, jobs can be available for the entire body of students and alumni.

Are traditional law schools keeping up?

Guest post by alumni Lael Weinberger

The National Law Journal has a report on a recent conference that called for big changes in traditional legal education. The conference was called “Future Ed: New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education,” and was sponsored by the law schools at New York University and Harvard.

According to the article, the conference was a reaction to an important 2007 report from the Carnegie Foundation that warned that traditional law schools were doing a poor job teaching students practical job skills. Many of the participants in the “Future Ed” conference went further, warning that law schools are out of touch with the real world. They don’t teach practical skills as well as they should. They don’t emphasize business considerations (like talking with clients about costs). They are run on a model that is becoming obsolete: students rack up enormous debt on the assumption that they can get high paying jobs at firms, but those jobs are disappearing and the firm structure is changing.

The article quotes one analyst at the conference who said that American law school is “not simply incomplete.” “It's directionally wrong in many respects because it's misaligned with where the world really is. In my opinion, most of the things I see that are problematic in the profession right now are rooted in law schools.”

The report concludes by noting that the conference “included panels on the possible alternatives” to the standard legal education model and “addressed accelerated programs, experiential learning and distance education and lessons learned from other industries.”

“There's a saying in academia that change is good…for others,” one of the conference participants joked. For a long time, most American law schools have resisted change. But with conferences like this, momentum seems to be building for more change in the field.

Hopefully, this means that the larger world of legal education is recognizing what Oak Brook College of Law has known since its founding in 1995. OBCL’s non-traditional program puts an emphasis on practical skills and the curriculum makes it possible to get real-world work experience while in school. In the process, OBCL students also avoid the enormous debt that usually accompanies three years at a traditional law school.