Comments on: Are Law Schools Finally Waking Up??

By: Susan Cartier Liebel

Susan Cartier Liebel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:51:27 +0000

@Tim, thanks. You are so positive!

@KelliJ and @Steve, I do think all institutions of higher learning are going to be forced to change the same way Big Law and every other for-profit institution is going to be forced to change. They can’t keep profiting from an old model combined with an extraordinary rebellion from those they purport to serve.

When there is economic pressure on the majority and the prize supposedly available at the end of this expensive and exhaustive education is not worth it, they are simply going to force another road to be created. This road will be online learning, schools which offer two year degrees, community colleges.

Parents will no longer be able to afford to save for both retirement and $250,000 per child for a worthless degree in undergrad. Banks and the government are going to tighten their purse strings on student loans because they realize these worthless degrees don’t produce jobs which can repay the loans. It’s all economics. Therefore, a new model WILL emerge and the only way law schools and medical schools and graduate and undergraduate schools will survive is to change their business model. Or they die.

For the next few years kids will still tuck themselves away in school to avoid the realities of what is going on and the schools will suck them up and still spit them out. But then it will be over except for the few stragglers who think they can still stick their heads in the sand.

We are living in extraordinary times. If you look to the horizon you will see many things collapse from a familiar skyline…the news tells us this. But keep watching and watching and start capitalizing upon what is also being erected

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:08:52 +0000

Ain’t that the truth! “tell your professors they are teaching antiquated materials. Come back when you have some real world experience.” I see this more and more hands on learning cannot be underestimated and our institutions of higher learning need to catch on!

By: KelliJ

KelliJ — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:05:10 +0000

Great article, Susan! It’s sad but not surprising how law schools don’t really get it (and, as you so aptly pointed out, neither do undergraduate institutions!). Academia is the realm of the “Ivory Tower”. These people get paid for teaching about 3 or 4 courses a week, and the rest of the time they get to pontificate about “the Law”. 3 courses meeting 3 times a week for an hour = 9 hours of work. There is no incentive for them to change. They get plenty of applicants who are willing to plunk down big money. (It’s not until after the fact that the reality of debt rears its ugly head, and the recent graduate realizes “I don’t know anything”.)

The current law school model is SO outdated. It reminds of a great line in Drive by Dan Pink ( a MUST READ for your students), and I’m paraphrasing here, “How many things from the 1850′s and the industrial revolution are still around and relevant today?” He was talking about ” business management” but it can easily be said about law school.

By: Tim Baran

Tim Baran — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:49:41 +0000

Great article, Susan! I especially love how you included your experience as an advertising undergrad. Over the years, I’ve been friends with many professors and it’s been disillusioning to discover how madly institutions of higher educations are profit driven, politicized and change averse.

Here’s hoping that a new “ready for the real world” breed of lawyers and other professionals not saddled with debilitating debt emerge from the changes spurred by this economic crisis.

Go SPU!