A new semester, and with it . . .
. . . excitement about what lurks ahead of us. We have a number of significant events and programs at the Law School. I urge you to check the Law School calendar for specific information.
For those of who completing your law studies this semester, I hope you see light at the end of the tunnel. There are difficult dynamics in the contemporary legal marketplace to be sure, but I trust that you will put your excellent Northwestern education to fruitful use in your legal career. For those who continue to work hard on securing employment following graduation, please do work with our Career Strategy office. They are here to help you.
For those who are beginning their second semester at Northwestern, congratulations on the successful completion of your first semester of law school. You have turned an important page and we wish you the best as you move to the next challenge.
And best wishes, of course, to all the rest of you, wherever you are in your Northwestern career. We all have much to be grateful for as we begin 2013. I know I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this terrific law school and to work with this remarkable community on improving legal education and in tacklng the challenges facing us in this complex legal economy.
Workload
Cross-posted from my recent guest blogging stint on Prawfsblawg.
Greetings from the Crescent City
Happy New Year to readers!
Returning to blogging after short holiday hiatus.
I am writing from New Orleans, where the Association of American Law Schools is holding its annual meeting.
Be on the lookout for recent and new posts on legal education, as well as the other eclectic content that makes up “Word on the Streeterville” version 2013.
Decentering centers
Thinking from yours truly about law school cost savings with a modest proposal for more cross-law school cooperation: Reposted from Prawfsblawg.
Two-year bar certification
Cross-posted from PrawfsBlawg (where I am guest-posting this month).
Just to elaborate on a comment I made in passing on this post: NU Law has a 2-year accelerated JD option, however, this option requires an equivalent number of credits as does the 3d-year degree. The proposal currently being considered in New York is a different animal. This would enable students to sit for the bar after just two years worth of credits. Conceivably, then, a Northwestern law student in the AJD program would be in a position to sit for the NY bar after just over one year (counting two summers).
Judge Posner on the law firm (and medicine) business model
From the Becker-Posner blog (and cross-posted on Leiter Law Reports).
Los Angeles visits
Pleased to be in southern California this week for meetings with distinguished Northwestern law alumni. This is a top market for our grads and, naturally, we are represented well in law firms and corporations throughout the region.
This morning, we had a good meeting with alum partner at major multi-national firm, reflecting upon the challenges facing young lawyers in this new era. He emphasized, as have other well-positioned alums, the importance of developing serious quantitative skills as preparation for transactional partice. Also, law students should learn the skills necessary to interact constructively with clients, interactions both written and verbal. This skill-building has long been a strength of Northwestern law school and we continue to refine our curriculum and programs to accomplish these critical objectives.
So far as our footprint in Los Angeles is concerned, we look forward to building our alumni club in the area and to providing opportunities and incentives for our LA alums to network with one another. And we certainly do look forward to seeing them when they pass through Chicagoland.
Warm Chicago!
While I would like to think I have brought to Northwestern and Chicagoland bold, imaginative ideas for the present and future of legal education, I expect that my signal contribution thus far has been warm weather. As I understand it, we are two days away from breaking the all-time Chicago record for days without snow. It has been a rather mild winter thus far and last year, of course, saw one of the mildest winters on record.
If this is all there is to winter in the windy city, all my fears have been allayed!
While we remain under balmy conditions, I will happily take all credit for this situation. (And you’ll hear precious little from me on the subject when (if?) the weather takes a snowy turn).
Meanwhile, please enjoy the crisp Fall-esque weather and the holiday look and feel of Chicago.
