The American Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Leadership has announced a Call for Papers from which one additional presenter will be selected for the sectionâs program, âLearning from Lawyer-Leaders Throughout the Profession,â to be held during the AALS 2020 Annual Meeting in Washington on Friday, January 3, 2020 at 1:30pm.
For more information and to submit, view the Call for Papers, here.
Information about the Section on Leadership’s 2020 program and co-sponsored sessions is available on the AALS Section on Leadership website, here.
On April 4th and 5th, Leah and I were
in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Lawâs
Leadership Conference. Doug Blaze, Dean Emeritus at UTK, put on an excellent
conference highlighting the good work that law schools are doing around the
country in leadership programs and courses.
The program was well designed, the flow was good, and the
speakers were inspiring. Beth Ford, Director of the Federal Defender Services
of Eastern Tennessee, already wrote a piece for Dougâs blog, Leading as Lawyers, and it is a great
recap of some of the highlights of the program. Hereâs a link: https://leadingaslawyers.blog/2019/04/18/reflections-on-the-leadership-roundtable/.
Like Beth, we came away with a lot of new things to implement
at Baylor Law and some wonderful ideas to consider. Here were some of our key
takeaways from the conference:
How can we improve the framing of leadership at Orientation for our students? Should it be through a session or through an immersive experience? Although we havenât made a final decision, this is something we are turning our attention to improving.
The whole building can be more involved in the leadership development process. Not just faculty, but each department â admissions, career development, alumni relations, pro bono clinics, externships, etc. â can play a role in helping law students understand their leadership potential and reach it.
Tagging other courses in the curriculum that have leadership components, such as ADR and Professional Responsibility.
In short, Dougâs conference will be a hard one to follow. As
we are planning our own 2020 leadership conference, what we learned at UTK will
shape our program and what we hope each attendee takes home.
Hearing the insightful and inspiring speech given by Professor Counseller at the Winter 2019 commencement, got us thinking about the speech Professor Fraley made at the Fall 2018 commencement ceremony.
Associate Professor of Law Liz Fraley Speaking at Baylor Law’s Commencement, Fall 2018
 Professor Fraley gave a less than conventional commencement speech, addressing the topics of failure and fear. She began by recasting failure not as a character flaw, but as part of life– that failing is proof that we are trying. She told the graduates, âSocial media paints this glossy picture of a life where no one fails, no one doubts, no one struggles, no one even has a pimple, but that is not real.â Failure does not mean that you cannot succeed, but rather that you were trying something daring in order to make a change. âFor a firework to light up the night sky, it has to explode. And so, too, will you need to spontaneously combust on occasion to see how bright a light you can be in this world.â
Professor Fraley told the graduates
a story about the first case she lost. She had been on a streak of winning
cases and thought she was invincible. Representing a defendant in a case with
bad facts for her clients, an East Texas jury reminded her that no lawyer can
win them all. She then told the graduates that she was feeling sorry for
herself but had to get up the next day and had to go right back to work. At her
first meeting the next day with an expert witness, she saw a daily quote
calendar on his desk. âThe quote for that day was, âsuccess is not about how
high you bounce, but high how you bounce back after you hit bottom.ââ Professor
Fraley told the graduates that she asked if she could have that page, he
graciously agreed, and she kept it taped inside her top desk drawer as a
reminder about what failure means and what success is really about.
Professor Fraley talked about how fear is failureâs best friend; that fear is there to tell you failure may always be around the next corner. Fear is there to make us doubt ourselves and think that we cannot do it, whatever âitâ is. Knowledge and fear of failing comes because we care, and we dare. She credited Nelson Mandela for three principles she uses as guides for her life: 1) Courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it, 2) the greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall, and 3) there is no passion to be found in playing small.
Professor Fraley told the graduates that âOut of this willingness to take risk and to fail and to fear comes growth.â Professor Fraley spoke to the graduates about watching them in class where they had to face fear and failure every day. Â She noted, âyou came back for more day after day. I donât know whether you were brave or whether you were too afraid not to, and it doesnât matter.â Professor Fraley left the graduates with a few final words of wisdom. âFail mightily. Laugh at yourself when you do. Get back up and fail and laugh again and embrace the glorious mess that is being alive.â
For
starters, we must recognize that as lawyers, as professionals, we are expected
to be leaders in society. âA lawyer is a
representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen
having special responsibility for the quality of justice.[1]â
We have an obligation to serve not only our clients but also society. Our legal
training and professional status afford us daily opportunities to influence
individuals, organizations and communities.
In
many ways, legal training is implicitly leadership development training. Faculty
are teaching and modeling leadership in the classroom and beyond; however, we are
not teaching leadership intentionally. We must help our students understand
that their professional obligation is to serve their clients and their communities. Their
professional opportunities will enable them to lead and to be change-makers. If
we see ourselves as problem solvers and trusted advisors instead of deal
killers and hired guns, maybe the public will see us that way too.
We
can start developing lawyer-leaders intentionally by reframing the way we think
about leadership development training. Law faculties are equipped to
participate. Because they are lawyers, they have served in a variety of leadership
roles, including as professors in the classroom. Leadership goes on every day,
in every classroom. Faculty can more intentionally model leadership and help students
see themselves as leaders. Students, from observing our interactions and actions,
learn how to address colleagues and classmates, how to treating others with
respect, and what it means to be a professional. But faculty can also encourage
one of the most fundamental aspects of leadership â intellectual curiosity â as
a way of life. Law professors can equip students with knowledge, skills and
strategies that will help them be successful in dealing with, and leading,
people and organizations.
The
majority of law school applicants provide personal statements that express
their desire to go to law school because they want to make a difference, to
advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves, or to make our
communities better. Donât we owe it to them to equip them with more than just
the ability to critically analyze an issue? Donât we want to make sure we set
them up for success, not only in the practice of law but also in the many other
arenas in which they will serve?
[1] The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Preamble:
A Lawyer’s Responsibilities,
On April 1, I had the pleasure of participating in a webinar hosted by Live with Kellye and Ken. The web series posts monthly hour-long discussions between invited panel guests over a wide array of topics affecting legal education and the legal community. This monthâs episode was titled Law and Leadership. I was honored to be included on a panel with Professor Deborah Rhode from Stanford, Dean Garry Jenkins from Minnesota, Dean D. Gordon Smith from Brigham Young, and Dean Matthew Diller from Fordham.
During
the discussion, each panelist briefly talked about the leadership programs at
their respective schools, as well as the value of implementing leadership
training in law schools. The panelists agreed leadership development programming
gives our student the opportunity to practice assessing different and difficult
situations and determine their role and that of others as they seek the best
approach to a positive outcome. Everything that we are all doing in these
Leadership Development Programs assists students to more effectively represent
their clients, add value to their future organizations and live more fulfilling
lives. As Dean Jenkins expressed, at its core, âleadership is really about
developing a set of skills over a period of time as opposed to the idea that
once I do these five things, Iâm a leader.â
Dean
Jenkins added, âI reject thinking of leadership as an on/off switch. I think
there’s a misnomer that either you’re a leader or you’re not, either you have
it or you don’t.â He suggested the best analogy is that of learning music. âWe
could all study the cello. We could all get better. Some will improve faster
than others.â His point is that âa combination of natural ability and
inclination and effort⦠all play roles. We might not all end in the same place
but we’d all improve.â Professor Rhode confirmed that âstudies show that most
leadership skills are learned skills.â
Dean
Smith noted that we need to help our students become good team players with an
entrepreneurial mindset and an understanding that every person has value and is
worthy of respect. Dean Dillard echoed this sentiment by explaining that his
leadership class is âfocused on framing (leadership development) not so much as
law and leadership, but law and being a good organizational and institutional
citizen⦠and the professional is not the center of everything. The professional
is a servant and works in the service of others.â
At
the end of the day, Dean Smith said it
best, âwe all want something really similar from our institutions and from
legal education⦠we want to make the world a better placeâ¦we want to make it
better for all people and leadership is the mechanism to get that sort of
result.â Everything that we are all doing in
these Leadership Development Programs is going to help our students add value
to their future organizations, to their clients, and their communities. Implementing
Leadership development programs is a win-win situation for all our schools!
Join hosts, Deans Emeritus Kellye Testy (LSAC CEO) and Ken Randall (iLaw President), as they lead a live dialogue about the state of legal education.
Lawyers lead our country. Yet law schools traditionally have not trained their students for leadership. With both the roles of lawyers and the value of a law degree evolving, how should legal education adjust to educate capable and ethical lawyers? How can deans, administrators, and faculties not only successfully lead their own institutions but also reflect leadership models for students to emulate? What are the opportunities for students to gain leadership opportunities while in law school? A panel of five effective leaders and experts will explore how legal education should embrace the growing field of leadership. Professor Rhodeâs seminal work â Lawyers as Leaders â provides an invaluable framework for the discussion.
Joining the discussion are:
⢠Dean Matthew Diller, Fordham ⢠Dean Garry Jenkins, Minnesota ⢠Professor Deborah Rhode, Stanford ⢠Dean Gordon Smith, Brigham Young ⢠Associate Dean Leah Teague, Baylor
This engaging one hour discussion will include a Q&A period at the end. The event will be recorded. If you register but cannot attend, you will receive a link to watch at a later time.
If you do not already have or do not wish to download the Zoom app, you may view the event through a browser by clicking the “Join from your browser” link when attempting to join the event.
Time
Monday, April 1, 2019 4:00 PM (Eastern Time – US and Canada)
Leadership development programs are part
of the standard operating procedures for business schools but not so for law
schools, at least historically. At a Group Discussion during the January 2017
AALS Annual Meeting, we met with about 50 faculty members from all over the
country and we asked them to share thoughts about challenges and roadblocks to
creating leadership development programs and courses. Here are some points from
the conversation:
What is leadership development anyway? How do we explain it to our skeptical colleagues?
Some lawyers and law students resist instruction in âsoft skills.â The very use of the term when describing leadership development adds to the problem. For many lawyers the soft stuff is the hard stuff.
Many still think leaders are born not trained. You either have it or you donât, they would say.
Doctrinal law faculty (especially those who have not been in formal leadership roles) feel uncomfortable with the subject and certainly do not feel equipped to teach it.
Current law students think they have already done leadership development ⦠in high school and in college. âWhat could possibly be added in a law school leadership class?â, they might wonder. Some faculty and administrators probably share these thoughts.
For those that believe in the benefit of leadership development programming, how can we scale up the programming to insure all students are exposed to leadership development in a meaningful way?
These
are some of the challenges we face. If you have encountered others, please
share. As we continue this blog, we will address these issues and offer
suggestions for overcoming.
Baylor Law School held its winter commencement on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019. The graduating class selected Professor Jeremy Counseller to address the graduates as the commencement speaker. Over the years, Professor Counseller has been selected on many an occasion as a favorite speaker. On this day, he tied two important topics together during his speech: civility and leadership. You can view his speech below, or at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZC495AXXtA. It is only nineteen-minutes and well worth it!
Professor Counseller is always entertaining. This occasion he was particularly inspiring, earning him a standing ovation. His message began with laughter as he announced to the audience that his intent was not to impart wisdom as is expected of graduation speakers. âDonât you think that I should have shared it with you by now,â he quipped. Instead he offered a request â really a challenge of sorts. His request was for the graduates and all those of their generation to address to two important issues: lack of civility and lack of strong leadership to solve the problems that older generations left unanswered. Issues such as the national debt, climate change, and politics. âAs lawyers, you will play an outsized role in bearing that responsibility,â he added.
He noted that civility means more than formal pleasantries.
He emphasized the need for the next generation to be âgood citizens, especially
in the way we conduct our public and political discourse.â He observed that the
graduatesâ generation will be forced to make the tough choices to solve hard problems
that previous generations could not. He blamed the lack of progress on âan
erosion of civility and the quality of our public and political discourse.â
Your generation has what it takes to improve civility in this country and solve the big problems.â
Professor Jeremy Counseller
Professor Counseller denounced negative descriptions of the
graduatesâ generation. Instead, he offered his endorsement. âI do think you do
have the courage to walk the hard paths.â His advice in dealing with the
criticism of their generation: âI hope the criticism of you puts a chip on your
shoulder⦠Your generation has what it takes to improve civility in this country
and solve the big problems.â
He ended by expressing his faith in our Baylor Law graduates.
âBaylor Law School doesnât give diplomas to snowflakes,â he noted. âSo, I want
you to⦠show us how it is done. Become the leaders we all need you to be.â
The need for leaders in our
communities, in our country, has never been greater. A survey by the Harvard
Center for Public Leadership found that over two-thirds of Americans think the
nation has a leadership crisis. Some believe our nation has never been more
complex, polarized, and siloed than now. We need leaders who have vision,
values, integrity and the ability to see beyond the narrow perspectives of one
side. We need lawyers to step up and play more active roles in their
communities.
Lawyers offer many skill
sets that are helpful in accomplishing goals and effectuating change. Law
schools develop studentsâ proficiencies in identifying and analyzing issues and
problems, and in communicating clearly and persuasively as necessary. Lawyers
know that negotiation and compromise may be necessary to move past gridlock.
Our code of professional conduct establishes an expectation of civility and
integrity in our actions.
Will we recognize that lawyersâ highest and best use is not as legal technicians (although that will sure be required)? Will we remember that our role as legal analysts, advocates and problem solvers allow us to effectively counsel and influence clients and organizations?
Leah Teague
But the legal profession is at a crossroads as well. What will be the role of lawyers in society in the future? The profession is forever changedâwe have an inkling of whatâs to come with technology and the impact of artificial intelligence on our profession, but we donât really know the full implications. Which of our traditional lawyering tasks will be automated? How will we adapt? Will we recognize that lawyersâ highest and best use is not as legal technicians (although that will sure be required)? Will we remember that our role as legal analysts, advocates and problem solvers allow us to effectively counsel and influence clients and organizations? Will we finally find a way to stem the tide of mistrust in lawyers and lack of faith in the institution that is our system of democracy and its rule of law?
Planning for what society needs from lawyers in the future is why we should begin to think about skills beyond learning substantive law or technical skills, which have been the focus of law schools traditionally. The skill sets needed as counselors and leadersâthose who are going to help clients and organizations work through their issuesâare going to be even more important to lawyers in the future. They will be just as important as professional responsibility, ethics, and service to the public. Leadership should be equally pervasive in our language as we teach our students about our obligations and opportunities as lawyers.
The State Bar of Texas Podcast – available on the Legal Talk Network – recently interviewed Leah Teague, associate dean at Baylor Law, about the importance of enhanced leadership training of future lawyers – and how many law schools are stepping up to the plate and revamping curricula and extra-curricular activities to make this a reality.
Stephen Rispoli
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives
Director of Innovation and Scholarship, Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management
Baylor Law.
Pat Wilson
Associate Dean and Professor of Law Baylor Law.
Liz Fraley
Professor of Law
Co-Director,
Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management
