Preparing Lawyers for Life - keynotes and seminars (co-facilitators: host faculty, Dan Benavides, Karen Schudson)
In these keynotes and seminars designed for law schools, Judge Schudson addresses the most serious challenges to successful legal careers -- the very challenges many law schools ignore. This needs some explanation. Judge Schudson writes:
Teaching trial advocacy to third-year law students, I have been impressed — both by how ready they are, and by how ready they are not.
They come to me ready for law, based on two years of good teaching. They come ready to learn trial advocacy, based on enthusiasm, intelligence and talent. They leave me ready to try cases and, soon to graduate, to begin successful legal careers.
But they also leave unprepared -- for mating, marrying, parenting, balancing careers and families; unprepared for the emotional demands of public service; unprepared for the stress of private practice; unprepared for the social dynamics and problematic personalities they will confront.
And the results are predictable. Ten years after graduating, most will be successful — professionally. Many, however, will be miserable. They will have unhappy marriages, fractured relationships with partners and children, strained communication with friends and colleagues. They will seek solace in affairs, alcohol, drugs. Along with their income, their blood pressure will rise rapidly and some will run away -- from their families and their profession
In 1996, the State Bar of Wisconsin published Commission on Legal Education / Final Report and Recommendations, a ninety-nine page report prepared by thirty-two judges, lawyers, and law professors who attempted to comprehensively examine “the status and effectiveness of legal education” in Wisconsin. The report failed, however, to offer a single comment on any of the subjects holding the most serious threats to the families and careers of graduating law students. Conspicuously absent from the report were words including: love, marriage, children, diet, drugs, alcohol, stress (and stress management), compassion (and compassion fatigue), exercise, communication, wellness, life-styling.
Law school, perhaps more than any other professional school, needs to provide the very lifestyle preparation it neglects. For law school, at times, cultivates certain skills that may militate against the very communication skills essential to a happy and healthy life. As Professor Meg Gaines (then Assistant Dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School) wrote to Wisconsin law students in 1998:
When I entered law school there were four married students in my small group. By graduation three of them were divorced. Although I had no particular idea why they divorced, I had a general sense that law school changed my classmates as people and, perhaps, their relationships had not survived the change.
I don’t think law school diminishes us in any way. Rather, it can empower us in such a way that the sometimes tender balance of our relationships shifts. Law school sharpens our analytical and rational abilities. As with any newly acquired skill, we seek opportunities to practice our technique and often we find them at home. Our newfound power to argue circles around another person can be a real rush! Our poor, unsuspecting families usually do not enjoy this exercise.
Unless used in the proper context, this skill can damage intimacy and destroy trust. In addition to the obsession we develop with “winning,” law school trains us to stay in our heads — in our rational minds. Unfortunately, good relationships necessitate a broader consciousness — as one that fully incorporates and affirms both our feelings and those of our loved ones.
The irony (and I did not learn this until I became a trial lawyer) is that winning — at least with a jury — absolutely depends on a genuine ability to connect emotionally with [the jurors]. To do that, of course, necessitates that we be aware of our own feelings and those of the folks around us. So, while the rational-thinking training we get in law school is vital to our effectiveness as good lawyers, great lawyers find ways to integrate their emotions — becoming more fully human.
…. Ultimately, this integrating of our whole selves makes us better professionals and better people.
But can we teach students how to love and live? Yes and no. Of course, some things can’t be taught. Many long-neglected topics, however, hold a substantial body of literature and potential for learning.
And we’re not talking about “touchy-feely” frills. As Professor Gaines astutely observed, these emotional skills do far more than enhance personal happiness; they go right to the heart of professional excellence.
But should we attempt to teach this … after all, aren't we talking about values? Yes! And yes again!
First, if we fail to address these issues, we simply accept that law students: (1) should not receive preparation for the problems most likely to lead to professional aggravation and personal failure; and (2) should receive skills that, ironically, reduce their emotional IQs and render them less able to communicate — with family, colleagues, judges and juries.
Second, law school is an appropriate place to scrutinize the usual equation of legal practice: success = money. Increasingly, critics are calling for professional schools to help students evaluate the financial premise that eventually may drive them beyond distraction. (See “If Richer Isn’t Happier, What Is?”, The New York Times, May 19, 2001)
Third, law students should consider the dangerous intersection of greed and ethical compromise. We can help them understand how financial pressure contributes to ethical compromise, drug abuse and other serious problems.
We need not shy away from values. Values are at the heart of legal education, and some of them must be taught. Legal ethics -- value-laden -- are essential. Professional Responsibility -- value-laden -- is no frill.
But are we equipped to teach this? Again, yes and no.
Experientially, lawyers and law professors are experts. The fact that many continue to struggle with these issues will prove enlightening -- for ourselves and our students. Presenting the problems and exposing the challenges will help. Supplementing our presentations with readings and faculty from other disciplines will enhance our presentation. The six seminars:
1. Learning the emotional components of excellent lawyering (“Maybe there’s a reason we’re called ‘counselors.’”).
2. Communicating with partners and spouses (“‘Myers-Briggs’ is not a law firm.”).
3. Excelling professionally and parentally (“Dr. Seuss is not a pediatrician.”).
4. Balancing work and family.
5. Understanding the special pressures of public service.
6. Understanding the special pressures of private practice.
