At my law school, it is a truism that no one wants to speak after our former dean, Don Burnett: his eloquence makes others' comments pale in comparison. More than once listening to him, tears have filled my eyes: I glance around surreptitiously and find that he is having the same effect on others. Dean Burnett's eloquence stems from his core belief in the nobility of the legal profession. We bear a weighty responsibility, he reminds us: people entrust lawyers with their property, with their families, with their liberty, and sometimes with their very lives. Law is a noble profession, a serving profession.
In my experience, relatively few students come to law school without a vision of helping others. I have been privileged to read thousands of law school admissions statements and hundreds of essays explaining students' academic choices for their upper-division years. The overwhelming majority of students have a vision, however hazy, of people, communities, or causes they would like to serve: children, families in crisis, artists, inventors, the elderly, immigrants, ranchers, wilderness, inner cities, healthy rivers, women's rights, freedom of expression — the list is as varied as the welcome diversity of each class. I firmly believe law schools have a duty to affirm and strengthen that flame of service even as we give students the often hard-edged tools it takes to plan and advocate for clients in the worlds of government, business, and the law. Academic support becomes most powerful when what we do explicitly connects with our students' yearning to serve — not just to help our graduates become practice-ready in the broad sense, but to become ready to practice on behalf of the communities and causes about which they care most deeply.
In 2011, solo practitioner Laurie Daniel-Favors wrote a wonderful celebration of "servant lawyers" that is just as relevant as it was a decade ago. When you think about whom you consider the "sheroes and heroes" of the legal profession, she writes:
"[T]hey likely have one thing in common: they were the greatest servants. They are the attorneys who were committed to their passion and even more committed to helping the people who needed them. It is this spirit of service that makes them stand out in our minds as people who got it right."
Law school academic support is, by definition, a profession dedicated to service. No one ever entered or stayed in the profession for réclame, short hours, or high pay. At our various institutions, we serve and advocate for different constituencies — under-represented populations, students with disabilities, students in academic difficulty, veterans, bar takers, bar repeaters, or the entire student body. We span the gamut from associate deans and full professors to unheralded staff. Like the students we serve, we have a vision of serving a community. When I entered law school, all I knew was I wanted to help ordinary people: I have been privileged that all my legal positions, but especially this one, have enabled me to in some way touch the lives of others. I'm looking forward to the upcoming AASE conference, partly to reinforce my skills and learn new approaches to help my students, but mostly to be energized and inspired by peers who show the legal profession at its best.
(Nancy Luebbert)
