Strategic Legal Technology 
If you listen to law school deans, you would think training as a lawyer is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
At least that’s my take away from the Nathan Koppel Wall Street Journal article Best Defense? Seeking a Haven in Law School (19 Mar 09). Koppel quotes law school deans who extol the virtues of legal education and writes:
“School administrators seize on the versatility of a law degree in asserting that [a JD] is still a sound investment. Lawyers, they say, will play a central role in navigating a variety of issues, such as the use of natural resources, cross-border trade and government stimulus spending, which likely will play a central role in the economy for years to come.”
That may be true for some but see Is the Versatility of a Law Degree Just a Myth? (NLJ, Dec 2008) and The Value of a JD and Musings on the Structure of the Legal Market, an e-mail exchange between Doug Cornelius and me.
As I often say in these posts, prove it with data. The NLJ article says “But even in good economic times, the advantage of a juris doctor degree in landing a job in another field may well be overblown.” And as the WSJ article points out, getting a high paying job if you graduate from a lesser law school is no sure thing. Do law school deans have the data to show otherwise, especially in what may be a new, bad economy?
Ron,
I think the JD should replace the LLB.
Unless we take this radical step, people with a JD, or with an LLB+MBA combination, will be forever managers and lawyers will forever think themselves privilaged, non managerial, professionals.
This would be the end of lawyers. If legal knowledge comes up flush against management knowledge, appallingly as most MBAs are tought, legal knowledge has little hope of winning.
Management is easy to learn, and universal. We must team these skills up, and create multi skilled professionals.
Comment by Suhasini 3/20/2009 @ 3:14 am