My colleague Mark Phillips recently published a short article in the Nashville Bar Journal entitled Can Entrepreneurial Education Restore Faith in Legal Education? (pgs. 6-7). Mark primarily teaches entreprenuership classes in the undergraduate and graduate business schools at Belmont University, but has a JD from NYU Law, in addition to his MBA from NYU (Stern) and his PHD from George Washington University.
For local readers, Mark will be speaking at a Nashville Bar Association breakfast on Nov 11th (at 8 am at Noshville restaurant at 1918 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203). Mark has also started a website (www.eEsquire.net), which may be of interest to readers.
A portion of Mark's recent Nashville Bar Journal article is below:
A great deal was lost in legal industry during the recent recession, but perhaps the most lasting damage was inflicted upon the reputation of law schools. When news broke in 2011 that a significant number of law schools had distorted their placement figures to increase enrollment and rankings, both current and prospective law students were shocked. After a stretch of bad publicity, coupled with some inevitable lawsuits, law schools worked to erase their new-found stigma through greater disclosure and transparency. Yet despite these acts of contrition, the relationship between students and law schools remains fractured.
One method for repairing this relationship that has not been widely discussed may take the unlikely form of enhancing students’ awareness and preparedness for entrepreneurship within the legal industry—namely, by preparing them for solo practice. Shining a brighter light on solo practice as a viable post-graduate career option would not, as many may fear, be a concession that students cannot get high-paying jobs, but rather a reflection of a longstanding reality. Consider for a moment the fact that solo practice is the most consistent and largest sector of legal employment in the United States. Luz Herrera, Assistant Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, drew upon historical employment data to conclude that approximately three-fourths of attorneys work in private practice, and of those, over half identify as solo practitioners while another 14% work in offices with five or less attorneys. So rather than treating the pursuit of solo practice as a second-tier career choice, schools could elevate the discussion of solo practice to better align it with the reality of the legal employment market.
The entire article is here.