Introduction

  As Dean of the School of Law, I’ve pretty much had to give up my scholarly pursuits, and I have to admit I miss them. So it occurred to me that spending a little time each week sharing my thoughts on life, law, and legal education, stimulated by my environment, might prove a worthwhile substitute. Hence View from the Circle.

The Circle in question is University Circle in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the most remarkable places I’ve ever been. Right next door to the campus of our law school are Severance Hall, home of the world-famous Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the top five art museums in the country (and host to a terrific world music concert series), one of the nation’s top music conservatories, the Cleveland Institute of Music, with its own excellent concert series, the Cleveland Institute of Art with its student exhibits and art-house Cinematheque, the soon-to-be completed Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, a natural history museum, an historical society, and a beautiful lagoon and park. Two major research hospitals sit within the Circle, our own University Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic, one of the world’s truly remarkable medical and research facilities. At the heart of the Circle sits our own Case Western Reserve University, one of the finest research universities in the world. Just being in the center of this intellectual and cultural richness creates a unique sense of place, and stimulates thought at the highest level.

For those of us who care about things like legal education and the legal profession, I think that real conversation about the issues that confront us is more important now than ever. As even the casual observer will have noted, law schools have become a new favorite target of the media and in the blogosphere. We’ve been accused of fraud, cheating, and lying, as well as selling to our students a dream that is little more than a lie. Soon, perhaps, we’ll be accused of conspiring to have kidnapped the Lindbergh baby, or selling uranium to Iran.

When I suggest a conversation, that is precisely what I mean. Civil discourse about real issues, problems, fears, and sometimes legitimately bad stories about bad actors. But the press and blogs have thus far treated the issues much in the same way Congress debated the debt ceiling this summer; baseless accusations, ad hominem attacks both on persons and institutions (I guess an institution can’t quite be attacked ad hominem), sweeping charges based on the generalization of what appear to be one or two facts, and defensive reactions that, while understandable, simply keep the pot stirring.

The media may have a point or two. But its observations are those of lay people, not professionals who actually know the business. So the time is right to study the realities that are modern legal education and the legal profession. I’d like to discuss issues in these pages in a thoughtful manner, taking the initiative to address them outside of the context of a specific scandal or alleged scandal. I hope that by doing so, these issues can be framed in such a manner that, when specific questions are publicly raised or accusations made, we can evaluate them in the legitimately broad context in which they exist instead of allowing their extrapolation to all of legal academia and the legal profession.

I hope to write weekly, at least on average, and address a wide range of topics. For all of us who care about legal education and law care about a profession that, collectively and at its very best, is dedicated to the architecture and engineering of our society. Few things that we do, individually or socially, would be possible without the infrastructure created and managed by lawyers. Like any other people or profession, we make our mistakes, and sometimes they produce real harm. But anyone who is proud of the achievement that is the United States of America, in all of its dimensions, ultimately is proud of the achievement of lawyers. I know I am. So let’s talk.