Dean Scott H. Bice - USC Gould School of Law - University of ...

“USC Law School. . . had become an exciting, especially imaginative place whichfostered speculative thought about the law, as well as the traditional “law stuff” which wasand is an integral aspect of all American legal education.““For 100 years, it has been the faculty which has made “intellectual adventures”the permanent nature of legal education at USC. It is an honorable legacy.“In 1931, Bradway followed Justin Miller to Duke LawSchool where he continued his life’s work by establishinga similar clinic. At USC, Leon David oversaw the clinicuntil 1934, when Shelden Elliott ‘31, a Bradway student,provided guidance until 1942. It is noteworthy that theclinic Bradway founded at USC in 1928 continues todayas the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. At USC,clinical courses have been an integral aspect of the lawcurriculum for 72 years. Bradway’s scions include suchclinical experiences as the Post-Conviction Justice Project.After retiring from Duke in 1959, Bradway moved tothe faculty at California Western Law School in SanDiego where he taught clinical law. Five years later BillBurby joined Bradway on the Cal Western faculty.An Entirely New ApproachLaw, Language, and Ethics, first offered in the Fall 1965semester, is perhaps the most distinctive feature inUSC’s legal curriculum; now an integral, still vigorous,yet well domesticated element in the Law School’s catalogue,its appearance 35 years ago was questioned andchallenged for, in the language of professors WilliamBishin and Chris Stone, it reflected an innovative thematicdeparture from the way law was taught during theprevious 65 years. The entire Law School communitywas mindful of the importance of this unfamiliar curricularoffering. Student editors of the Summer 1965issue of the Southern California Law Review gave leadplacement to Bishin’s announcement of the course; itwas not only a new course, opined the editors, “but alsoan entirely new approach to our legal education.” ThenDean Orrin Evans was convinced he needed to explainthis new course. He addressed Law School graduates inword and print explaining — and defending — with clarityand conviction Law, Language, and Ethics as the representativecomponent in the redirection of the lawschool curriculum.The appearance of Law, Language, and Ethics culminateda several year discussion at USC prompted by professorsGeorge Lefcoe and advanced by Bill Bishin. Theunderlying assumptions of the course Bishin articulatedin a tidy, compelling four page precise published in theFall 1965 Southern California Law Review. Bishin, elegantlyeducated in philosophy at Columbia Universityand in law from Harvard, argued that Law, Language,and Ethics evinced “this law school’s determination tooffer a course dramatizing the relevance and utility ofsignificant philosophical thought in the solution ofproblems faced every day by lawyers, judges, legislators.”The venerable place held in legal education bythe case method and Socratic dialogue notwithstanding,Bishin proposed that the most challenging legal educationwould draw from the thinking done in relatedfields: sociology, linguistics, anthropology, economics,science, and mathematics; all, he asserted, possessedinformation, methods, and insights that would informthe law student of the late twentieth century. All legaldisputes — sans legal language, Bishin maintained, werefinally enduring philosophical problems about “thenature of reality, problems of knowledge, the functionsof language, the requisites of morality, the meaning ofthe good life, the ends of society.” Bishin’s compellingstatement about the importance of an interdisciplinaryapproach to legal education found in Chris Stone a likemindedthinker. Their collective understanding foundexpression in the casebook Law, Language and Ethics:An Introduction to Law and Legal Method (1972); atUSC, this case book represented a reshifting of legaleducation. Like its pedagogic sibling, the legal clinic,the class, Law, Language, and Ethics, also served tobroaden the way the law is taught.The course and casebook created by Bishin andStone did not occur in isolation; indeed, Law,Language, and Ethics was representative ofchanges which captured the imagination and critical supportof other faculty and the dean. Moreover, the casebookdid not launch the “entirely new approach” to legaleducation at USC; rather, it secured it. Members of thepresent faculty have taught the course since its 1965inception; in addition to Bishin and Stone, Scott Bice, RonGaret, and Nomi Stolzenberg have challenged first yearstudents to think outside of the legal box. Moreover, thecourse announced and anticipated the interdisciplinaryand multidiscipinary orientation of many faculty; thecurrent faculty includes academics with deep knowledgeof diverse fields such as philosophy, economics, psychology,religion, history, gerontology, medicine, and philosophy.Seminar topics offered during the second and thirdyears underscore the interdisciplinary interests of the faculty.USC Law School understands that law is part of acomprehensive social context, rather than an institutionstudied distant from personal and broad social influences.Intellectual AdventuresIn a 1968 obituary written in memory of HaroldSolomon, author David Riesman noted that USC LawSchool, whose faculty included the late Solomon, hadbecome an exciting, especially imaginative place whichfostered speculative thought about the law, as well asthe traditional “law stuff” which was and is an integralaspect of all American legal education. Riesman celebratedUSC for its effort to balance theory and practice,and to investigate both with an interdisciplinary prod.This daring attempt to provide new ways of understandinglaw had the promise of providing, in Riesman’swords: “intellectual adventures.”The notion makes for a wonderful summary of therepresentative collective impact of George H. Smith,William Burby, John Bradway, and the course Law, Languageand Ethics. Through their collective and thoughtfulconcern about the nature of legal education, the needto balance theory and practice in legal teaching, thecommitment to an interdisciplinary understanding ofthe law, and the belief in the importance of scholarship,these figures honor and celebrate a century of facultythought. For 100 years, it has been the faculty which hasmade “intellectual adventures” the permanent nature oflegal education at USC. It is an honorable legacy.JOHN G. (TOM) TOMLINSON, JR.is Associate Dean at the LawSchool, where he is writing itscentennial history. Hisresponsibilities include majorgifts and planned givingactivities central to the“Campaign for the Second Century.”12 USC LAW • SPRING 2000 USC LAW • SPRING 200013