Fall 1983 – Issue 30 - Stanford Lawyer - Stanford University

John Hart ElyAs you may have seen, thecover story of the May 22issue of The New York TimesMagazine about legal educationfocused on Stanford Law School.And although it was titled "TheTrouble with America's LawSchools," we actually came offpretty well.The thesis of the article was thatthe second and third years of lawschool tend to get boring and thatno one has really found a consistentlyeffective antidote-which iscertainly true. But, as the author·(David Margolick) grudgingly admitted,our faculty at least is hardat work on the problem, and of theschools that form the elite "innercircle" of legal education Stanfordhas the best chance of solving it.(Our innovative "Lawyering Process"courses and various simulated/clinicalofferings receivedmuch attention, both textual andpictorial, in the article.)~ Mr. Margolick also recognized that we have embarked~ this year on a program to help our students think about~ what they want to do with their lives, rather than auto­~ matically gravitating toward the most prestigious big­~ city law firm willing to hire them. The career planningmeetings that I and other faculty members have beenholding with students, and the modest loan program wehave instituted for those who want to spend one of theirtwo summers in some "alternative" form of employment,were described as what in fact they are- symbolic- butnonetheless valued as such..What Mr. Margolick didn't stress are the enormousstrides we are making in the area of Law and Business.Of course this is a program given renewed energy andfocus by Charlie Meyers, but this last year we have reallybegun to put it all together. As part of our reform of thefirst-year curriculum we have incorporated into the secondterm a new course in Economics and Finance Theory,which will function as a prerequisite for what we expectto be a very popular business law track in the upperyears. Thus our dream of having a genuine business sequenceis finally becoming a reality. (We will also give asection of Business Associations for those who have nottaken the prerequisite and do not desire such an intenselaw and business experience: "Corporations forCosmologists"?).More important are people. In addition to MyronScholes, the first joint appointment ever made by theLaw and Business Schools, we have added Tom Campbell,most recently Director of the Bureau of Enforcementof the FTC; Ellen Borgersen, most recently a partnerat Morrison & Foerster; and Bob Gordon, mostnoted as a legal historian but particularly interested inthe history of the American corporate bar (and, likeCampbell, teaching a section of Business Associationsthis coming year). Other good news is that the funding ofthe Ralph M. Parsons Chair in Law and Business wascompleted this year and Ken Scott was named its first incumbent,and Ron Gilson, one of the leading corporatelaw scholars of his generation, was promoted i#to fullprofessor.I know that when I was appointed Dean, some of youwere concerned that my commitment to the area of lawand business might be less deep than that of CharlieMeyers (who, I am bound to say, has gone a bit overboardto demonstrate the depth of his interest). It's truethat business law is not my field, * but it is one thattouches the careers of most lawyers, certainly of most ofour graduates, and we are further blessed by the presenceon our campus of a business school whose statusequals our own. I have therefore made it one of my chiefpriorities to insure that our business curriculum will beso far out front that people will be at a loss to say who's2 Stanford Lawyer Fall 1983