Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

SCHULZE FINAL.doc1/20/2011 6:14PMCHARLESTON LAW REVIEW [Volume 5the goal of providing an environment more conducive to thehealthy study of the law.B. What Is “Humanizing Legal Education”?Finding a universal definition of what constituteshumanizing legal education has proven elusive. Perhaps themost comprehensive definition of the term, really more of amission statement, comes from the Web site which serves as theepicenter of the movement. It states that:Humanizing legal education is an initiative shared by legaleducators seeking to maximize the overall health, well beingand career satisfaction of law students and lawyers. We findcause for concern in our observations of law students and inthe research on, and reports of, problems in the legalprofession—including dissatisfaction, depression, excessivework, substance abuse and eroding professionalism. We areinterested in the ways legal education is conducted, the impactthose choices may have on the attitudes, values, health andwell being of law students, and the possible relationshipbetween each of those matters and the problems experiencedby our graduates in the profession. Through scholarship, Webbaseddiscussion, empirical research and conferences, we hopeto inform the development of innovative teaching methodswhen appropriate. 64Professor Glesner Fines incorporates three principles into herdefinition of humanizing legal education: (1) “do no harm”; 65 (2)“teach students, not . . . subjects”; 66 and (3) “peace and justice.” 67The first principle is that law schools should “do no harm”:“[L]aw schools need to identify negative stressors in the lawschool environment, reduce or eliminate those as much aspossible, and help the students to manage those that cannot beeliminated.” 68 Implicit in this principle is the notion that some64. Humanizing Law School, FLA. ST. U.C.L., http://www.law.fsu.edu/academic_programs/humanizing_lawschool.html (last visited Oct. 21, 2010).65. Fines, supra note 37, at 313–17.66. Id. at 318–21.67. Id. at 322–23.68. Id. at 313–14.290