So American lawyers always have the power to change the substance of law, to change the behavior of their clients, and to change the institutional landscape that makes up a democratic political system and its legal institutions. We understand that power. We know that if lawyers are going to be effective in using that power, they need to understand the practical implications of the legal profession. They need to have a certain set of skills that defines us as lawyers. I said a few moments ago that a law school has a kind of dual identity in American education.
Some law schools emphasize the graduate school role at the expense of the professional school role.
Some law schools emphasize the professional school role at the expense of the graduate school role, but our tradition here, going back more than a hundred years, is to take both of those roles seriously and to combine them effectively. Our legal writing program has regular faculty who teach it. Faculty who teach not only legal writing, but also substantive courses. It has required components not only in the first year but also in the upper class years. And legal writing is not the only lawyer skill that we emphasize.