Andrew P. Connors

I’ve run into some great commentary on emerging issues in legal education from the good folks at the National Law Journal that I thought I would share.  At their new blog, Law School Review, they analyze a lot of the emerging issues in legal education I have mentioned here.

In “A Sense of Entitlement,” a law school professor suggests that the business model of the legal world is changing from big box firms offering big salaries to a model of solo or small entrepreneurship, a subject I alluded to in “Is Law School Worth It?”  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this change, although as the National Law Journal notes, it might be a perilous journey for some, especially for those graduating with high amounts of debt.  In my view, however, so long as the law student chose a profession that he enjoys, that he has a natural aptitude for, and that he works hard at, I think he’ll be OK (advice which I gave before in “Notes to a Prospective Law Student.”)  It will probably be a path that many graduates will have to take out of necessity, as the Law Journal rightly notes here.

If those graduates have a heart for the core and valuable aspects of their profession–namely, legal writing and oral advocacy–then they should be fine.  And for those in law school currently, some things to think about…

Posting will be sparse the next few days as I head to Western New York for a mini-vacation.  I’ll be celebrating my birthday on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium as I watch the Buffalo Bills take on the Philadelphia Eagles.  Go Bills!

…although you should have an acquaintance with it.  As a professor at the Legal Skills Prof Blog notes:

The rule I teach my students is that a writer should always use the active voice unless the writer has a specific reason to use passive.  For example, the passive is useful for hiding the actor, which is often useful in persuasive writing.

The more basic point is that writers should never just blindly apply the rules, but they should always consider how that rule works in context.  For example, I tell my students that they should always think about every word they write to make sure that every word has the meaning and emotion intended.

I agree.  As I’ve stressed before (here, here, and here), good writing is key to success in law school and in the practice of law.  Purposefully avoiding passive voice will generally make your writing better.  However, there are times when passive voice is not only acceptable in legal writing, but is preferable to the active voice form of the sentence.  So, you shouldn’t see passive voice with such frequency in your writing that you consider it your “friend,” but a casual acquaintance with these kinds of sentences is a good idea.

I know its been a while since I’ve posted here. Suffice it to say, a lot of other things have been going on in my life recently that have left me distracted. Be that as it may, I’m going to try a little harder to put up some meaningful content here. I always seem to have a lot to say in my own internal soliloquy or to have a lot of time to bore some innocent bystanders.  Going forward, I want to make sure some of these thoughts make it down on paper (or, at least, virtual paper.)

In the meantime, here are some oldies but goodies to read:

• Does Law School Produce Lawyers?
• Is Law School Worth It?
• Practice Areas Part I: Intellectual Property