Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21St Century TABLE of CONTENTS PAGE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction and Acknowledgments ......................................................................... i Executive Summary ................................................................................................ 1 A. Our Changing Profession ................................................................... 5 B. New Lawyer Training and Impediments to Innovation ....................... 7 C. A Renewed Focus on the Early Years of Practice and Ongoing Professional Development ............................................................... 10 D. Matching the Supply of Lawyers with Unmet Legal Needs .............. 11 E. Engaging the Profession .................................................................. 13 F. The New York Bar Exam ................................................................. 14 G. Ongoing Review of the Profession ................................................... 14 H. The Structure of this Report ............................................................. 15 I. New Lawyers Are Entering a Changing Professional Environment ............ 17 A. Setting the Stage: Employment, Salary, and Debt Statistics Demonstrate that Change Is Under Way ......................................... 17 B. Major Changes in the Practice of Law Impact New Lawyers’ Opportunities for Development at Larger Law Firms ....................... 21 C. The Changing Environment Also Affects Smaller Law Firms and Solo Practitioners ...................................................................... 26 D. Government and Legal Service Providers, More than Private Sector Employers, Have Experience Dealing with the Constrained Resources that Characterize the New Professional Environment ..................................................................................... 29 E. Changes in the Profession Have Had Special Impacts on Women and Underrepresented Groups ........................................... 33 II. Many Law Schools Are Responding to Changes in the Profession and This Trend Should Be Encouraged and Accelerated .................................. 37 A. The Traditional Casebook Method of Legal Education .................... 37 B. Criticisms of the Traditional Casebook Method ................................ 40 C. U.S. Legal Education Differs from Legal Training Overseas and Other Professional Education in the United States .......................... 42 Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21st Century TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE D. New Models of Legal Education are Being Developed .................... 45 Findings and Recommendations ..................................................... 47 III. Changes in the Profession Highlight the Need for Continued Training, Education, and Mentoring After Law School .............................................. 57 A. Post-Graduate Law School Development Programs ....................... 58 B. Continuing Legal Education ............................................................. 59 C. Mentoring ........................................................................................ 60 Findings and Recommendations ..................................................... 62 IV. Impediments to Innovation Preclude Many Creative Responses to the Changing Professional Environment .......................................................... 66 A. U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings ........................... 66 B. ABA Accreditation Requirements .................................................... 72 C. The Bar Exam ................................................................................. 76 D. Limits on Outside Investment .......................................................... 80 Findings and Recommendations ..................................................... 82 V. Despite the Challenges Faced by New Lawyers, There Remains a Compelling Unmet Need for Legal Representation in America, Especially Among People of Moderate Means ........................................... 88 A. The Legal Needs of Persons of Moderate Means ........................... 89 B. Previous Attempts to Address Middle-Class Legal Needs............... 91 Findings and Recommendations ..................................................... 96 VI. Engaging the Profession and Ongoing Monitoring ................................... 101 A. Engaging the Profession ............................................................... 101 B. Council on the Profession .............................................................. 102 Appendix A—The History of Franchise Law Firms ............................................. 105 Appendix B—The New Lawyer Institute.............................................................. 111 Appendix C—Law School Innovations ................................................................ 117 Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21st Century INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The New York City Bar Association Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession is pleased to present this Report. The Task Force was appointed by New York City Bar President Carey Dunne in the fall of 2012 to address changes in the legal profession, with a focus on the “plight of new lawyers.” Our mandate was to examine whether new lawyers are being given relevant development opportunities in law school and in their early careers so that they are employable, able to realize their aspirations in a reasonable time frame, and ready to serve clients effectively. The Task Force is broadly representative of the profession in New York City and nationally. Members include the Deans and other leaders of nine law schools; the Chairs and managers of law firms ranging from some of the world’s largest to solo practitioners; General Counsels of Fortune 100 corporations; as well as the New York and Kings County District Attorneys; the New York City Corporation Counsel and leaders from New York’s The Legal Aid Society and Legal Services NYC. For more than a year, Task Force members and staff conducted extensive research and vigorously debated the issues discussed below at meetings of the full Task Force, in subcommittee discussions, and in individual conversations. While members of the Task Force approached this work from different backgrounds and with different perspectives (such that this Report should be viewed as a group statement and not the individual views of any member), a consensus emerged on each of the central issues and there was a strong majority supporting the significant findings and recommendations set out below. We wish to thank the staff of law students and practicing lawyers who contributed heavily to the research and drafting of this Report; Inspire, Inc., the non- profit consulting firm that has provided and continues to provide invaluable analytical support; Merrill Corporation for its generous donation of the use of a datasite to assist us in tracking and accessing information centrally; and the staff at Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21st Century i the New York City Bar Association for all of their help and advice. The Task Force extends its special gratitude to Mathew Miller whose patience, diligence, and wisdom at every stage has improved and informed our process and this Report. ii Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21st Century THE NEW YORK CITY BAR ASSOCIATION Carey R. Dunne President, New York City Bar Association Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Mark C. Morril Vice President, New York City Bar Association Chair, Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession MorrilADR LLC Bret I. Parker Executive Director, New York City Bar Association Alan Rothstein General Counsel, New York City Bar Association Mathew S. Miller Chief of Staff, Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP Nicholas Allard Michelle J. Anderson Dean, Brooklyn Law School Dean, CUNY Law School Steven Banks Richard I. Beattie Attorney-in-Chief, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP The Legal Aid Society Laurie Berke-Weiss Bradley Butwin Berke-Weiss & Pechman LLP O’Melveny & Myers LLP Michael A. Cardozo Andrew G. Celli, Jr. New York City Corporation Counsel Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP Camille Chin-Kee-Fatt Sharon L. Crane Advisor to the Dean, Director of Legal Recruiting, New York Law School Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Anthony Crowell Matthew Diller Dean, New York Law School Dean, Cardozo Law School Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21st Century iii Eric J. Friedman Eric Grossman Skadden, Arps, Slate, Chief Legal Officer, Morgan Stanley Meagher & Flom LLP Charles J. Hynes Brad S. Karp Kings County District Attorney Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Don H. Liu Carmelyn P. Malalis General Counsel, Xerox Corporation Outten & Golden LLP Elizabeth D. Moore Trevor W. Morrison General Counsel, Dean, NYU School of Law Consolidated Edison, Inc. Barbara Berger Opotowsky Julian Pritchard Former Executive Director, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP New York City Bar Association Raun J. Rasmussen Alla Roytberg Executive Director, Law Firm and Mediation Practice of Legal Services NYC Alla Roytberg, P.C. Patricia Salkin David M. Schizer Dean and Professor of Law Designate, Dean, Columbia Law School Touro Law Center Amy W. Schulman Eric Seiler General Counsel, Pfizer Inc. Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP Jane C. Sherburne Charles A. Stillman General Counsel, BNY Mellon Ballard Spahr Stillman & Friedman LLP Kathleen M. Sullivan William Treanor Quinn Emanuel Urquhart