Doing Good Is Doing Well
Public service is popular again among students, and law schools are taking note
When Michelle Patterson entered Tulane University School of Law in 1991, she was prepared to endure a string of lectures on the intricacies of contracts, civil procedure and other fundamentals of the law. The 26-year-old Kansas City native never anticipated a course of study that would take her to a state prison in rural Louisiana. Yet when Patterson set about meeting a Tulane rule that students perform at least 20 hours of public service, she found herself inside Hunt Correctional Facility. Her assignment: to help an ailing inmate, in jail for drunk driving, prepare papers seeking a parole hearing.
Patterson's experience illustrates a new spirit motivating students in the nation's law schools. Unlike the 1980s, when the prevailing goal was to win high salaries at the most prestigious firms, today's new lawyers insist on doing good, not just on doing well. "Students are realizing there is more to life than working 80 hours a week in mega law firms to earn $200,000," says Henry Ramsey, dean of the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. Many new lawyers insist that their employers give them time to perform pro bono work.
Public-service law is helping to reshape legal education, as well. For many years, the basic curriculum has centered on the legal problems of large corporations and wealthy individuals. Now, many schools are modifying bread-and-butter courses on contracts and property to include discussions and readings dealing with problems of the poor. "Law needs to be taught and understood as it affects all kinds of people," explains Prof. Gerry Singsen of Harvard Law School, who is coordinating a national drive to incorporate more poverty law in the curriculum.
Pro bono protests. The credo of public service has become so integral that, for example, after Harvard Dean Robert Clark eliminated the part-time job of student public-service adviser, students held sit-ins and rallies and forced him to change course. The office now has two full-time lawyers who have counseled more than half of Harvard's 1,500 law students.
The pro bono spirit has spread rapidly. Although it is only seven years old, the student-initiated National Association for Public Interest Law boasts chapters at 119 of the nation's 176 accredited law schools. Moreover, almost 50 schools have started programs to ease the debt burden of graduates who go to work for legal services agencies or government. And more than 20 schools have placement aides to help students find public-sector jobs.
The interest in service does not stem from pure altruism alone. With fewer big-money slots available at major firms and companies, public-service law has become more appealing. "The market is forcing graduates to think more about what they want to do," says Susan Schechter of the Public Interest Clearinghouse in San Francisco, which helps students at five California law schools find public-service positions ranging from a $15,000 job aiding rural farm workers to a $35,000 one enforcing state environmental laws.
The new emphasis on service also reflects a reaction to criticism that law schools have shirked their moral responsibilities. Federal Appeals Judge Harry Edwards of Washington, D.C., complains that as law schools have gravitated "toward pure theory" and law firms "toward pure commerce, the middle ground--ethical practice--has been deserted by both." Supporting Edwards's arguments, experts estimate that less than 20 percent of the legal needs of the indigent are being met in the United States, which has nearly 800,000 lawyers.
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