Peer to Peer Magazine

BURSTING THE LEGAL EDUCATION BUBBLE It wouldn't be difficult for today's student contemplating law school to consider another career with the recent painful examination of legal education by a variety of sources. The financial crisis that started in 2008 seemed to give rise to a plethora of websites criticizing law schools, legal education and the profession as a whole. Even law school professors have gotten into the act by criticizing the cost and structure of most legal education programs (see, for example, the blog insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com and Brian Tamahana's widely cited book, "Failing Law Schools"). Much of the criticism has been long-standing that law schools don't make students "practiceready," tuition is too high, and there are too many law schools and not enough jobs. Rumblings have also been building that many clients are no longer willing to write blank checks for legal services. The financial crisis brought all these criticisms to the forefront, and some large firms collapsed or sought bankruptcy. The American Bar Association (ABA), which accredits law schools, provides statistics that help illustrate the basis of the criticism. In 2001 - 2002, there were 184 ABA accredited law schools with an average debt for graduates standing at $46,499 for public schools and $70,147 for private schools. In 2010 - 2011, the number of law schools increased to 200 and debt jumped as well — $75,728 for graduates of public schools and $124,950 for graduates of private schools. Currently, about 44,000 law school graduates join the market each year, even as more legal tasks are being outsourced overseas or replaced by technology. A Wall Street Journal analysis ("A Crop of New Law Schools Opens Amid a Lawyer Glut") found the class of 2011 had only a 50 percent chance of landing a job within nine months of graduation. In these uncertain times, as rapid technology changes and market imperatives continue to move — or morph — many traditional legal tasks, it is at least clear that legal education's responses to these changes will be monitored carefully by the entire legal industry well into the next 10 or 15 years. 64 Peer to Peer THE ACADEMY, UPDATED Academic law libraries still hire reference librarians, but increasingly those librarians are asked to take on a more expansive role. Setting up and populating research portals for subject-specific law centers, managing research assistants, maintaining faculty Web pages, uploading and adding metadata to video content from law school conferences and working the reference desk can all be part of one librarian's work portfolio. In many ways, it is the ability of today's reference librarians to collaborate with an assortment of people and systems in nontraditional ways that best positions them for tomorrow's jobs. Ron Wheeler, Director of the Law Library at the University of San Francisco School of Law, believes there is a fundamental shift underway in legal education and how academic libraries operate. He says it's "less about volume and more about access to information, which involves technology." "There's a move toward providing services — which means more classroom teaching and more skills training than we've done in the past. Academic librarians are called upon to perform these tasks using innovative, tech-savvy means, such as online courses, flipped classrooms or other techniques." Ron firmly believes law librarians can help law schools innovate by using technology to help create a curriculum that provides law students with the practical skills necessary to practice law, which is lacking in many law schools and has led to an increasing backlash against the current model of legal education. The work of academic law librarians often consists of new projects for which there are no established blueprints. Success in these realms tends to build on the fundamentally support-based stance of most librarians, requiring a willingness to accept new roles, experience working with teams and an ability to mediate between creative technology solutions and the diverse range of client experiences, needs and abilities. Observed Ron, while moderating a 2011 AALL chapter program on future library hiring, "That's what we are: project managers." While the settings might be different, many of these ideas are echoed by librarians in law firm, county and court libraries. THE FIRM, MAXIMIZED Librarian Shauna Wiest, who works at the Salt Lake City office of nationwide law firm Stoel Rives LLP, believes most librarians are now being asked to maximize what they currently have and find themselves delivering more for less. When asked how her workflow has evolved over the course of her career, she responded, "I've gotten busier and have had to become savvier about how I communicate with lawyers and deliver research results." She feels all librarians must now be "activists" and do more than what is asked. They must question, reach out, anticipate and be proactive to stay ahead of technology trends. She uses as an example the resetting of expectations by mobile technologies. "Attorneys and clients now expect transparency and faster results in accessing information wherever they are, whether it is at the office, home or at court. It's a continual process. You must always look ahead at how technology can be used to better service your clients, particularly when negotiating with vendors." Shauna believes a good librarian needs to stay ahead of change. She follows two recently learned mottoes when dealing with new technologies: "Fail fast, and move on" and "Go small, but go great." Starting out small on a new technology venture makes it manageable; as time passes, the project will attract followers and ultimately lead to client satisfaction.

• Cover