Newswise — The University of Maryland School of Law, nationally recognized for its pioneering efforts to integrate legal theory and practice, is once again blazing a new trail in the ways that it prepares law students for careers both inside and outside of law practice.
In partnership with the Fetzer Institute of Kalamazoo, Mich., the School's administration and faculty will develop a new Leadership, Ethics, and Democracy (LEAD) Initiative that emphasizes ethics, professionalism, and leadership training.
The LEAD project was jointly announced by Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPA, dean of the University of Maryland School of Law, at the annual convention of the Maryland State Bar Association in Ocean City, and by Thomas F. Beech, president and chief executive officer of the Fetzer Institute.
"In January 2007, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching challenged the country's law schools to change the way they teach," says Rothenberg. "With one of the oldest, biggest, and best clinical law programs in the country, we are ahead of the curve. Now, with the enthusiastic engagement of our faculty and the legal community, we are taking on the next great challenge—leadership and ethics in law."
"The institute recognizes the leadership demonstrated by the University of Maryland School of Law in educating lawyers who advocate for their clients, their profession, and their communities," says Beech. "We are excited to join the School in building upon that."
The Fetzer Institute is a private operating foundation that works to bring compassion and reconciliation to the center of individual, community and organizational life. Over the past 10 years, the institute has worked closely with leaders in education, health, social services, business fields and other vocations to support various approaches designed to bridge the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer life of service and action.
In developing the leadership component of the LEAD Initiative, the School will continue to collaborate with the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park. In February, the School of Law and the Burns Academy conducted a roundtable with national business and law leaders to discuss the goals and methods for introducing leadership education into law schools.
Among the roundtable participants was Frank Burch, JD, an alumnus and joint CEO of DLA Piper, the world's largest law firm, who said, "The legal profession has traditionally produced leaders in a broad spectrum of fields, from law to business to public service and elected office. But law schools, unlike business schools and other professional schools, have not integrated leadership education into their curricula. Law schools should design courses and offer opportunities for future lawyers to prepare for leadership, just as they prepare for success as legal practitioners."
The program will serve as a national model. Diane Hoffman, JD, MS, associate dean for academic programs, said she hopes the ethics, professional, and leadership curriculum at the University of Maryland School of Law "will start a movement" at other law schools.
In response to the ethical challenges of modern law practice, an expanded focus on ethics and problem-solving will help students learn the habits of reflection and analysis needed to develop and retain a professional "moral compass." A cross-cultural component will expand the law school's clinical program to disadvantaged communities across the country and around the globe. Part of this effort involves creating a legal clinic in collaboration with the Mississippi Center for Justice, building upon Maryland students' ongoing volunteer response to the massive legal needs of low-income people and communities left in Hurricane Katrina's wake. The project will also launch the law school's first international clinic. These new clinics will take lessons learned in the School's Baltimore clinics to the broader national and international stage.
"The LEAD Initiative makes a statement about how we are preparing students for law practice, and how we hope to have an impact on the profession and the practice of law," says Hoffman. "It is a statement about the fact that there is a need for law schools to take more seriously their responsibility to embody the highest ideals of the profession."
The Fetzer Institute was founded by Michigan businessman and philanthropist John Earl Fetzer.
The University of Maryland School of Law was established in 1816 and is the third-oldest law school in the nation. Its innovative programs make it one of the liveliest and most dynamic law schools today.
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The University of Maryland, Baltimore is home to the Dental School, Graduate School, and schools of law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and social work. It is the founding campus of the University System of Maryland.
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