DeanWuBlog

Explaining Ourselves

I was discussing lawyers with a layperson the other day, an intelligent, well-educated, sophisticated person who is expert in her own profession, and who happens to need some assistance with what lawyers likely would regard as an engagement that is interesting but not especially out of the ordinary. I was surprised that the task of retaining a lawyer, however, seemed to her to be extraordinarily difficult, a prospect to be dreaded. Of course, that is the nature of many legal matters, that the need to bring in a professional is caused by a problem quite unfamiliar to the would-be client. It is not the lawyer but the issue itself that generates anxiety.

Nonetheless, it would not be unfair to say that she was intimidated by lawyers. I suspect her apprehension is shared by others who need legal services. It shows that we have much more work to do in training advocates and counselors. The most effective among us are those who have the trust of their clients, who are able to communicate effectively with, for, and about people whose causes they have taken up. Our responsibility is not only to do the work well, but to explain it in a comprehensible manner. Hence the establishment of rapport must be a preliminary task in taking up representation.

Grades

People sometimes ask me about grades, specifically what I think about students who study for the sake of grades. My view is that whether this is to be praised depends on what it is compared to: the realities of the world around us or the ideals we may espouse. Certainly it is better that a student study than that she not study, and if grades are the only incentive that is effective then at least they are a motivation that indeed will be effective. To the extent a student does homework, attends class, takes notes, engages in discussion with colleagues, reviews for exams, and does everything else that she ought to do as a matter of course, because she hopes for high marks, well, there are worse problems with which we can be concerned. Yet it would best if a student wished to gain knowledge for it’s own sake, though such purity of purpose turns out to be rather rare in any context.

One of the most disheartening experiences I have ever had as a teacher was trying to persuade students at an elite institution, almost all of whom had spent most of their formative years excelling in academic pursuits as measured by their transcripts, that they should disregard the very criteria by which they had been selected, as was known by all. The exercise was as frustrating for them as well, I am sure, even if a few individuals were persuaded or hadn’t needed to be lectured to about the matter to begin with. It made me understand the need to work within the community norms, even if modest efforts were made to reform those norms.

Perhaps the compromise toward which we can aspire is to make our evaluation as fair as possible, recognizing one its primary purposes is to perform a necessary task of sorting people into categories, and along the way we can nurture some skepticism. To the extent grades are used for the purpose of sorting, if they are to distinguish meaningfully among talented people, it must be impossible for every one to earn an “A.” Ironically, the more uniformly talented a group is, the more important it is to make fine distinctions that may not correlate well to any practical differences. So best to bear in mind that in the end grades are predictors of performance, not merit in itself.

Semantics

I’ve never understood the condemnation of law as “semantics.” It is true that the practice of law depends on rhetoric. But there is nothing wrong with that at all. To the contrary, it is the great triumph of civilization, that we are able to settle disputes, including those involving contested principles of great importance, through language – rather than physical conflict. It makes no more sense to condemn lawyers for their dependence on words than it does to condemn mathematicians for their dependence on numbers. Indeed, one of the great challenges for law students entering the profession is appreciating the tremendous importance of words – of accuracy and precision (and, incidentally, accuracy and precision, to be accurate and precise, are different concepts). There are numerous litigated cases, which have passed into urban legend, that turn on the crucial distinction between “and” and “or” or the omission of a comma, and so on. It is for this reason that grade-school grammar lessons are worth reviewing: a restrictive clause and a non-restrictive clause are different in substance, not style. Whatever laypeople may believe, a lawyer would be remiss if she believed that her work was merely “semantics” in a pejorative sense.

Closure

I write regarding the closure of the university. As President Irvin D. Reid has announced, Wayne State University is closed today, Wednesday, March 5, due to the weather conditions. This closure is for the entire day, including the evening. All classes are cancelled. All activities also are cancelled (including, e.g., the class photographs). The Law School facilities will not be open. At this time, we expect Wayne State University to resume normal operations tomorrow, Thursday, March 6. Individual instructors will make announcements regarding make-up sessions of their respective courses. Thank you for your attention.

David Moran

I write in response to the announcement made by Associate Dean David Moran that he will be leaving Wayne Law to develop the clinical legal program he has dreamt about.

I have had the honor of knowing David Moran for about half my lifetime, though I had not known him well before we began to work together. Since then, I have come to appreciate his wisdom and dedication, not only with regard to the art of teaching, about which he might teach the teachers considerably, but also to the betterment of an institution about which we both care greatly, he so sincerely that I am humbled. David has already had, well before reaching the apex, a career of which most of us would be envious if we were able to comprehend its entirety. As a teacher, he is without equal in the eyes of all observers. With a plainspoken manner, bearing a sheaf of handwritten notes generated through preparation rare to see among experienced faculty, and little else besides his wits, he captivates, entertains, and, above all, educates. As a scholar, he has proven how much the theoretical can be practical, and vice versa, single-handedly eliminating false divisions that plague the academy. And in his service, I could say so much but will limit myself to the observation that he has done the thankless work of his office without for a moment aspiring to use it for his own advancement.

David Moran is an individual who exemplifies what the practice of law is about. Some may be aware that he was a scientist before he was a lawyer. Whatever the loss to science, the gain to law is magnificent. In the Dean's Suite these past two and a half years, David has been a model for me to follow. He has been an ideal colleague.

Please join me, and the countless others who have benefitted from this association, in wishing him well in his endeavors to come.

Brussel Sprouts and Bruckner

II have always believed it important to be as open-minded as possible. As I age, I realize it will be easy to follow habits to becoming a curmudgeon, unwilling to tolerate much less try new experiences and consider new ideas. So to avoid a sedentary, slothful life, not only physically but mentally and spiritually as well, I am always looking for opportunities to learn and grow.

Lately, I have decided to acquire a taste for brussel sprouts and Anton Bruckner, both of which I have contacted only minimally. I did not grow up eating brussel sprouts, meaning I lack the aversion to the vegetable that so many seem to have developed from childhood forced consumption. I am a philistine with respect to classical music, though I know that classical music is itself a misnomer covering multiple periods from the Baroque to the Romantic. Having tasted brussel sprouts perhaps thrice, I have found them to be piquant – indeed, to be the perfect food for that term. Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony, the first movement of which I have listened to several times in a fine recording conducted by Gunter Wand, has the exciting quality that I most like in orchestral works.
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Criticism

I recently had the opportunity to complete the survey for the Zagat restaurant review book, and, as I did so, I developed greater admiration for the food writers who critique their meals on a regular basis, with a palate as well educated as the pen. I found it difficult to contribute more than the most general, clichéd, and trivial remarks, despite eating out almost every dinner and lunch. It truly is a set of skills that surpasses what most amateurs are able to muster, to author descriptions of the act of eating that are more than recitations of the menu. And it is independent of the ability to cook. I am often struck by how many people who are good in an endeavor are not especially compelling in describing that endeavor, and how others who have developed wonderful taste may lack the skills to perform the very activity of which they are the most astute observers. I am reminded of the great Pauline Kael, the film critic who single-handedly established a genre of writing, who once said something along the lines of, “You don’t have to lay eggs to know what a good omelet tastes like.” (More)

Stakeholding and More

As Dean, I have realized that one of the most difficult aspects of leadership is persuading people they have a common cause. I have tried to cultivate a sense of stakeholding: the feeling that causes people to invest their time, money, and energy into an idea or an institution, abstractions and entities larger than themselves. I have enjoyed modest success. Indeed, some of the people who have been most generous, especially of their time, which is harder to give than money, had not previously had the most direct relationship to the Law School. The greatest gratification is when they in turn persuade others of the value of the vision we have for positive change – for the contributions that can be made by our students and our alumni, and by organized activities that create public life.

Yet as much of a challenge as it has been to generate a sense of stakeholding, for the sentiments cannot be instilled by command nor can they be readily faked and a place that trains attorneys inspires less affection perhaps than some other sites of memory, it is even more of a challenge to generate a sense of shared goals. Many of us believe in the programs with which we are associated, the students whom we have trained, the teachers by whom we have been trained, and so on, without connecting our experiences to those of others in a meaningful manner. The notion that our success depends on the success of others, and that it will be our failure if they fail, is referred to in rhetoric only rarely, and put into practice even less. It matters not that it is true: certainly, a Dean recognizes as much, for a Dean is identified with the entirety of the operation over which he nominally presides, and it would not do to point out the accomplishments of a single aspect, especially if it were to the neglect of everything else.

Our Law School, like our metropolitan area, will flourish only if all of us work together.

Outlaws and Stonewall Bar

Last night, I personally hosted a reception for Outlaws and the Stonewall Bar Association, our LGBT student group and the local predominantly LGBT voluntary bar association. I did so not only because I believe in engaging with students and cultivating the bench and the bar, but also due to my belief that among the remaining civil rights issues our nation faces is legalized discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation. While we have much more than we may realize to do, and I embrace the challenge, with respect to race, gender, disability, and religion, among other sources of potential division, we at least have forged a consensus, fragile though it may be, that legal discrimination on the basis of these classifications is wrong – more than wrong as a technical matter, violative of a shared sense of moral norms. Other forms of legal discrimination have become so inconsequential that they barely attract notice: for example, there was a time and there are still cultures that embrace explicit birth order discrimination. Yet with respect to only a few remaining traits – sexual orientation and immigrant status perhaps most prominent among them – do we as a nation continue to allow de jure distinctions to be drawn, almost all of them rooted in invidious intentions even those motivations have been forgotten or may be unconvincingly disavowed. As Dean of our Law School, I have sought to address these issues as they affect access to higher education and the justice system, though of course the consequences extend far beyond those areas with which it is eminently appropriate we be concerned.

It has been my practice to host events with various student groups, including, among others, BLSA, JLSA, and the Christian Law Students Association. The opportunity to interact informally with faculty, along with practitioners, is invaluable. I’d like to thank especially Professor Peter Hammer for attending the Outlaws-Stonewall function, along with philosophy Professor John Corvino.

Guest Teaching

Last week, I guest taught for David Moran. The course was Evidence and the session was on conditional relevance. I have taught Evidence before, but the particular topic is complicated and not intuitive.

I approached the evening with guilt, fear, and the anticipation of pleasure. Guilt because I know that by asking David to be Associate Dean, I had taken him out of the classroom (not wholly, but partially), and he enjoys teaching. Fear because I also know that David is among the best teachers on a faculty that values teaching. The anticipation of pleasure because I have missed teaching, and I had found the preparation to be challenging, which meant that the discussion would be even more so.

It was terrific to have had the opportunity, albeit brief, to work with my friend and colleague David in an altogether different context than our usual tasks in the Dean’s Suite. It was even better to have interacted with the students who obviously are learning a tremendous amount.