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| 5 Year Reunion of my W&L 03L Class |
Law school: now there's a place I don't miss. I say that with love, as I think my experience at the Washington & Lee University School of Law was quite good. We had great professors and as a class we were rather laid-back for a group of prospective attorneys. While I've pursued a very non-traditional route (as has a very good friend from my class who now works for the State Department), most of my class went on to good gigs at impressive law firms on the east coast and in the South or to nice clerkships in Federal District, Appellate, Magistrate, and Bankruptcy courts around the country. While I have finally made the transition over to being mostly involvement with Prism Risk Management as an owner and CEO, my law degree does come in handy several times every day. Also, being a lawyer does help me work on Bar & Grill.
The reason I'm thinking of the magical three years I spent in Lexington, VA, (a charming place, BTW) is that I recently watched a video about the redesign of W&L's third year program. Not unlike Baylor Law School, which has for years differentiated itself from other Texas law schools by offering an excellent third year practice court program, W&L has instituted a program for 3Ls which has practical litigation simulations as well as practical transactional simulations as the curriculum for the entire third year. It's an interesting concept for a top tier law school to engage in such a departure from the norm. It seems as though a strong set of clinical programs would have been a prudent alternative. However, W&L must be doing something that resonates as I recently saw it on a list of top schools preferred by hiring partners and I've there is enough positive buzz about the program that I've heard about it through a few mentees the Austin Bar's mentorship program.
Changes in the economy have led to changes in the traditional patterns of law student recruitment and practical legal education obtained by entry level attorneys at firms. It seems as though the W&L third year program would be especially desirable to mid-sized firms which want quality law school grads but make not have the resources in place to provide much in the way of formal training in the practice of law. Personally, I benefited from several of my traditional 3L classes such as Federal Energy Regulation and Securities Regulation. While not on point with what I do know, the collateral knowledge has been useful. Also, the general sloth of the 3L is a welcome break from the intensity of the 2L year and the much more intense period which follows law school. I haven't spent an entire week in Vegas since my 3L year, and it's only been in the past couple of years that I've been able to spend an entire week off anywhere.
Note: a week in Vegas is not a good idea for anyone at any age. Vegas is best enjoyed in 2-3 segments.
