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New Opportunities for First Year Students
The legendary Professor Kingsfield famously tells first-year law students in the movie The Paper Chase, “You come in here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer.” The “skull full of mush” sentiment is a bit much— as was Professor Kingsfield in general—but the product he identified remains the oft-repeated goal of legal education. Law students are to be taught to think like lawyers.
The Law School Crisis
Message from Dean Deanell Reece Tacha: One of my goals as dean of the Pepperdine School of Law has been to address the questions and concerns being raised about the current climate of legal education. Among those concerns is the financial burden that, for many, accompanies enrollment in law school. The fact is, applications to law schools nationwide and at Pepperdine are down significantly. Student debt load is at an all-time high. At least in the short-term, the legal employment market is providing fewer employment opportunities for graduating law students than at any time in the recent past. In this piece Paul Caron, D&L Straus Distinguished Professor of Law, provides his perspective on these issues and more.
In Pursuit of Power
“I just wanted to be powerful!” remembers alumna Theona Zhordania, of her childhood dreams of becoming a successful businesswoman and attorney.
