Law in Contemporary Society

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JaredMillerSecondPaper 6 - 28 Jun 2012 - Main.MarcLegrand
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Sending a Message: The Importance of the Admissions Interview to Reforming the Legal Profession

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 Also, just to clarify, I'm not saying that interviewing and emphasizing social responsibility is going to automatically turn every Columbia Law student into a public-interest do-gooder. I don't even think that would be a good thing. But I think we can and should instill into students a sense that they occupy a special position with a tremendous amount of power as a Columbia law grad and that they should wield that power in a more humane, thoughtful fashion.

-- JaredMiller - 27 Jun 2012 \ No newline at end of file

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>		I agree with what I see as your underlying point: the current state of law school admissions fails to place any importance on applicants' social responsibility. I also think that an interview is a step in the right direction, but I think even after your edits there remains some overconfidence in the ability of an interview to remedy the situation. I think you make a good point about the symbolic importance of the interview making the admissions process more than just a numbers game, but I'm not sure that you've convinced me it's "the best and easiest change law schools can make to make their graduates more well-rounded and socially-conscious individuals." I feel like that's the sort of goal that doesn't lend itself to "easy changes." I'm not sure there's any way to effectively screen socially-responsible applicants during the admissions process. I'm more in agreement with those you referenced who criticize the curriculum of law school classes as totally deficient in terms of setting any sort of moral example for future lawyers.

Still, I think you're spot-on to suggest interviews...I just see different and perhaps less lofty reasons to support them. Maybe I'm too cynical, but it seems that the current admissions system could be (and perhaps to a large extent is) run by an incredibly simple computer program. As you noted, the interview at least reminds people on both sides of the admissions process that there is a human dimension involved. Even if it doesn't lead to a sudden increase in social responsibility among law students, this would still be a good result in my book.

-- MarcLegrand - 27 Jun 2012


Revision 6r6 - 28 Jun 2012 - 03:26:19 - MarcLegrand
Revision 5r5 - 27 Jun 2012 - 02:40:44 - JaredMiller
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