A conversation with Dean Joost Blom QC and Dean David Cohen

In the last issue of BarTalk, we spoke with four young lawyers from different corners of the province. They felt strongly that there was a gap between their legal education and the realities of life as a practising lawyer. We asked the Deans of UBC and U Vic law schools to comment on the expectations of students, and on the present realities and ideal future of legal education in BC.

We began our discussion with a challenge: describe the ideal law school. Dean Cohen and Dean Blom were eloquent in their descriptions. According to them, a great law school fires your imagination about the law, equips you to think about the law and to handle it in the most versatile and comprehensive way possible. It is a place where every student and every professor wants to be. It is a place where there is wonderful teaching, lots of access to the faculty, and plenty of time for the faculty to do great research. A great law school is housed in a physical facility that enhances the learning environment. And a great law school has sufficient resources to allow for smaller classes, clinical options, and the teacher-to-student ratio required for intensive learning experiences such as legal research and writing courses.

When asked to describe today’s “typical” law student, both Deans were clear that there is no such thing. The current law student population is diverse in terms of culture, background and age (averaging around 26 in first year, with a significant older age cohort). They have higher GPA and LSAT scores than when either Dean Cohen (University of Toronto, 1975) or Dean Blom (UBC, 1970) went to law school. They are more likely to be involved in transfer studies at other universities (one in five students at UBC takes at least one term at another school, an exchange with visiting students from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.). They have many more elective courses from which to choose, and a larger, more diversified faculty from whom to learn.

Today’s students are more likely to have achieved other educational, career or life goals before pursuing a law degree. They are more likely to use their degree as a gateway to non-practising career paths. They have more experience with, and more need to be exposed to, technology. They also have, according to Dean Cohen, “an extraordinary engagement and involvement in their legal education and the life of their law school.”

Do the Deans agree that law schools should be doing more to provide students with courses that prepare their students for the realities of life as a lawyer? The answer is no; and certainly not within current resources. Their shared vision is one of law school as only one part of a lawyer’s preparation, not the complete whole of it. Law practice management, trust fund management, client relations and other necessary practice skills are the raison d’etre of articling, PLTC and CLE.

In the words of Dean Blom, “The job of law schools is to develop a thinking, questioning and disciplined mind that is schooled in the theory, history and philosophy of law.” The point of a law degree is not necessarily to produce a practicing lawyer, but to produce a person well grounded in the law. Many people who earn a law degree, who article and who are called to the Bar, have no intention of practising law. For those who do, both Deans agree: there are many parts of the practice of law that are best learned by doing.

Despite this fairly traditional view, the Deans were clear that their schools are doing much to assist with the development of tomorrow’s practicing lawyers.

UVic has a recognized co-operative program, involving a third of their students, which offers a full year’s worth of practical experience woven into academic studies throughout the degree-earning period. UBC has long had its clinical program offerings. And both schools have a history of involving practicing lawyers in teaching, and of supporting the innovative suggestions and programs of their law students’ associations.

When asked where the “markets” of the future lie, the Deans were hesitant to commit. After all, things change so quickly that the “hot” area of practice today may not be there in four year’s time. Their first response was geographic: Toronto, Calgary and the US. Their second response was more specific, citing trends that are likely to continue: the international and environmental aspects of law have become pervasive in many areas of practice. Corporate commercial law will continue to be strong; expertise related to technology and law will grow in demand; real estate expertise will not.

Resources are a significant issue at both law schools. Law degrees are provided here at one-quarter the cost of comparable American law schools. Yet, there is continued pressure to ensure a world-class, high quality education in the face of eroding public funding. For UBC and UVic, the future almost certainly holds an increase in tuition and an increased reliance on bursaries, grants and endowments. To law firms and others in BC’s private sector, the Deans say thank you. You have helped these two schools provide excellent legal grounding to thousands of lawyers who practice among you today.

If you wish to ensure that tomorrow’s lawyers are adequately--if not exceptionally--prepared for the challenges of the future, they ask that you continue to support BC’s law schools.

This article was published in the February 1998 issue of BarTalk. © 1998 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.