Comments on The Future of (Catholic) Law Schools and Catholic Legal TheoryTypePad2011-03-24T01:16:12ZRick Garnetthttps://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2011/03/the-future-of-catholic-law-schools-and-catholic-legal-theory/comments/atom.xml/Kevin Lee commented on 'The Future of (Catholic) Law Schools and Catholic Legal Theory'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e20147e381bca7970b2011-03-28T02:18:54Z2011-03-28T02:18:54ZKevin LeeI agree so strongly with both Fr. Araujo and Susan Stabile. Distinctly Catholic legal education is under extreme pressure today...<p>I agree so strongly with both Fr. Araujo and Susan Stabile. Distinctly Catholic legal education is under extreme pressure today as the economic forces move professional education toward the production of skilled practitioners and away from liberal learning and core values. Research and teaching for economic productivity is becoming the guiding principle at many schools. Catholic education has always viewed the search for meaning in Christ, who is Truth, as the axis that brings unity to the university. The drive for productivity tends to dissipate the university, fragmenting it into separate departments that are united by a common administration, finding shared meaning and community in sports teams rather that a common intellectual vision. And, the full range of human reason gets reduced to the set of discursive practices that favor technological application. Hermeneutical and aesthetic reasoning are driven from the field in the relentless search for certainty and clarity. Mystery--wherein lies the imagio dei--is sacrificed to precision and control. Catholic institutions offer a counter to that sort of reduction that is useful--even necessary for lawyers in a democracy--but is becoming difficult to sustain. </p>Donald Brayer commented on 'The Future of (Catholic) Law Schools and Catholic Legal Theory'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2014e601b6587970c2011-03-25T18:31:16Z2011-03-25T18:31:16ZDonald BrayerI am not a lawyer - let alone a professor at a Catholic law school. However, it seems fairly clear...<p>I am not a lawyer - let alone a professor at a Catholic law school. However, it seems fairly clear to me that the purpose of a Catholic law school is not to promote "social justice" when no one can even agree on the definition of social justice. Perhaps, if Catholic law professors could come to an agreement of what social justice means in light of Catholic teaching and, then, teach Catholic social justice as an adjunct to the law, it would make some sense.</p>
<p>Lacking that, it seems that the main benefit a Catholic law school could provide law students is the imparting of legal ethics as seen through the prism of Catholic teaching. In my experience, the understanding of ethics (let alone Catholic ethics) by lawyers, generally, is pretty dismal. Granted, there are the model rules, disciplinary rules and ethical opinions to which lawyers can refer. But how many really care about them except as to how they may indicate a conflict of interest; bear on a legal malpractice case; or cause the Bar to impose disciple up to and including the loss of an attorney's "ticket."</p>
<p>A Catholic law school education should impart more than a perfunctory understanding of ethics to its students. It should provide a view of ethics from the view of Catholic teaching. Should this be on the Law School's curriculum or should it be a prerequisite to admission? I don't know but the end result should be that the Catholic law school graduate should be able to recognize an issue he/she can ethically argue and a client that he/she can ethically represent. Otherwise that lawyer can easily become a "gun for hire" merely following the money or some business or social interest group.</p>
<p>I believe a "Catholic lawyer" should be someone a Catholic person could trust to represent his interests in view of Catholic teaching. A Catholic lawyer would not have represented Roe and would have been honest enough to tell her why.</p>Susan Stabile commented on 'The Future of (Catholic) Law Schools and Catholic Legal Theory'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2014e601483cb970c2011-03-24T13:50:49Z2011-03-24T13:50:49ZSusan Stabilehttp://susanjoan.wordpress.comI so rarely find myself agreeing with Robert that I feel compelled to comment, if for no other reason than...<p>I so rarely find myself agreeing with Robert that I feel compelled to comment, if for no other reason than to second his remarks.</p>
<p>Of course I think Catholic law schools should promote social justice (although I agree we need to talk about what we mean by that term and acknowledge we don't all mean the same thing). But one doesn't have to be Catholic to be in favor of social justice; plenty of secular institutions claim that as part of their mission.</p>
<p>If there is a reason for Catholic law schools to continue to exist - and if there is any hope some of them will continue to exist given various external pressures, it must be because they do something distinctive that is worthwhile...something more than promote social justice. My own school is a good example - the only justification for opening a fourth law school in the Twin Cities was its mission as a Catholic institution. (It wasn't that the Twin Cities was in dire need of an additional law school.) </p>
<p>So I think all of us who teach at Catholic law schools need to think about what it means to call ourselves Catholic. I think there tends to be some hesitation about openly discussing this question; knowing that people have different views, there is a fear that the discussion will lead to some unpleasantness. But if we can't articulate to ourselves what makes a Catholic legal education distinctive - what it means to say we are a Catholic law school - we can't effectively convey that to prospective students. </p>