Producing Practice-Ready Graduates for a Changing Field

America’s legal profession is in the midst of great change. New fields of specialization, expanding areas of practice, technology, diversity, globalization and the lingering effects of a deep recession are transforming the practice of law into something quite different from what it was a few years ago.

The Sturm College of Law is evolving to meet these challenges. In less than a year, the school appointed a new dean, garnered overwhelming faculty approval for a comprehensive strategic plan, and created what may be the first tenure-track diversity and inclusiveness post at a U.S. law school.

The result is that Sturm, already recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 100 law schools in the country, now has a clear vision of its future.

Under the strategic plan’s two key initiatives—Modern Learning and Specialization—the Sturm College will focus on producing graduates who are as close to “practice-ready” as possible.

By infusing additional experiential learning opportunities into the school’s curriculum and enabling students to act as lawyers in clinics, internships and simulated trials and deals, Modern Learning weds academic knowledge to practical experience and professionalism.

Specialization focuses Sturm’s substantial resources on existing areas of strength and on a select number of promising opportunities. The result? Centers of excellence for international and comparative law, environmental and natural resources law, commercial and business law, workplace law, and constitutional rights and remedies.

Dean Martin Katz believes synergies between Modern Learning and Specialization provide additional student benefits. “Each center of excellence will pair with Modern Learning-style opportunities. For example, commercial and business law students will put together housing deals in our new transactional law clinic, and employment law students will litigate a simulated case from the client interview all the way through the appeal,” Katz said.

Students also will operate in an environment that closely resembles the real world. In March, Katz appointed Catherine Smith associate dean of institutional diversity and inclusiveness. Smith will focus on recruiting and retaining diverse faculty and students and on building relationships with organizations that support underserved communities.

The point of having the role reside with a tenured faculty member is “to enable the incumbent to speak freely,” Smith said. “Part of being a great university dedicated to the public good is to champion diversity—not just in race, socioeconomics, gender and sexual orientation, but also in ideology. Inclusiveness generates better ideas and enables better problem solving. That benefits us all.”