{"id":101349,"date":"2023-06-07T13:39:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T17:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=101349"},"modified":"2023-08-07T10:32:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T14:32:14","slug":"models-for-modern-law","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2023\/models-for-modern-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Models for Modern Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1670\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An image from inside The Record, spring 2023: An orange snap model kit with gavels, jury seats, law graduates, a globe, the BU Law tower, and other items related to the practice of law sit against a blue background.\" class=\"wp-image-101408\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-636x415.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1024x668.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-768x501.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1536x1002.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-2048x1336.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1200x783.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-992x647.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1500x979.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1920x1252.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-500x326.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1000x652.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1984x1294.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-for-Law-Record-S23-banner-1533x1000.jpg 1533w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption>Illustrations by Alex Jeffries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar record-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">June 7, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/authors\/rebecca-beyer\/\">Rebecca Beyer<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph record-block-editorial-introparagraph is-style-dropcap-dimensional has-dropcap has-dropcap-color-secondary\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph-content\"><p>In 1829, when admission to the bar required little more than reading the books of practicing attorneys and shadowing them in their work, a university president in Tennessee declared in a speech that it was easier to become a lawyer in that state than it was to shoe a horse.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Decades later in Massachusetts, the path may have been even less onerous. An 1870 article in the <em>American Law Review<\/em> said that Harvard Law School\u2014the only law school in the commonwealth at the time and one of only about 30 in the country\u2014had been \u201calmost a disgrace.\u201d Like most law schools at the time, it did not require entrance or final exams or any amount of undergraduate study. If students attended lectures and paid their fees, they graduated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA school which undertook to confer degrees without any preliminary examination whatever was doing something every year to injure the profession throughout the country,\u201d stated the unsigned article, most likely written by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. \u201cSo long as the possession of a degree signified nothing except a residence for a certain period in Cambridge or Boston, it was without value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But legal education was about to change in Massachusetts\u2014and across the United States. Some of those changes came from Harvard, where the course of study soon became more rigorous and where, in 1871, Dean C.C. Langdell introduced the case method still used in classrooms today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other changes, however, were driven in part by a new law school that launched across the Charles River. Boston University was chartered in 1869 and the law school opened its doors in the fall of 1872, helping usher in a new era in legal education. BU School of Law\u2014or the Boston Law School, as it was known at the time\u2014immediately raised the bar for entrance into the legal profession. It was the first law school in the country to propose a three-year curriculum, encourage a bachelor\u2019s degree for admission, and require exams at the end of every course. And even the exams were ahead of their time. In 1877, a criminal law question asked:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\u201cWhat crime, if any, is it in a mother, in abject poverty, to drown her children, to save them from want and suffering, to which she is sure they will be exposed, if allowed to grow up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey were remarkably modern,\u201d says BU Law Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/david-j-seipp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David J. Seipp<\/a>, a legal historian and BU Law\u2019s unofficial recordkeeper, of the exams. \u201cThey look like questions we ask today\u2014issue spotter questions. The old style had memorization-type questions typical of the state bar exam at the time. These new questions were about thinking like a lawyer, on the spot, under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, legal education has continued to evolve\u2014the ABA has taken steps to make entrance exams optional, for instance\u2014and BU Law has kept pace. Over its 150-year history, the law school has been a leader and an innovator, anticipating and responding to changes in the profession and world by enhancing its experiential learning opportunities; strengthening its ties to other professions, including medicine and finance; and engaging with society\u2019s systemic problems in its curriculum and in practice. In its early years, BU Law\u2019s educational motto was to teach students \u201cwhat to do and how to do it,\u201d and, over the decades, it has generally been open-minded about how to achieve those ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"headline-1\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-headline record-block-editorial-headline is-style-emphasis-color\"><strong>Meeting the Moment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since its founding, BU Law has identified and attempted to bridge gaps between the legal profession and broader society. For example, around the time of President Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s New Deal reforms, the law school began offering courses on administrative law to help acclimate students to the \u201cincreasing number of administrative boards and commissions\u201d in the country, according to a 1960 history of the law school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image alignfarleft\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"329\" height=\"1024\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-329x1024.jpg\" alt=\"An image from inside The Record, spring 2023: An orange snap model kit with the BU Law tower, a legal notebook, books, and a laptop sit against a blue background.\" class=\"wp-image-101361\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-329x1024.jpg 329w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-204x636.jpg 204w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-768x2389.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-494x1536.jpg 494w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-658x2048.jpg 658w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-219x682.jpg 219w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-332x1032.jpg 332w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-425x1321.jpg 425w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-111x344.jpg 111w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-170x529.jpg 170w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-221x688.jpg 221w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-340x1058.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-438x1364.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-531x1652.jpg 531w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-663x2064.jpg 663w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-849x2642.jpg 849w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-321x1000.jpg 321w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Models-of-Law-Record-S23-detail-scaled.jpg 823w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the early 20th century, administrative law wasn\u2019t really a subject,\u201d says Philip S. Beck Professor of Law <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/jack-m-beermann\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jack M. Beermann<\/a>, who has written several books on the topic. \u201cThen, when Congress started forming new government agencies in the New Deal period in the 1930s, it exploded. At that point, it was impossible to ignore administrative law as a separate subject.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1958, BU Law turned its attention to another matter of national importance: health. With a grant from the National Institutes of Health, it launched the Law-Medicine Research Institute, the first entity of its kind to engage in interdisciplinary training in law, medicine, public health, and the behavioral sciences. In its first few years, the institute explored the legal and ethical ramifications of using human subjects in clinical trials and conducted a study for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health that eventually led to the development of the commonwealth\u2019s public health code. Over time, the institute evolved into what is now the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/research\/centers-and-groups\/center-for-health-law-ethics-and-human-rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Center of Health Law, Bioethics &amp; Human Rights<\/a> at the School of Public Health, which works in partnership with the law school\u2019s well-regarded health law program.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following year, BU Law established the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/about\/offices\/graduate-tax-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Graduate Tax Program<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s first. Future Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Paul J. Liacos (LAW\u201952, Hon.\u201996) taught one of the initial two courses in the program, which was created to help prepare lawyers for the increasingly complex field of tax law. Today, the program is consistently top-ranked and offers classes in the late afternoons and evenings to accommodate the schedules of working professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1978, BU Law again blazed a trail, launching the Morin Center for Banking &amp; Financial Law to train lawyers for leadership positions in both domestic and international banking and financial services industries. In the 1980s, the center developed into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/about\/offices\/banking-financial-law-graduate-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Graduate Program in Banking &amp; Financial Law<\/a>. Now the oldest LLM degree of its kind in the United States, it remains highly relevant and offers concentrations in the business of banking, compliance management, financial services transactions, lending and credit transactions, and securities transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"headline-2\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-headline record-block-editorial-headline is-style-emphasis-color\"><strong>Practical Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>From the start of classroom legal education, professors and practitioners have debated the best way to balance theory and practice. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu\/dlr\/vol122\/iss2\/4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2018 <em>Dickinson Law Review<\/em> article<\/a>, although it considered the issue for years, the ABA didn\u2019t require any form of experiential learning until 2005, when it mandated \u201csubstantial instruction\u201d in \u201cprofessional skills.\u201d In 2014, the ABA adopted the current standard of six credits of experiential learning in the form of simulations, clinics, or field placements.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some law students acted much sooner, creating volunteer legal aid bureaus as early as the 1890s. But the move toward \u201cclinical\u201d legal education more broadly really picked up steam in the 1950s and 1960s, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/scholarship.law.edu\/scholar\/13\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2009 <em>Clinical Law Review<\/em> article<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ford Foundation had provided early seed money in this effort, and Boston University School of Law was a recipient. In 1962, BU Law had started a pilot program called the Voluntary Defenders in which 30 third-year students spent weekdays at the Roxbury District Courthouse representing criminal defendants under the supervision of a full-time clinical professor. The Ford Foundation provided a grant to the program in 1964, and it has been in operation ever since, along with a prosecutorial clinic that was first funded by the US Department of Justice in 1967 (both programs are now fully supported by the law school and are part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/experiential-learning\/clinics\/criminal-law-clinical-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Criminal Law Clinical Program<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-photoessay record-block-editorial-photoessay alignfull wp-block-photoessay js-block-editorial-photoessay\"><div class=\"photo-row-fourths-2-2\">\n<div class=\"photo-2\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"678\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"Dean Hettrick teaching in 1958\" class=\"wp-image-101399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-636x421.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1200x794.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-992x657.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1500x993.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1920x1271.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-500x331.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1000x662.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1984x1313.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Dean-Hettrick-classroom-1958-1511x1000.jpg 1511w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><p class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Dean Elwood Harrison Hettrick (\u201938) teaches a class in 1958.<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"photo-2\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"805\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1024x805.jpg\" alt=\"Professor William Schwartz, who will later serve as dean, leads the first class taught in the BU Law tower in 1964\" class=\"wp-image-101397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1024x805.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-636x500.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-768x604.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1536x1207.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-2048x1610.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1051x826.jpg 1051w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-868x682.jpg 868w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1313x1032.jpg 1313w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1681x1321.jpg 1681w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-438x344.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-673x529.jpg 673w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-875x688.jpg 875w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1346x1058.jpg 1346w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1735x1364.jpg 1735w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Law-Tower-first-class-1964-1272x1000.jpg 1272w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><p class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Professor William Schwartz (&#8217;55), who later served as dean, leads the first class taught at the BU Law tower in 1964.<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-caption\">Left: Dean Elwood Harrison Hettrick (\u201938) teaches a class in 1958.<br>Right: Professor William Schwartz (&#8217;55), who later served as dean, leads the first class taught at the BU Law tower in 1964.<br><em>Photos courtesy of BU Photo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/david-rossman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Rossman<\/a>, who started as an instructor in the Defender Clinic before becoming director of the Criminal Law Clinical Program in 1978, says the clinics were created in response to student demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA large component was students\u2019 social consciousness in the 1960s and their attitudes toward what they saw as the social responsibility of lawyers,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they also wanted an experience other than the Socratic method that was predominant at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the formation of those first two clinics, BU Law\u2019s experiential learning opportunities have expanded exponentially. When Clinical Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/peggy-maisel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Peggy Maisel (\u201975)<\/a> was a student at BU Law in the early 1970s, clinical spots were awarded in a lottery. She didn\u2019t get into either of the criminal law clinics or their civil counterpart, which began in 1969 and in which students worked on cases with the Boston Legal Assistance Project (now Greater Boston Legal Services).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI very much wanted to, but the number of students accepted into clinics was miniscule,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, BU Law guarantees JD students at least one clinical experience in their second or third year and many students do more. And there are 11 clinics from which to choose, on issues ranging from immigrants\u2019 and employment rights to legislative drafting and civil litigation. There are also dozens of externships, semester-in-practice placements, and practicums.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maisel increased hands-on learning opportunities at BU Law when she was hired in 2014 as the first associate dean for experiential education. She helped develop the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/experiential-learning\/clinics\/entrepreneurship-ip-cyberlaw\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Startup Law and Technology Law clinics<\/a>, in which BU Law students advise BU and MIT students on their entrepreneurial activities, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/experiential-learning\/clinics\/compliance-policy-clinic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Compliance Policy Clinic<\/a>, which launched in 2020 to provide students the opportunity to advise private-sector, public-sector, and NGO partners and clients on ethics and compliance issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"headline-3\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-headline record-block-editorial-headline is-style-emphasis-color\"><strong>First-Year Foundation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of BU Law\u2019s most recent innovations have come in the first-year curriculum. Maisel was part of one overhaul in 2014, when the school began to build out what is now the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/academics\/find-degrees-and-programs\/jd-program\/lawyering-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lawyering Program<\/a> and implemented the Lawyering Lab, an intensive transactional simulation that takes place between the fall and spring semesters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More recently, the faculty has committed to a more systemic overhaul of its required classes. In 2020, BU Law hosted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2019\/12\/BU-Symposium-schedule-2320201-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two-day symposium on bias in the 1L curriculum<\/a>. Panelists included faculty members from law schools across the country and BU Law students, who spoke about what they had encountered in the classroom.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStudents found certain aspects of the 1L curriculum oppressive and disconnected from their realities now and from the problems they expected to address in the future,\u201d says Dean <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/angela-onwuachi-willig\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Angela Onwuachi-Willig<\/a>, who opened the symposium with remarks about her own experiences as a student of color. \u201cOur students challenged the notion of legal doctrine as being purely neutral and objective. They understood neutrality and objectivity to be the goals, but the doctrine itself reflected the limited realities of the judges who wrote the case law. Concepts like the \u2018reasonable person standard\u2019 had raced, gendered, classed, heteronormative, and other lenses to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-photoessay record-block-editorial-photoessay alignfull wp-block-photoessay js-block-editorial-photoessay\"><div class=\"photo-row-square-s-1\">\n<div class=\"photo-s\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Professor Daniela Caruso gestures to the blackboard at the front of a classroom in the Redstone building\" class=\"wp-image-101395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-992x661.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-1984x1323.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/Daniela-Caruso-class-2019-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><p class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Professor Daniela Caruso gestures to the blackboard at the front of a classroom in the Sumner M. Redstone building at BU Law.<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"photo-1\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"A student takes notes in a classroom in the Redstone building in 2019\" class=\"wp-image-101396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-424x636.jpg 424w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-1366x2048.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-551x826.jpg 551w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-455x682.jpg 455w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-688x1032.jpg 688w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-881x1321.jpg 881w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-229x344.jpg 229w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-353x529.jpg 353w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-459x688.jpg 459w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-705x1058.jpg 705w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-910x1364.jpg 910w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-1102x1652.jpg 1102w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-1376x2064.jpg 1376w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019-667x1000.jpg 667w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/06\/student-in-class-2019.jpg 1667w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><figcaption><p class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">A student takes notes in a classroom in the Redstone building in 2019.<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-caption\">Left: Professor Daniela Caruso gestures to the blackboard at the front of a classroom in the Sumner M. Redstone building at BU Law.<br>Right: A student takes notes in a classroom in the Redstone building in 2019.<br><em>Photos by Michael Spencer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, individual faculty members have made a conscious effort to include conversations about race and inequality in their classes. But Onwuachi-Willig has also sought to empower students to initiate those discussions and debates themselves, in part by introducing these complex topics and ideas during orientation at the beginning of the year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe want students to know we believe their voices and insights are important. They have much to teach us, too. They need to be thinking critically about legal doctrine and asking questions about the assumptions underlying the doctrine,\u201d she says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Onwuachi-Willig, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2021\/trustee-alum-endows-new-antiracism-professorship-at-school-of-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in 2021 was named the inaugural Ryan Roth Gallo and Ernest J. Gallo Professor<\/a>\u2014the first chair devoted to critical race theory in the country\u2014has long been a leader in efforts to make the legal academy and legal profession more diverse. In 2020, she helped organize more than 170 law school deans in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/legalindustry\/us-law-students-receive-anti-bias-training-after-aba-passes-new-rule-2022-02-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">successful campaign to push the ABA to require antibias training for students<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were already working, incorporating more inclusive pedagogies in all our classes,\u201d Onwuachi-Willig says. \u201cWe\u2019re now working on a possible new first-year, one-credit course that meets the ABA requirement precisely because we believe, as the ABA and many deans do, that all lawyers need such training to be effective practitioners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"headline-4\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-headline record-block-editorial-headline is-style-emphasis-color\"><strong>Embracing the Future<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Current Associate Dean of Clinical &amp; Experiential Education <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/karen-pita-loor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Karen Pita Loor<\/a> says faculty members also have been revamping their syllabi in response to trainings they have received on issues of bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are really leading in this area,\u201d Loor says. \u201cStudents want to have these conversations. People want to think about the law in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maisel credits the faculty with embracing and welcoming many of the changes, some of which were initiated in response to alumni feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe faculty really listened,\u201d she says. \u201cThat was very productive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, BU Law has always sought out faculty who are attuned to the needs of their students and the profession. In 1969, describing the fledgling clinical law program, BU Law Assistant Dean John P. Wilson wrote that \u201cthose attempting to create and shape programs which are responsive to a changing society and the possible need for new teaching techniques must usually do so in the hurly-burly of other activities and demands.\u201d He compared the process to \u201cattempting to build a raft after one has cast off from the bank and is being buffeted in mid-stream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beermann says BU Law professors are up for the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end-of-article\">\u201cWe are a risk-taking, trailblazing, innovative faculty,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been really remarkable to see how flexible the more traditional classroom faculty have been to adapting what we do in the law school to the current reality. That\u2019s a real strength.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-495x636.jpg\" alt=\"The Record, spring 2023 magazine cover: An orange snap model kit with gavels, jury seats, law graduates, and other items related to the practice of law sit against a blue background.\" class=\"wp-image-101193\" width=\"136\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-495x636.jpg 495w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-797x1024.jpg 797w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-768x987.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-1195x1536.jpg 1195w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-1593x2048.jpg 1593w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-643x826.jpg 643w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-531x682.jpg 531w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-803x1032.jpg 803w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-1028x1321.jpg 1028w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-268x344.jpg 268w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-412x529.jpg 412w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-535x688.jpg 535w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-823x1058.jpg 823w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-1061x1364.jpg 1061w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-1285x1652.jpg 1285w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-1606x2064.jpg 1606w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-778x1000.jpg 778w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2023\/05\/RS23-cover-scaled.jpg 1991w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 136px) 100vw, 136px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>FEATURED IN<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><em>The Record<\/em>, Spring 2023<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/news-stories\/issues\/spring-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See all stories<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boston University was chartered in 1869 and the law school opened its doors in the fall of 1872, helping usher in a new era in legal education. BU School of Law\u2014or the Boston Law School, as it was known at the time\u2014was the first law school in the country to propose a three-year curriculum, encourage a bachelor\u2019s degree for admission, and require exams at the end of every course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21946,"featured_media":101204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"{\"post_id\":99877,\"hed\":\"The 150th Class\",\"dek\":\"Next Article\",\"class\":\"wp-block-editorial-billboard record-block-editorial-billboard has-dark-overlay has-media\",\"backgroundId\":\"99957\",\"backgroundUrl\":\"\\\/law\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/150th-class-banner_720.jpg\",\"backgroundType\":\"image\",\"backgroundOpacity\":\"100\"}","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Legal History","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[4137,1811],"bu-publication":[3742],"record-article-category":[3749,3751,3765,3747,4135,3786,3772],"record-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/101349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21946"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101349"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/101349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101413,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/101349\/revisions\/101413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101349"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=101349"},{"taxonomy":"record-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/record-article-category?post=101349"},{"taxonomy":"record-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/record-topic?post=101349"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=101349"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=101349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}