Some Thoughts about Developing Constructive Approaches to Lawyer and Law Student Distress

I am convinced, on the basis of experience as a teacher at five law schools, that it is possible to establish a law school culture in which the administration and faculty can work effectively to substantially reduce the level of unnecessary law student distress. I believe, however, that accomplishing this on any large scale among the law schools generally might require not only implementation of many of the suggestions of Professors Glesner and Kutulakis, but also that we abandon the ideas that all law schools should be fundamentally similar, built on the model of a large-enrollment major research center, and that all law schools should therefore be ranked on a single universal scale. Only then, I think, might our law schools truly be free to define their own missions with self-confidence. I am optimistic that if armed with that self-confidence, many law schools could and would operate in a manner that would reduce their student\u27s distress, enhance their students\u27 coping mechanisms, and better prepare their students for effective, healthy and happy careers in the demanding, but ultimately very satisfying work of helping people as well-educated lawyers