Reflections on a Century-Long Tradition of Teaching Students to Think Like Lawyers

"You come in here with a skull full of mush, and you leave thinking like a lawyer." -Charles W. Kingsfield Jr., the imperious, fictional, Harvard law professor portrayed by John Houseman in the 1973 movie The Paper Chase

This often-cited quote applies to students attending Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 2009 as those who attended its predecessor, the New Jersey Law School, in 1908. While the purpose has remained the same for more than 100 years, Rutgers School of Law-Newark's methodology, curriculum, student body and faculty have evolved with the changing times and trends to achieve the venerable goal of training law students to think like lawyers. Dean Stuart L. Deutsch, who will be returning to the faculty after having served nine years as dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark, reflects on the evolution of legal education at Rutgers in Newark since the law school's inception more than a century ago.

"While we continue to expose students to a wide range of substantive law through case law analysis," notes Deutsch, "in the 1960s, the law school began offering practice-oriented, skills-training opportunities, such as law clinics, trial advocacy and appellate advocacy, to give students direct, hands-on experience." The experiential approach makes law more relevant to public life by immersing students in the actual representation of real clients with real legal problems.

Also, to address the globalization of today's society, the law school now offers courses in comparative and international law. According to Deutsch, the expanded curriculum helps students develop a broader perspective on a variety of cross-border legal issues in areas such as human rights, intellectual property and commercial transactions.

"Not only have there been changes in what we teach and how we teach it, there have been significant changes relative to the individuals being taught and those doing the teaching," says Deutsch. Over the past four decades, the number of minority and women students attending the law school has increased with each succeeding year. Currently, approximately 40 percent of the students attending the law school are minorities and 50 percent are women. Notably, Rutgers School of Law-Newark was the first law school in the country to reach female-to-male parity, a goal accomplished in the mid-1970s. Of the professors, approximately 35 percent are women and nearly 25 percent are minorities.

To learn more about the Rutgers School of Law-Newark, visit law.newark.rutgers.edu.