FORT WORTH—Director of the Center on the Global Legal Profession at Indiana University Maurer School of Law William D. Henderson visited Texas A&M University School of Law to speak to students and faculty about the legal employment market Sept. 3 and 4. Henderson was named one of the most influential people in legal education by National Jurist magazine.
To the students, he offered encouragement and advice. “You showed up here [to law school] as idealistic as you could possibly be. I hope that continues,” Henderson said. He invited students to take an interest in improving their lawyering skills, serve others while considering the legal system and the public viewpoint.
His presentation for the students covered a sense of what the future might look like for the delivery of legal services and the importance of entrepreneurship as students position themselves for the job market. He also covered skills to making a successful lawyer.
His visit was the first in a series designed to stimulate thinking in advance of the law school’s strategic planning process, according to Dean Andrew P. Morriss. He addressed Law School Survey of Student Engagement data and presented findings to faculty from the Annual Results released in early 2014. Data was gathered from 26,000 students at 86 law schools in 2013. The report measured:
- The extent to which law schools expose their students to business and financial concepts
- What law schools know about the legal profession, how engaged they are where they learn it and the role law schools play in promoting that learning
- Critical and analytical thinking in law school classes and learning to think like a lawyer
- Student advising satisfaction
Others in the series are:
- Sept. 8 - José Luis Bermúdez, formerly Dean of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M, a serious endurance bike racer, and now in the Provost’s Office as Associate Provost for Strategic Planning. He will discuss A&M’s plans on benchmarking units and strategic planning on the main campus.
- Sept. 15 - Raymond Pierce, former dean of North Carolina Central, former partner at Baker Hostetler, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education, Office for Civil Rights and a partner at Nelson Mullins in North Carolina and member of the ABA Section on Legal Education’s Executive Committee. He will speak on his view of trends in legal education.
- The Law School Survey of Student Engagement website contributed to this report.
-- Article by Daniella Wiedel, Communications Specialist at Texas A&M University School of Law.