Santa Clara University

Dean's Message

Dear Friends:

Donald J. Polden

The recent events associated with Hurricane Katrina remind us of the social and economic frailty of our communities and the legal systems that support those communities. Poor disaster planning, a seeming indifference to predicable consequences of a storm of Katrina’s magnitude, and an abundance of bad luck led to the destruction of several significant communities. News coverage depicted a lawless region, devoid of an infrastructure for security and public order. It made us all realize that it could happen in any community.

The disaster and its aftermath brought considerable concern from across America. An outpouring of offers of assistance, a mobilization of volunteers, and eventual federal and state government assistance followed the receding waters. At Santa Clara University and its law school, the community rallied to aid the victims. The law school, like most American law schools, opened its doors to law students at Tulane University and Loyola University, without expectation of tuition payments. SCU worked closely with several interested New Orleans’ law students, and, ultimately, one student from Tulane joined the third year class at Santa Clara.

In addition, the law school raised more than $50,000, which will go to two relief organizations (with little or no administrative expenses) that are providing direct relief to citizens of the region who lost everything.

The disaster has also opened up a discussion within the law education community about how well we are preparing our students to assist their communities if a disaster occurs. What skills we are attempting to inculcate in law students as they prepare for leadership roles in their communities?

We think of law school education as providing a comprehensive exposure to a broad base of substantive knowledge (e.g., torts, contracts, tax, corporate law) and a basic training in fundamental lawyering skills such as negotiations, oral and written communications, and trial practice. However, missing from our thinking about the set of skills and attributes taught in the standard law school curriculum are those necessary to help communities build and rebuild their basic structure and institutions. Does this mean that law schools are not providing education in those particular skills and attributes? What types of skills and abilities are necessary to plan for (and recover from) these occasional, but catastrophic events?

Disasters such as Hurricane Katrina highlight the need for community leaders who are problem-solvers with a refined sense of ethics. Sophisticated problem-solving skills enable thoughtful planning to anticipate and address the consequences of disasters. And, as was vividly demonstrated in New Orleans, the leaders must have an ethical and moral compass so they can make decisions competently and thoughtfully.

Recently, there have been interesting efforts to identify the fundamental problem-solving skills and cognitive and empathic abilities that lawyers need in their professional lives and infuse them into the law curriculum. Here at Santa Clara, these are integral parts of our educational mission and curriculum, and we continue to add courses that teach our students essential problem-solving and leadership skills. Santa Clara University School of Law has a mission of training lawyers of competence, conscience, and compassion.

These fundamental values and abilities will prepare our graduates for most of the difficult choices and responsibilities they will face in the practice of law. And, while we cannot educate them for every possible natural disaster or national catastrophe, we can strengthen our curriculum and educational mission to develop in our students the problem solving skills and ethical leadership qualities that will empower them to step up and lead if called upon by their communities.

Sincerely,

DONALD J. POLDEN
Dean