Doctrine in a Vacuum: Reflections on What a Law School Ought (and Ought Not) to Be

Although this paper will reach a wider audience, in it I mean mainly to address the students and faculty of the University of Michigan Law School. It is meant to be part of a conversation in which members of this community talk to each other about the life they share.

I have written elsewhere about the expectations-the fears and hopes-that one can appropriately bring to law school. In this paper I speak to those who are immersed in ·the process of legal education, on one side of the podium or the other, and wish to say something of what I think it is, and can be, all about.