LSU Law faculty are working to complete a comprehensive evaluation of curriculum for first-year students at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and alumni are encouraged to weigh in via a survey.
“Our curriculum has served us for nearly a quarter of a century. It led to the top bar passage rate in the state and consistently high job placement. But we need to get ahead of the curve for the next decade and beyond,” said Professor Maggie Thomas, who chairs the LSU Law Curriculum Committee. “The goal is to ensure we continue to serve our students, and those who employ them, with an effective twenty-first century curriculum—and that we remain the top choice for students from Louisiana, while also offering a competitive value proposition for out-of-state students.”
All LSU Law alumni will soon receive the electronic survey by email, or they can take the survey now. It will ask alumni in every legal practice area about the competencies young lawyers need for modern practice. The survey should only take about 15 minutes to complete, and responses will be collected through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 13.
The Curriculum Committee will use the alumni survey results to help it identify and preserve aspects of the LSU Law curriculum that are most effective and unique, as it considers potential updates.
The current first-year curriculum for LSU Law students was adopted in 1996. It is one of the most rigorous in the nation, with more required credits and first-year exams than the many other law schools.
The last time a major change was made to the curriculum was in 2015, when faculty voted to make the Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law (DCL) optional. About 85% of current LSU Law students opt to earn the DCL.
“Our students are rational and risk-averse about bar preparation,” said Thomas. “The vast majority are taking core Louisiana bar courses, including Civil Law courses, and choosing to earn the DCL.”
Small groups of LSU Law alumni will also have the opportunity to share their opinions with members of the Curriculum Committee via a series of listening sessions that will be held in Baton Rouge and via Zoom. Alumni can express their interest in participating in a listening session via the survey, or they reach out to a committee member directly.
Chaired by Thomas, the Curriculum Committee also includes Professors Ray Diamond, Randy Trahan, John Church, Tracy Norton, and LSU Law Library Associate Director for Public Services Melissa Strickland. Associate Dean for Student and Academic Affairs Andrea Carroll and Assistant Dean of Experiential Education Robert Lancaster serve as ex officio members.
In addition to the alumni survey, LSU Law will also work with outside consultants from the Law School Admissions Council to evaluate the effectiveness of the current curriculum.
“We have had three prior faculty efforts to reform the first-year curriculum fail to gain traction in the last 10 years because there was no shared vision as to what the faculty wanted to accomplish,” Thomas said. “This time, we’re trying to be very data-driven in the process—looking to our market of legal employers and critically evaluating whether our curriculum is doing all the things we want it to do. Our alumni will be able to help to educate us on what we need to know in this process. While some aspects of excellent lawyering remain timeless, we understand that the expectations for new graduates are evolving.”
Questions about the survey can been sent to lawalumni@lsu.edu.
