We recently hired a professor to teach public policy advocacy at our law school. This is a great example of the value of expanding the conception of what a lawyer does. UC Hastings is unusual, because it is a "stand alone" law school. Although affiliated with the world-class UC system, our campus offers exclusively legal training. In the "Carnegie classification" of institutions of higher education, we are designated as special focus.
Even though we are more concentrated on law, we have been reaching out as much as possible to promote interdisciplinary training. We have partnerships with business schools and medical schools.
Public policy is a natural addition, because it is so closely related to law. It is indistinguishable in many respects, as the United States becomes increasingly a system of statutory law, from its roots in English common law. A lawyer who wishes to be as much as possible a conventional lawyer needs to know how the law is made. Whenever Congress or a state legislature promulgates a new policy, it does so by passing a statute. It creates "positive" law.
A lawyer also is expected to be able to advance a cause through multiple means. The best lawyer understands that for the typical client, law is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The lawyer competes with accountants, financial advisors, business consultants, and even other authority figures such as social scientists or clergy, in giving advice and counsel and resolving disputes. A person who retains a lawyer for a project wants the tasks done, done well, and, presumably, done in an appropriate manner — but most people would accept another type of professional if she could offer the same capabilities and deliver similar results.
The most thoughtful lawyers also realize their own self-interest is bound up with public policy. Whole areas of law are created and destroyed by public policy: an executive order, a bill, or even an administrative agency "dear colleague" letter can ruin a lawyer's living or open up altogether new possibilities or both.
Trial lawyers, for example, have always been aware of these risks. They are the most lawyerly of lawyers. They do what laypeople rightly perceive as the crux of what a member of the bar does — appearing in court. Prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers, and every other type of litigator have associations to ensure access to the courts.
That means they educate the public and lobby government officials. They have no choice. They want to protect their vocation. It is highly regulated. (For that matter, I encourage business schools, medical schools, and every other type of professional school to consider bringing on someone expert in law and public policy.)
The more we improve law schools, the better we will prepare law students to be leaders. That is what service is all about.