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13 J. Christian Legal Thought 7 (2023)
The Necessity of Hope in Legal Education

handle is hein.journals/jchlet13 and id is 79 raw text is: THE NECESSITY OF HOPE IN LEGAL EDUCATION: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN PLURALIST CONTEXTS by Kenneth Townsend* Introduction Americans distrust lawyers more than other pro- fessionals.1 Due to negative media portrayals, widespread skepticism regarding lawyer morali- ty, and all-too-plentiful examples of high-profile lawyerly misconduct, lawyers are viewed with skepticism, if not disdain, by the American pub- lic.2 Growing evidence suggests that lawyers are also unhappy, reporting higher rates of depres- sion, anxiety, and substance abuse than other professionals.3 Many factors have contributed to the rep- utational and well-being crises facing lawyers. One is that law schools have often been slow to adapt to changing professional landscapes. If law students are to become lawyers who live and lead with integrity and purpose, law schools must approach legal education more holistically. Law schools must continue to train students to think like a lawyer, while also equipping students to develop the moral habits and capacities-the character-to live successful and flourishing lives. The American Bar Association (ABA) is in- creasingly attuned to these and related concerns. In 2022, it revised the standards that govern law schools to elevate values-based education. For the first time, the updated Standard 303(b) re- quires that law schools provide substantial op- portunities to students for ... the development of a professional identity, which the ABAs inter- pretive guidance defines as the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice.4 The practice of law requires honesty, open-mindedness, civility, empathy, resilience, and practical wisdom, among many other virtues, but it is far from inevitable that law schools- even with updated ABA standards-will under- take meaningful engagement with the virtues of character that law students need in their lives and careers. As paradigmatic liberal institutions, law schools have a complicated relationship with vir- tue. Liberal institutions rely upon and presume the widespread existence of intellectual, moral, and civic virtues, but liberal theory has histori- cally been hesitant about promoting character or virtue. That squeamishness is rooted in liber- alism's commitment to neutrality, individual au- tonomy, tolerance of diversity, procedural over substantive justice, and the general separation of public and private realms.5 Alternative accounts ofliberalism have emerged, however, that eschew such hesitation and promote a more direct, ex- plicit role for liberal institutions in cultivating lib- eral virtues. While aspirational accounts of liber- alism are right to recognize the need for engaging * Director of Leadership and Character for the Professional Schools and Scholar-in-Residence, Wake Forest School of Law. A special thanks to Michael Lamb for inspiring and reviewing this essay. He pushed me for ever greater precision, and I take sole responsibility for any remaining imprecision regarding the terms or argument of this essay. Thanks also to Ann Phelps for her careful review and encouragement. I Megan Brenan, Nurses Keep Healthy Lead as Most Honest, Ethical Profession, Gallup (Dec. 26, 2017), https://news.gallup.com/poll/224639/nurses-keep-healthy-lead-honest-ethical-profession. aspx?gsource=Economy&gmedium=newsfeed&gcampaign=tiles. 2 See, e.g., Staci Zaretsky, Scientfic Study Concludes No One Trusts Lawyers, ABOVE THE LAw (Sept. 24, 2014), https:// abovethelaw.com/2014/09/scientific-study-concludes-no-one-trusts-lawyers/. 3 See, e.g., Anne Brafford, WELL-BEING TOOLKIT FOR LAWYERS (2018), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/ administrative/lawyer assistance/lscolapwell-beingtoolkitforlawyerslegalemployers.pdf. 4 American Bar Association, ABA DIRECTORY & MIDYEAR MEETING SCHEDULE (2022), available athttps://www.amer- icanbar.org/content/dam/aba/directories/policy/midyear-2022/300-midyear-2022.pdf. 5 See, e.g., JOHN RAWLS, A THEORY OF JUSTICE (1971); BRUCE A. ACKERMAN, SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE LIBERAL STATE (1980). Journal of Christian Legal Thought Vol. 13, No. 2 7

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