Ryan Dorgan | March 12, 2011
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| Photo by Ryan Dorgan |
| IU law professor Jayanth Krishnan talked about lawyers, collaboration and global change at Wednesday's Research Colloquium. |
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Krishnan, a Charles L. Whistler Faculty Fellow at IU’s Maurer School of Law, spoke with a small group of professors and students from the journalism and telecommunications departments Wednesday as part of the School of Journalism’s Research Colloquium Series.
“I see this as a brainstorming session,” Krishnan told his audience. And with that, he presented “A New Approach to Legal Education in the Post-2009 Economic Environment: India and IU Law's Center on the Global Legal Profession.”
Globalization is turning the classic focus of education upside-down. As many institutions rush to simply figure out how to navigate their way through a newly connected world, faculty members at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law are leading the way in the development of new teaching methods tailored for tomorrow’s globally-connected professional, he said.
Krishnan’s research focuses on the legal profession and the behavior of lawyers, which is an area of focus seldom seen in law academia.
“There really hasn’t been that much initiative within law schools to actually study what lawyers are doing,” he said. As the world becomes smaller by the day, it’s more important than ever for lawyers to understand how to work efficiently outside of the classic American law system, he said.
“This has been the big problem with law schools for centuries,” Krishnan said.
He and his fellow researchers are addressing this concern. Krishnan cited the work of his colleague at the center, professor William Henderson, and his research on U.S. law firms and U.S. lawyers. Much of Henderson’s work has served as the impetus for the law school's new legal professions course, Krishnan said.
“Think about the people that get in to law school. They did well in high school, they did well as an undergrad, they did well on their LSATs,” Krishnan said of Henderson’s findings. “These are the people who have made a habit out of studying alone and not going out on Friday nights… Lawyers are usually the ‘lone sharks.’”
Krishnan and his colleagues at the Center on the Global Legal Profession are seeking to change this stereotype by collaborating with other schools. Collaboration with the Kelley School of Business will expose students to the benefits of working as a group. Collaboration with the School of Journalism will bring in expert mentors and moderators in the area of media law and ethics.
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| Photo by Ryan Dorgan |
| Krishnan and his colleagues at the Center on the Global Legal Profession are seeking to change stereotypes by collaborating with other schools. |
“India has its problems and it’s very messy, but at the end of the day, it’s a democracy and law does matter,” he said.
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