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Saint Louis University Public Law Review

Abstract

The new challenge of legal education is preparing civic-minded lawyers to assume leadership roles in their communities, law firms, the legal profession, and in the public square. Defined as the process of influencing and persuading others to achieve a common purpose, leadership describes the lawyers’ task with individual and organizational clients; considered as a characteristic of people in positions of power, lawyers often assume the mantle of leading organizations. Whether defined as process or position, lawyering involves leadership in the private sector or in the public realm.

This article considers the progressive structure of a comprehensive law and leadership program and prescribes the Public Law and Leadership course as a model of engaged learning and leadership development that offers replication opportunities for programs that seek to engage students in public law and policy issues that affect local and national communities. Looking to collegiate and graduate leadership service learning, as well as legal pro bono programs and professional development initiatives, law and leadership studies and experiences will better prepare students for professional practice, prime them to exercise leadership within their communities, and position law graduates to engage in leadership of the profession and the public square.

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