Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Dean Nick Allard: Mythological Hero

He doesn't always run law schools, but when he does, he runs Brooklyn to new heights.  This faith-affirming article describes Dean Nick Allard as
a man who has, in a few short years, elevated Brooklyn Law School’s reputation dramatically in the view of many in the legal profession.
Remember a few years back, when among "many in the legal profession" Brooklyn was a wannabe 2nd-tier law school among the dozens of overpriced private law schools in American urban centers that may have once filled a useful function, but now are overpriced, questionable institutions with sub-optimal employment scores?  Remember how Allard's leadership brought Brooklyn to the level of NYU and Columbia with Herculean might and Chemerinskyan aplomb?

Me, too!  What fun days those were!

More journalistic excellence:
His innovative leadership has sent ripples through the national legal world and, many believe, he has almost single-handedly sent out the message that our existentially challenged profession can indeed be “saved” and prosper if only scholars and practitioners would embrace the dramatic changes thrust upon them by the onset of the Digital Age.
Indeed, I have no doubt these unnamed believers remember fondly the time Allard took his "embrace change!" message to attack the oligarchic test-makers at the NCBE, who were using antiquated psychometric science and unfairly causing bar examination results to decline.  The NCBE should have simply embraced the change brought on by the digital age and let anyone into the bar who could correctly navigate an ExamSoft prompt or two (which, to be fair, most older solo practitioners would fail at doing.

And what a grueling task to "single-handedly" send out reform messages starting in 2012; like Atlas holding up the Earth by his lonesome, Allard swooped it to hoist the Rock of Reform on his broad shoulders.  I only wish others in the profession had bothered to utter one word about reform and adopting to the digital age prior to then...or even now...

And in the speech actually being reported in the above article, Allard makes clear that Brooklyn is the place to be:
Today, we are known for producing extraordinary graduates, like you, who have that extra Brooklyn edge in public service, government and the private sector. [emphasis added to show the edge - it cut you like a switchblade, mothafucka]
...
These students will go on to excel in law school, pass the bar and get meaningful jobs.*
See?  And I would be remiss not quoting Allard on his inventive, unprecedented tuition plan:
We have turned the broken business model of legal education on its head. And we sparked a national conversation on an issue that affects us all.
When you think about the positive reforms that are happening in legal education - and particularly the part about law school becoming more affordable for the blue-collar masses - remember it all started when Brooklyn Law School courageously lowering its tuition in 2014.

Dean Nick Allard has not only filled the void left by the departures of Titans like Dean Hobbs, Dean Mitchell, and Dean Matasar, among others, he's building himself a legacy in his own right as a trailblazer among trailblazers, an Osiris-Dionysis figure taking the mantle of a noble cause and leading his own revolution.  This Rhodes Scholar should, frankly, have his own Colossus.

*disclaimer: puffery; not a warranty of any kind.

9 comments:

  1. Another of those law school titans would be Dean Wexler. No amount of thanks, of adulation, of retirement benefits, of corporate perks could be an adequate reward for the transformative change she brought to Brooklyn Law School. Indeed, she was a veritable agent of transformative change. Without her Sisyphean efforts, Dean Allard would have been unable to undo everything she previously did and thereby become a change agent himself.

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    1. Indeed. Brooklyn truly is a place of Titanic proportions.

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  2. Who are you to go down to Charles F. Otey's place of work and tell him how to suck dick!? He was admitted to the bar in 1968! I don't think he has teeth; that's why he's just gummin' the Dean. Otey knows what he's doing - that's why he's still doin' it while pushin' 80.

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  3. http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/2010/07/joan-wexler-of-crooklyn-law-school.html

    Here's a great guest post I made on Tom the Temp, back on July 28, 2010. Isn't that a flattering pic of Joan Wexler?

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  4. I think there's a misprint. Shouldn't it read "Brooklyn dredge?"

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  5. By the way, why is it that when I comment on this blog, I no longer have to prove that I'm not a robot? It was a very self-affirming exercise. I believe it was also a reason that very few law deans commented here.

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    1. No idea. Nothing in the comment section has changed in probably a year or more.

      I wish more law deans would comment here. This place could use a bit more prestige and inside insight.

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    2. Seriously LSTC, you're just too clever and funny for your own good. If all your posts weren't parodies of parodies of parodies within parodies, then maybe you could get Orin Kerr to comment here. Talk about prestige!!

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  6. Looks like Crooklyn admitted 53% of applicants in 2014, to the sound of one hand clapping.

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