Making Progress In Legal Education

This article serves to introduce to articles in the Baylor Law Review Leadership Symposium issue which is the fourth annual leadership symposium connected with the work of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Leadership. Included in this issue are articles from speakers at the 2020 Vision for Leadership Conference held at Baylor Law on September 14-17, 2020. This article summarizes important conversations at the virtual Conference, including discussions about leadership in periods of normalcy and in crisis, lessons of leadership, suggested paths to overcome barriers to teaching leadership, and personal reflections offering advice to law students, lawyers, and law schools. Part II of this article describes the progress over the last five years to increase the leadership development programming in legal education. The remainder of this article weaves together highlights from the articles in this issue as well as quotes and discussion points from the Conference to advocate for incorporating more leadership development into law school programming. Part III provides support for the creation of leadership development programs. Part IV offers suggestions to law schools for how to better prepare law students for the important leadership roles they will assume after graduation. Finally, Part V encourages law schools to embrace the Juris Doctor as a degree in leadership.