ABSTRACT
Leadership education should be integrated into the law school curriculum. While some believe leadership is something more innate than learned, the principles of leadership certainly can be researched and discussed. However, this is made more difficult in law school due to the use of the Socratic Method, in which professors ask students questions and lead the lecture. Not only does the Socratic Method deny students the opportunity to assume leadership in the classroom, but it also precludes discussion, another way to nurture leadership. The Socratic Method involves structured dialogue led by the teacher; the student speaks only after the teacher asks a question. Fortunately for the students at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, a course entitled “Foundations of Leadership Seminar: Theory and Praxis” (“Foundations of Leadership”), which is part of the law school’s Leadership, Ethics and Democracy (LEAD) Initiative, provides its students with the opportunity to research and discuss leadership. After taking the “Foundations of Leadership” class, I came to believe that leadership education should be integrated into the law school curriculum generally. I am a recent law graduate, who just completed my J.D. at the school of law, and in this chapter I share my perspective on the benefits of the kind of leadership training I received during my legal education.
