[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7070-S7071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GEORGETOWN LAW'S ``LAWYERS AS LEADERS'' COURSE
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, there is no question that 2020 has been a
year of challenges, difficulty, and concern. It is in these more
challenging times that it is especially important to shine a light on
those individuals and institutions that are doing good work, work that
inspires the next generation of leaders to think bigger and create a
brighter future. It is no surprise that Georgetown Law, where I earned
my law degree, is doing precisely that, living up to its timeless
motto: ``Law is but the means, justice is the end.''
This fall, Georgetown Law has offered a unique course entitled
``Lawyers as Leaders'' for the first time. Far from a staid black
letter law class, this course is styled as a series of candid,
introspective conversations between Georgetown Law Dean William M.
Treanor and faculty members who have been prominent leaders in the law
and public service. These conversations seek to confront law students
with the pressing issues of the day--the COVID-19 pandemic, racial
injustices, the fragility of our democracy's norms, to name a few--and
give them a sense for what, as future attorneys, they can do to address
them.
In a time of unprecedented uncertainty, the course is a reminder, as
one enrolled student put it, ``that there is hope.'' Lawyers as Leaders
centers students in the values that inspired them to study the law and
reminds them of their own agency to make measurable change. It is no
wonder that over 300 students have enrolled in this course, the largest
class enrollment in Georgetown Law's 150-year history. I hope this
course is offered for many semesters to come.
I have often highlighted the achievements of Georgetown Law both on
and off the Senate floor. The education I received there was central to
my decision to dedicate my career to public service. It is exactly
courses like Lawyers as Leaders that will help encourage this and
future classes of Georgetown Law students to pursue their passions as
attorneys. Georgetown Law should be commended for offering this course
and reminding students that the law is most exciting and transformative
when it is viewed not just as a career, but as a calling.
I ask unanimous consent that an article from the Washington Post,
published on November 6, 2020, titled ``Most popular course ever at
Georgetown Law? How to fight for justice,'' be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2020]
Most Popular Course Ever at Georgetown Law? How To Fight for Justice
(By Susan Svrluga)
In her third year of law school, Maxine Walters expected to
have everything in place: Her job locked in, her career path
mapped out.
Then the pandemic hit, and economic uncertainty, and
protests erupted over racial justice and tensions flared over
the presidential election and transition. Her summer job with
a firm evaporated, and with it the hoped-for offer of a
permanent position by the time classes resumed for the fall.
But her school year began with an unusual class--one
created to mark Georgetown University Law Center's 150th
anniversary and shaped by the realities of 2020--that has,
for many students, upended their ideas about rigid timelines
for success, their expectations and even their aspirations.
Instead of a traditional course focused on an area of law
such as contracts or torts, the school's leaders crafted a
more personal, broad-ranging look at leadership. It was a
recognition that the tumultuous times are forcing a
reckoning, and leaving many students yearning to have an
impact.
Clearly, they touched a nerve: More than 300 upper-level
students signed up for ``Lawyers as Leaders,'' the largest
enrollment for a course in the history of Georgetown Law.
``This is definitely a time where the ground is moving,''
said Max Lesser, a 28-year-old student from New Jersey.
``Everyone realizes that the old paradigms of politics and
justice are kind of breaking. . . . Lawyers have a real role
to play in what path we take.''
For the online course, students submit questions about
assigned readings and then listen to a conversation between
Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor and a faculty member.
He asks them to talk about how to move forward to confront
``the great issues of this terrible time.''
``This is a time when we're all grappling with so many
crises'' and profound challenges and losses, he said.
The conversations held each Sunday--now available to all on
the school's anniversary website--have been topical, even
urgent. Students have heard from Lawrence Gostin about
health-care policy during the pandemic, such as vaccine
distribution and whether the government should mandate mask-
wearing and social distancing.
Neal Katyal, who has argued more than 40 cases before the
Supreme Court, spoke about the contested 2000 election, in
which he was co-counsel to Democratic candidate Al Gore, and
about electoral integrity this year. Randy Barnett, a
libertarian and self-described contrarian, talked about the
constitutionality of health policy, recent Supreme Court
nominees and the importance of seeking out opposing
viewpoints. And Rosa Brooks talked about her work examining
whether norms will hold fast in the aftermath of this
contentious election, or whether the country could face a
constitutional crisis.
The conversations have been challenging, insightful,
sometimes funny and surprisingly vulnerable. Gostin spoke of
his difficult childhood, and how that had helped shape the
optimistic outlook he's known for. He shared his tips for the
best way to make popcorn.
Katyal told students to do something that was uncomfortable
for them, especially early in their careers. He said he had
recently taken rap improv classes to improve his ability to
think on his feet, and found it terrifying.
Katyal also shared how his father faced discrimination and
was unfairly fired, but had his dignity restored by a civil
case, inspiring Katyal to go to law school. He told how he
always asked his children's advice the night before a Supreme
Court case, and shared some of their tips on how to stay calm
when facing the justices. (Once: ``Think of a cute pig.'')
This is a time when shared challenges make people more
comfortable talking about vulnerabilities, Treanor said. ``I
don't think we would have these same conversations if we had
this class two years ago.''
Hillary Sale, an associate dean and professor who helped
design the class, agreed. The stress of the times is making
people introspective and reflective, she said, ``in ways that
are probably really good, and probably wouldn't happen
without that outside pressure.''
Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, challenged
students to rethink the justice system, which he argues is
not weakened by a few racist bad-apple police officers, but
is ``broke on purpose'' and working the way it was designed
to work.
Butler told of his searing experience decades ago when he
was arrested while he was a prosecutor on a case accusing a
U.S. senator of corruption. As he wrote in his book ``Let's
Get Free,'' Butler was charged with simple assault after a
neighbor falsely accused him of pushing her after a dispute
over a parking space. Police officers cursed at him. At the
courthouse, he was led, handcuffed, through the inmates'
entrance--when, as a prosecutor, he normally could breeze
through the main entrance without needing to go through a
metal detector.
At his trial, he said, he listened to a police officer lie
on the stand. After he was acquitted, he felt the weight of
how easily the false
[[Page S7071]]
accusation could have destroyed him, if not for the skill of
his attorney.
A Yale- and Harvard-educated prosecutor, Butler had once
felt different from the Black men he prosecuted, he told The
Washington Post. But, he said, ``I certainly wasn't different
in the way police responded to me.''
He wanted students to think about the inevitable setbacks
and traumatic experiences they would face, and how they would
confront those with integrity. ``The main thing I wanted
students to think about,'' Butler said, ``is justice.''
For Walters, a 23-year-old Black student from Mobile, Ala.,
the leadership class initially sounded like a welcome break
from typical law classes--in which professors grill students
with tough questions--during a busy fall when she is also
applying for jobs. But Walters, who is president of the
Georgetown Law Black Law Students Association, has been
struck by a number of the conversations, including
Butler's.
``It has been inspiring to have this class,'' Walters said.
As faculty reflect in the class on their own life choices,
the odd zigs and zags of their careers, the abject failures
that turned out to be gifts and the pinnacles that
unexpectedly fell flat, the stories resonated with other
students confronting their own imminent decisions.
People are definitely more stressed about careers this
fall, said Luke Bunting, a student from Indiana who has
worked for Republican members of Congress and is now in his
second year at Georgetown Law. He hopes to work for a firm
and make an impact, and hearing from people with such
different backgrounds and approaches made him more confident
that was possible, he said.
Kristin Ewing, a student from Nebraska by way of a musical-
theater career in New York, gained an interest in health-care
policy when she saw how performers were affected by their
lack of insurance. She said it was reassuring to hear
professors talk about career pivots.
Rujuta Nandgaonkar, also interested in health policy--an
inclination cemented by the pandemic, she said--was struck by
Barnett's advice to surround yourself with people who
disagree with you, and an idea several people shared about
getting past the inevitable bumps in the road. ``Those are
important lessons for these times,'' she said.
``This is not the greatest time--but there is hope,''
Nandgaonkar said. ``That's the string that runs through it.''
Lesser, a high school teacher for four years before law
school, isn't sure what he wants to do after he graduates.
But he is considering options that tie into his interests in
democracy and criminal justice reform, such as working in a
prosecutor's office, judiciary committees in Congress or for
the military.
After hearing Brooks talk, Lesser said, ``her lecture
reinforced that having a functional modern democracy is a
precious thing, and it can get lost easily if people aren't
willing to perfect it.''
The class has been grounding, Lesser said.
``It reminds you of why you're doing this. That's
important, especially when our country is being tested, our
field is being tested. You have to reconnect to the values''
that brought people to study the law, he said.
Walters had gravitated during law school to apply to firms
because she was worried about paying off student loans. But
after a summer of protests following George Floyd's killing
in police custody, she witnessed people paint messages about
defunding the police near the White House, and was struck by
the role public defenders were playing in the community.
The new economic uncertainty and the idealism reinforced by
the class reaffirmed her original commitment to go back to
the South--where she grew up not seeing Black lawyers, she
said--and work as a public defender.
``I'm kind of grateful to be able to do what I'm passionate
about,'' Walters said. ``I think it would be great to go back
there and try to make it the best place it could be.''
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