ANALYSIS: Bloomberg Law’s Top Law Schools for Career Resilience

Most lawyers work long hours in pursuit of the billable hour. As a result, many early-career attorneys find themselves dissatisfied or on an unsustainable path and may leave the profession entirely.

Teaching future lawyers how to counteract burnout and build resilience is a vital step to creating a successful long-term legal career.

Bloomberg Law’s third annual Law School Innovation Program recognizes 10 law schools that offer innovative opportunities in three categories—career pathing, technology, and well-being—that teach law students how to thrive despite the unique challenges the legal profession poses.

Career Pathing

Four law schools have been recognized for offering their students innovative programs to help them plan for their professional development. By showing students what a legal career looks like and how they fit in it, these schools seek to ensure a smoother transition to practice and beyond.

• Berkeley Law Leads, University of California Berkeley School of Law
• Flex Juris Doctor Degree Program, Albany Law
• Mentor Externship Program, School of Law, University of St. Thomas
• Milestones Program, Brigham Young University Law School

Technology

From improving access to justice via technology to understanding the policy implications of using emerging technologies, these three schools stood out for their tech offerings.

• Center for Technology and Innovation in Practice, University of Oklahoma College of Law
• Law and Computing Concentration, Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University
• Technology Law and Policy Scholars Program, Georgetown Law

Well-Being

By addressing stress and how to reduce it, these three courses help students better understand themselves and become consequently more engaged, happier, and able to function at a higher level as attorneys.

• Developing the Whole Law Student Initiative, University of San Diego School of Law
• Extended Enneagram Training, Belmont University College of Law
• Happiness and Peak Performance Law Students and Lawyers (log in required to access course description), University of California, Irvine School of Law

Over the next couple of weeks, we will highlight the finalists for their high-scoring innovations in each of the three categories listed above. Look for the next piece in the series on Feb. 6, when Bloomberg Law Legal Analyst Emily Preston will examine “Career Pathing.”

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