Redefining Legal Education: Class Focuses on Leadership Via Service

That's what 19 University of Mississippi law students experienced in the Leadership and the Law class taught by Fred Slabach, dean of the School of Law, and Melissa Jones, associate director of the Trent Lott Leadership Institute.

Communities turn to lawyers to serve in leadership roles in government positions, civic and religious organizations, and community projects because of their knowledge and training, Slabach said.

"My goal with this class is twofold: to make sure students understand the opportunity and responsibility they have to be leaders in their communities and to provide them with the skills and tools they need to be effective in those leadership roles," he said.

Students studied real-life case studies of what it means to be a lawyer and leader in the community.

"There are a lot of different things that can be done to lead in your community," Jones said. "We offered them an investigation into leadership in the legal field from different parameters."

Guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds and legal fields offered different perspectives of what leadership in law can look like.

Former Sen. Trent Lott and A C Wharton Jr., former mayor of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, and the first African American to teach at the law school, provided views from elected officials.

Lott shared with students that having a law degree will help in whatever they decide to do in life. What he learned in law school, such as constitutional law, gave him an advantage over colleagues in the elected arena, he said.

"There's no better preparation for being a leader and being in government than a law degree," Lott said. "Be involved, be active and aspire to be a leader in whatever you do."

After sharing that the Ole Miss law school was the first integrated school he attended, Wharton encouraged students to enter law with a passion and to realize that "to whom much is given, much is required."

"Deep down inside every human, there's a greater person to be born," he said. "It's up to lawyers to teach the need to be patient, to meet everybody with an open mind and a presumption that this is a fair, good and just person.

"And with time, the better person deep down inside will be born."

Views from the bar and bench were provided by Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James Maxwell and U.S. District Judge Gray Miller, of Texas.

Mary Helen Wall provided students with a view from the corporate structure as corporate council for Huntington-Ingles. And Roun McNeal, assistant professor in the UM Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, and Rhea Tannehill, Oxford attorney and retired National Guard lieutenant colonel, offered views from the multi-faceted practitioner.

The class goes beyond the rules and prepares students to be not just competent lawyers, but influential members of their communities, said second-year student Madalyn Burke, a Vicksburg native.

"This class has shifted my perspective by helping me realize that, as a lawyer, I will have a responsibility to serve as a leader within my community," she said. "I hadn't fully considered that people often look to lawyers as decision-makers in a variety of settings."

Calvin Sanders, a second-year student from Springfield, Missouri, said the class pushed him to think beyond the traditional responsibilities of a lawyer, such as litigating.

"This course has taught me the true importance of advocacy," he said. "Dr. Jones has taught our class that effective advocacy requires strong leadership.

"The ability to lead with integrity and clarity makes our advocacy more powerful."

The instructors challenged students to practice their leadership skills and give back to their communities. Burke and Sanders selected Lovepacks Oxford, a nonprofit organization that provides additional food for the weekends and holiday breaks to school-age children in need.

"In my hometown, a large portion of students attend schools that are in a food desert, and they struggle to eat meals outside the school setting," Sanders said. "Lovepacks strives to help students who face similar challenges, and I know how big of an impact their work has on students in need."

Jones said she hopes students gain the passion to invest in their communities and the tools to affect change.

"This class has been incredibly impactful and has broadened my understanding of what it truly means to be a lawyer," Burke said. "It's not just about showing up to work and trying cases; it's about stepping into a leadership role and striving to leave the world around me better than I found it."

Top: Students in the Leadership and the Law class study real-life case studies to learn what it means to be a lawyer and leader in the community. Graphic by John McCustion/University Marketing and Communications