Discussing competence, leadership and lawyering, Elon University School of Law Founding Dean and Professor of Law Emeritus Leary Davis describes Elon Law's program of legal education in an article that was recently published in the Santa Clara Law Review.
Davis’ article, entitled, “Competence as Situationally Appropriate Conduct: An Overarching Concept for Lawyering, Leadership, and Professionalism,” was published in the Santa Clara Law Review’s September 2012 issue.
In the article, Davis writes about the concept of competence within the legal profession. Topics Davis discusses include: the history of lawyer competence, stages of competence and expertise, legal and leadership models that illustrate elements of professional conduct, impediments to achieving competence, essential elements to lawyer competence and the link between conceptions of competence and conceptions of what a lawyer is.
Discussing leadership initiatives taken by law schools, Davis mentions the first- and second-year leadership courses and the optional third-year capstone project at Elon Law.
“Leadership initiatives tend to extend the reach of the law schools into the rest of the university and its disciplines. They also lead to collaborations with other law schools,” Davis writes. “The courses being taught at these schools can be viewed as additive, at the margins of their curricula … However, when one reads the schools’ websites one sees that the courses are parts of initiatives, and that the movement of the initiatives is holistic, joining law school and law practice. One also sees that unlike many other skills courses, law and leadership courses introduce and apply rich theory developed over the years in the field of leadership education.”
Davis was appointed Dean of Elon University School of Law in March 2005 and served until August 2008. He is currently a member of the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism and the American Judicature Society’s National Advisory Committee.
This issue of the Santa Clara Law Review also features an article by Elon Law Professor Faith Rivers James, entitled “Leadership and Social Justice Lawyering.”
For more information about Leary Davis click here.