On Martin Luther King Jr. Day last month, the civil rights leader’s son was asked what he learned from his father. He answered that both his parents taught us that progress requires endurance.
The wisdom of that bellwether loudly rings true. It encourages us to carry on together, to stubbornly steer through the hazardous swirl of disruptive changes and multifarious rocky obstacles that can impede our pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Human intentions often are thwarted by the unexpected. In other words, “People plan, God laughs,” a well-known adage drawn from a Yiddish expression and the Bible (“Der mensch tracht, un Gott lacht” and Proverbs 16:9, 19:21). Or, as boxer Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Sorry, champ. With justifiable faith, hope and appreciation for the remunerated and charitable good works that the rule of law affords, and because there is too much brawling outside the ring over the contentious issues of our day, we audaciously edit the Yiddish seichel and scripture to read: “People plan, God laughs, law guides.”
That small amendment describes the important role that law and legal education can and must play in fighting the good fights, resolving disputes, developing and upholding rules for how to live together safely in peace, promote equality, prosperity, justice, civilized society and sustain the natural world we share.
Both the difficulty and meaningful purpose of such lofty aspirations, for our shared legal vocation and academic mission, were driven home during the recent annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in New Orleans.
Law faculty, deans, experts and academic service providers from all over the country discussed the hot topics of our day. Most valuably, each of us learned what we needed to learn, which in my case was a lot.
For example, even for schools like Jacksonville University that have leaned into the artificial intelligence phenomenon, we gained priceless insights comparing notes with colleagues and experts.
It is humbling and exhilarating to contemplate needed research relating to designed bias in AI programming, neurodivergence and linguistic accessibility, improving teaching and student performance, introducing digital gaming into teaching and study, using AI to expand access to high-quality affordable legal services and debating the so-called inevitable future dominance of AI.
Briefings on complex developments covered accreditation, Bar examinations, significant changes in the regulation and legal requirements governing higher education, admissions and student financial aid.
Overall, the atmosphere was a gumbo of tense concern and uncertainty, accompanied by collective resolve to endure and improve.
We stewed over legal issues and operational consequences of the barrage of problems that higher education and every sector are navigating such as immigration policy and enforcement, domestic unrest and violence, health risks, economic disparity, international discord and controversial misadventure and conversations about government power and constitutional norms.
Even so, this writer was not alone leaving the Big Easy better informed, energized and determined that we can maintain and enhance America’s deserved reputation for educating the world’s best lawyers.
Back on the job we are encouraged by the strength of our curriculum and student outcomes. Relatively speaking, our students are among the best of the best.
We are proud to report 100% graduation and 100% employment of our inaugural class. Their overall Bar first-time pass rate including out-of-state results rose to 92.3%, after in- state results of 91.7%.
A significant portion of the current 3L graduating class already have offers and commitments for jobs after graduation. And our 2L and IL classes are in demand, impressively lining up summer positions for 2026. Thank you.
Now, we prepare for our next accreditation milestone. In addition to voluminous detailed annual reports filed by all accredited schools, we have submitted responses in hundreds of pages to 77 multipart questions concerning our compliance with American Bar Association standards.
While this accreditation document is not a beach read, it presents a compelling story about the remarkable strength of a uniquely excellent, young and steadily, prudently growing institution.
Applications for our fifth entering class are well above previous years and much higher than the national trend.
After a task force study and report, the state Supreme Court ordered an end to reliance on the ABA “as the sole accrediting agency for law schools whose graduates are eligible to sit for this state’s General Bar Examination.”
This change was not unexpected and like other accredited schools we are prepared to hit it out of the park.
There is value in the rigor of the accreditation process. National accreditation attracts out-of-state students and benefits Florida graduates with flexibility to seek jobs elsewhere.
Ultimately if alternative accreditors emerge, the market, that is applicants, counselors and employers, will determine the value of ABA accreditation. Competition tends to increase quality and choice and reduce price. Bring it on.
A new year’s resolution to overcome a proclivity for loquaciousness rivaling Shakespeare’s Polonius, has me rereading Ernest Hemingway, the master of brevity.
Unexpectedly, his spare words are motivational.
“Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly,” was Hemingway’s explanation for how bankruptcy happened in “The Sun Also Rises.”
Economic journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin applies this phrase to explain major financial disasters in “1929,” his captivating, cautionary book about the Great Depression.
The history of failed democracies also describes the onset of constitutional crises.
In America, the prospect of getting closer to “suddenly” underscores the purpose and urgency of the difficult work judges, other lawyers and legal educators must do to preserve our form of limited self-government under law.
Literary legend is that Hemingway also took the prize for the shortest book and saddest sentence ever written. “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Heartbreaking.
My self-assigned, concise writing homework counters with: “Unchecked power: illegality ignored, democracy dies.”
Sad, but not as much as Hemingway’s six words. That is because the heart of the Constitution still beats, and threats to democracy can be stymied and reversed.
The knowledge, effort, skill and grit of lawyers and those who teach and mentor future lawyers will well serve the public interest by working to assure democracy endures long past the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.