A student-focused training ground designed to prepare graduates to enter a service-oriented profession should inspire its graduates to become servant-leaders and equip them to be effective in that role. This focus is particularly suited to a law school that is part of a University dedicated to a global Christian mission. Therefore, Baylor Law is committed to inspiring a passion for service—to clients, an increasingly diverse society, and the profession[iv].
[iv] A servant-leader is best equipped to lead if trained to be a highly skilled, highly motivated, and creative problem-solver. A servant-leader understands that the commitment to service extends beyond clients to their communities, where lawyers live and work, to the legal profession, the rule of law, and the justice system. Service to clients transcends technical legal representation and advice. It includes sincere compassion for those in need of legal services and seeing and treating them as human beings, not just legal issues or a source of income.
Service to the community may take the form of offering legal expertise or, e.g., making a meaningful commitment of time to serve on the board of a non-profit or coach a children’s soccer team. Service to the legal profession may take the form, e.g., of participating in the local, state, or national bar activities, giving CLE lectures, serving on committees proposing changes to legal rules, testifying before a legislative committee, eagerly accepting pro bono cases, or speaking on legal topics to civic organizations, and requires modeling upright behavior in all endeavors. A lawyer with a heart for service recognizes that the lens through which most of the public views the courts, the legal profession, and the rule of law is the ever-present opportunity to observe how lawyers live their lives and share their talents and training.