I had an interesting discussion on the possible role of law schools in helping train law students for jobs in the compliance field. Compliance does not require a law degree, but there seems to be a demand for compliance professionals with legal degrees in the mid and higher levels, particularly in highly regulated industries.
Part of the discussion was about compliance as a distinct discipline. There seemed to be little disagreement about. There were differing viewpoints about the nature of discipline and the profession. That seems normal because there are differing requirements depending on the field and the role within a particular organization.
Can law students be taught compliance? The answer, in part, depends on an approach to teaching the law.
When I was a law student, the basic approach was case law. We studied appellate case decisions. These were instances where something went wrong, someone was angry enough to bring a case, fought it out in court and then appealed the decision. To me, that seems the opposite of compliance. That teaches you how to deal with a situation and argue the positions after the bad thing happened. Compliance is about preventing the bad thing from happening.
Several people mentioned that they had gotten letters to supplement their compliance credentials. I got my IACCP®. Others mentioned CCEP and other credentialed designations.
There is a demand for something beyond or different than a legal degree to grow a compliance professional. There is a potential role there for law schools. I know that Seton Hall has certification programs in compliance for healthcare.
I also note that several law school are involved with the Compliance Certification Board Accrediting Program:
Charlotte School of Law, Charlotte, NC
Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, OH
Cumberland School of Law – Samford University, Birmingham, AL
DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, IL
George Washington University, Washington DC
Mitchell Hamline School of Law, St. Paul, MN
Widener University Delaware Law School, Wilmington, DE
I would guess that more law schools are looking at compliance as way to add value to the legal education. The classic role of placing graduating law students into the big law firms is a shrinking market. I heard that one law school has gone from placing 70% of its graduates into the biggest law firms to only 30%, while at the same time shrinking class size and maintaining its rankings.
UC Irvine Law School
By Mathieu Marquer
CC BY SA