judges (both of whom are haphazardlyrnelevated from the mass of lawyers), andrnthis may account for the chaotic naturernof American judicial practice and legalrneducation.rnThere are some internal pressures forrnchange (Northwestern’s law-school deanrndragged us kicking and screaming intornthe production of a “strategic plan” to accomplishrnsome of the goals I’ve listedrnhere, and several other law schools arerndoing the same), but external factors arernlikely to determine whether the lawrnschools will save themselves. Most lawschoolrndeans lament the annual U.S.rnNews and World Report rankings whichrnseek to establish a hierarchy of lawrnschools, but flawed as these rankings are,rnthey may be the best means we have forrnrewarding positive efforts for change.rnThe recent rise in the rankings of somernschools (N.Y.U. and Duke, for instance)rnseem to reflect their attempts to address atrnleast some of the current shortcomings ofrnlegal education.rnWe Americans have no monarchy,rnhereditary aristocracy, or establishedrnchurch. Since the beginning, just aboutrnall that has held us together (and that tenuously,rnas the Civil War showed) was arnnational commitment to the Constitution,rnthe rule of law, and the morality andrnreligion that undergirded them. As thernrule of law has eroded in recent years andrnthe Constitution has been pummeled, itrnis no wonder that we have trembled onrnthe edge of urban unrest, plunged intornthe crass excesses of materialism, andrncompletely lost our moral bearings. Menrntrained in the law and its history were indispensablernto the writing of the Declarationrnof Independence, the Constitution,rnand the Bill of Rights. None of themrnwere trained in law schools, of course,rnsince the American law school didn’t existrnuntil the middle of the 19th century.rnBut unless the American law school canrnreinvent itself, drawing from the classicalrnmoral and religious traditions of the 18thrnand 19th centuries and recapturing thernbenefits of professional apprenticeship asrna means of legal education, it may not lastrnanother century —and it will have fewrnmourners.rnStephen B. Presser is the Raoul BergerrnProfessor of Legal History at NorthwesternrnUniversity School of Law,rnan adjunct professor of managementrnand strategy at Northwestern’s KelloggrnGraduate School of Management,rnand Chronicles’ legal-affairs editor.rnCULTURErnKulturklatsch of thernWholly GlobalrnEmpirernby Marian Kester Coombsrn^^ AiipolrnyVsavinsrnitics is local”: once a savvyrnaying, now a wistful whine. Allrnculture, too, used to be local, but that’srnchanging fast. The rule of thumb for distinguishingrnbetween vestiges of the merelyrnlocal and harbingers of the emergingrnglobal is simple: efficiency.rnYou can fit many more units of globalrninto your life because each unit requiresrnyou to do far less. Global is 24-7 with norncapricious “day of rest.” Local culturerncoats your tongue, colors your speech,rnflavors your mind, gets all over yourrnclothes and under your fingernails,rnmakes you a veritable zombie in its service,rnwhile global culture is clean andrnmodular: Simple, interchangeable unitsrnplug easily into and out of the desiredrnmodemality. Local means being stuck inrncharacter all your life; global means neverrnhaving any character at all.rnClobal permits you to be a tourist inrnlife, just driving through, as opposed tornbeing “on the ground,” rolling around inrnthe dirt with the rest of the planet’s lowerrnfauna; it allows you to pick and choosernamong the nice parts (cuisine, amusingrndances, bizarre costumes, touching legends),rnwhile leaving the nasty parts (nationalism,rnchauvinism, sexism, religion,rnmilitary service) alone. Would yournrather be very good at just one culture, orrnappreciate many? Would you rather bern”just yourself,” or all things to all people?rnGlobal regards local much as the DustinrnHoffman character in Wag the Dog regardsrnthe masses whom his artfully craftedrnsentimentality has moved to tears.rn(“Real tears,” he murmurs. “It’s my greatestrnproduction ever!”) In other words, localrnculture is a spectacle, but not onernyou’d want to take seriously enough to berntrapped inside forever.rnThe globally cultured realize that, allrnthings being equal, nothing in particularrnis worth a damn. There’s always someonernor something bigger, better, smarter,rnfaster, cooler, hipper, weirder, or just differentrnsomewhere else or other, so whyrnbother? Everything suffers by globalrncomparison. If you’ve seen them all,rnyou’ve seen that one—been there, donernthat. Why stop at anything? Instead ofrnwasting your life painstakingly masteringrna particular culture in order to recreaternand reproduce it, wouldn’t you ratherrnsubscribe to Humanity’s Greatest Hitsrnand have them all at your fingertips?rnWliy learn and transmit a culture whenrnyou can simply access one as needed?rnAnd why spend time and energy creatingrnwhen you can consume with a fraction ofrnthe effort?rnThe entire process of evolution itselfrnhas been advanced—or, perhaps, miraculouslyrnreversed — by modern methods.rnThe primitive form of evolution led torngreater complexit}’, difficulty, differentiation,rnseparation, incompatibility, and unpredictability.rnThe progressive form reunites,rnstandardizes, equalizes, andrnradically simplifies. This has already ledrnto a new (but quite temporar)’) global divisionrnof labor. For instance, the bestrn(and cheapest) baseball players comernfrom the Dominican Republic. The bestrncomedians come from Canada, the bestrnmotelkeepers from India, the best taxirndrivers from Kashmir, the best DefensernIntelligence Agency and National SecurityrnCouncil emplovees from mainlandrnCh ina, and so on. Instead of trying torncompete for all these professions within arnsingle historically distinct geographic entityrn(“nation”), let each region specializernin its own area of expertise until suchrntime as progressive evolution has at lastrnabolished all distinctions and all jobs arernOne.rnThe following guide highlights the localrnversus global distinction (senselessrnbus)’work versus efficiency):rnLocal: Listen to the particular melodiesrnof the wind as it blows through yourrnnative forests and mountain passes; carvernwoodwind instruments from selectedrnbranches; reproduce these melodies;rnmove slowly to the music in intricaterndance patterns so deeply a part of yournthey are almost unconscious. Later, developrnthe dance music of your people intornsymphonies, symphonic poems, variations,rnmazurkas, polonaises, barcaroles,rntarantellas, rondos, minuets, ballads.rnGlobal: Press another selection onrnyour CD player.rnLocal: Cultivate certain vines andrnbreed them into bearers of the perfectrngrape; wreathe hillsides with carefullyrnJANUARY 2001/53rnrnrn