The Red Velvet Lawyer

A Mission Tied to Its Locality As I noted in an earlier blog, I am using this week to remind faculty, students, alumni, and entering students why the Appalachian School of Law is so special.  Let's move to its unique mission. The Mission Appalachian School of Law (ASL) is a mission-driven school created by local business, legal, and political leaders concerned about the well-being of people living in the central Appalachian Mountains.   ASL’s founders hoped to create an opportunity for central Appalachians to see beyond their own mountain valleys and, having done so, to return home with greater insight, effective legal skills, leadership ambitions, high ethical standards, and a commitment to community service.    A 2008 student survey, conducted in conjunction with the strategic planning process, revealed that on average the parents of ASL students only had “some college” or a “2-year degree.”  Thirty-four percent of our students rep...

As part of my summer concentration on books written by Seth Godin, I recently read his 2010 Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?  It ties to many of the themes I summarized in my post, “Leaning In” as a Woman Lawyer , found here .   Godin argues that with so many means of direct communication with so many different “tribes” in a hyper-competitive world, each one of us can make an indispensable contribution, as a linchpin, to a business, art, project, or something we care deeply about.  You have the choice of being indispensable.  Just make it. He defines linchpins as the “people who own their own means of production, who can make a difference, lead us, and connect us.”  “The linchpin is an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happen.  Every worthwhile institution has indispensable people who make differences like these.”   They are artists and givers of gifts.  T...