There is an enormous amount of discussion lately about the future of law schools (for a representative thread of discussion, see here). No doubt there appears to be a major glut in lawyers in the overall market, and many law students are beginning to see law school like trade school. They want to pass the bar and get a job. The liberal arts-style of legal education, along with the major development in the past decades of law clinics, is under attack, at least passive-aggressively.

I see a good chance that many law schools, possibly because they’ve lost a major lawsuit, will start streamlining their legal education palates. Subject areas not on the bar exam will fall by the wayside, or become even more marginalized (along with their instructors). When I was in law school, I skipped securities regulation and corporations in favor of legal history and immigration law, and an awesome death penalty seminar. Law schools that have robust curriculum in race studies, feminist legal studies, and Indian law will feel pressure to drop those classes.

I’m here to tell you that Indian law will be one of those classes that becomes marginalized or disregarded altogether. It’s already pretty marginalized in half of law schools, and disregarded altogether in another quarter.

Those law schools that still emphasize it (probably the same ones that do now) will become the holder and protected of a big secret — there is a market for lawyers in Indian country and in Indian law. American Indians are incredibly underrepresented in the field, Indian tribes are always looking for good lawyers, and tribal economies generate work for lawyers all over. State and federal judges are beginning to look for clerks with Indian law on the transcript — it’s a small number, but it’ll grow over time. If a student can master Indian law, then they can master anything (plus, more and more Indian law cases are coming).

I’m tired of people being warned out of Indian law, that there’s no money in it. I hear it all the time from teenagers to college kids. People out there telling American Indian students not to bother with law school and not to bother with Indian law are just plain idiots.