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#PittsburghsFutures: 4/x – Renewing Pittsburgh’s Governance

The following was published on March 31, 2021 at Postindustrial, under the headline “Renewing Pittsburgh’s Governance.” It is Pittsblog-ish content. What does that mean? I explained earlier, here. There is more Pittsblog-ish content to come. Happy New Year.

By Michael Madison

A little more than 15 years ago, I made a minor name for myself as a Pittsburgh observer by publishing a newspaper column that argued, bluntly, that the Allegheny Conference on Community Development had outlasted its usefulness to the region and should withdraw from the stage.

I wrote that the Conference should accept appropriate gratitude for its historical contributions but should cede the region to modern forward-looking, more entrepreneurially-minded leadership. That hasn’t happened, of course. It’s strange to imagine that incumbent regional pooh-bahs would relinquish their status voluntarily.

I persist with the point today because my theme, expressed inartfully back then, is more urgent than ever. For Pittsburgh and other post-industrial regions, governance matters. If Pittsburgh hopes to build a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous future for itself, Pittsburgh has the wrong governance in place.

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#PittsburghsFutures: 3/x – Who is a Pittsburgher?

The following was published on January 1, 2021 at Postindustrial, under the headline “Let’s expand what it means to be ‘a Pittsburgher.’ It is Pittsblog-ish content. What does that mean? I explained earlier, here. There is more Pittsblog-ish content to come. Happy New Year.

By Michael Madison

What if the future of Pittsburgh did not ritually invoke the historical sweat equity of steelworkers and their wives and children?

What if the future of Pittsburgh did not hinge on the assumption that Downtown Pittsburgh is destined always to center and anchor the region, economically or culturally?

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#PittsburghsFutures: 2/x – Imagining a future Pittsburgh for all

The following was published last month at Postindustrial, in print and online, under the headline “Imagining a future Pittsburgh for all: Creating a thriving postindustrial economy means moving past a region of our imagination.” It is Pittsblog-ish content. What does that mean? I explained earlier, here. There is more Pittsblog-ish content to come.

By Mike Madison

Pittsburgh’s public sphere has no shortage of great, idealistic, ambitious goals for a new, 21st century, now post-pandemic Pittsburgh: equity, inclusion, wealth, happiness, opportunity, effective governance, a clean environment, a sustainable resource base, health and education for all. 

Almost no effort goes into how we’re going to get from here to there, or anywhere else. 

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FLW

Legal Education’s Waterloo: The Last of the Fire Swamp

Begin here. Then read this.

Evidence

Despite the many flaws of law schools today, and despite naivete, ignorance, and obstinacy on the parts of schools, faculty, law firms, and practicing lawyers, I’m optimistic about the future.  Why?  Because I look at the large number of things in flux today, even looking only and specifically at law practice and legal education, and my story-oriented interpretation is that somethings (plural) are starting to shake loose. The scriptwriters, as they say, have given us a lot of plot points to chew on. There is evidence of instability, in small and maybe large respects, and the instability is resonating more powerfully than it has in the past. My optimism is intuitive: I’m optimistic that we may be able to decipher the instability, decode its sources and anticipate its payoffs, and plan and respond to it in ways that eventually produce great results. Like Westley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride, we may get through the Fire Swamp.

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FLW

Legal Education’s Waterloo: Still in the Fire Swamp

Begin here.

Story One 

Evolutionary (or adaptive) professionalism. 

Technological change, shifting financial markets, expanding and contracting labor markets, fluid trade patterns — the legal profession has seen these before, and it’s seeing related things now.  The values and principles that define law, lawyers, and the profession are durable and transcend the details of specific organizational forms and educational pathways.  Law schools today and law practice organizations should steer into the skid, so to speak, as they have learned to do in the past. That means accommodating new technologies and modes of education and practice into well-established pathways to professional excellence and community and client service.  Innovation and disruption will come, as they should, but they lead to legal worlds that look slightly different tomorrow compared to how they look today. 

If that’s your story of law and legal education, then its central strategic implication is pretty simple.  You don’t need to do much except carry on, ride out the tough times and celebrate the good times.  There is little need to lead. Be as distinctive as you must to maintain your competitive position. But in the spirit of E.M. Forster, only respond.

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