This week we celebrate – and mourn – the last chapter of the Harry Potter movies. While some of us (*hand raised*) may think it’s smarter to wait until the wand-waving masses have moved on before we brave the theaters, the more ambitious (or simply most industrious) fans have already seen the HP 7.2 film three or four times. And so as my own way of celebrating – and mourning – the end of the series, I am focusing today on how we can see Harry Potter in the legal culture around the Twin Cities. Four Houses at Hogwarts. Four Twin Cities law schools. Coincidence? I think not. Tongue firmly planted in cheek and Quick-Quill at the ready, I have set out to answer the question, which law school corresponds to which House? Or, put another way, into which law school would the Sorting Hat have placed you?

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The House of Gryffindor

As much as Harry Potter is the title character of the series, he’s not particularly adept at magic. In fact, the two things he excels at as a wizard, the Patronus charm and flying, are directly (and probably intentionally) manifestations of courage in the face of fear. His strengths throughout the book – those that make him the hero of the stories – are qualities not at all unique to wizards. He is brave, dedicated, and willing to fight for what he believes in. When it comes to casting spells, however, he is at best simply competent. Or, to paraphrase what was (until the HP series) the greatest wizard movie of all time: If Harry is not a very good wizard, he is at least a very good man. Likewise, although it is the house of the hero Harry Potter, Gryffindor House is clearly not home to the best students. While Hermione may be one of the smartest witches of her age, Neville is certainly one of the dumbest wizards; while Hermione may be one of the hardest workers, Ron may be one of the biggest slackers; while Hermione may be one of the most serious and devoted to her craft, Fred and George and are the prototypical class clowns. What do they all have that the Cowardly Lion doesn’t? Courage! Courage, and commitment to values, are what typify Gryffindor. Back on this side of Platform 9 ¾, the focus of St. Thomas has always been its identity as a Catholic law school. While of course every law school attempts to turn out the best possible lawyers, UST’s focus has never been a single-minded pursuit of prestige and law school rankings. Rather it has tried to instill in its graduates, like Harry Potter, a sense of courage of convictions. As a Gryffindor alum myself, I can say from experience that while the school pressed us to excel as legal wizards, underlying it all was Dumbledore’s implicit threat that, in these hard times, we must try to choose what is right over what is easy.

The House of Slytherin

Since Lord Voldemort was from Slytherin, Harry Potter seems to hold Slytherin House to be the villains through most of the books simply by respondeat superior. Yet though Draco Malfoy seems to stand in for You-Know-Who through most of the early books – at least, in that his schoolyard spats with Harry are symbolic of the larger struggle – the Sorting Hat considered putting Harry into Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin had, according to Dubmledore, an affinity for students who were clever, resourceful, and had “a certain disregard for the rules” – like Draco or Voldemort, but also like Harry himself. It is not just Salazar Slytherin who values “a certain disregard for the rules.” From The Practice to Boston Legal’s Alan Shore and Denny Crane to Franklin & Bash, we like lawyers who are willing to get their hands dirty in the practical side of law to win a case. Very few TV shows are written about legal academics. And of the four law schools, perhaps none is more immersed in the practicalities of the law than William Mitchell. As the only one of the four law schools not affiliated with an undergraduate program, William Mitchell is the only “pure” law school in the state; it still boasts the most alums on the Minnesota Judiciary, and prominent national leaders including Chief Justice Warren Burger (Class of ’31). Ambition and loyalty are the hallmarks of Slytherin House, and as the Sorting Hat told Harry in the very first book, “You could be great, you know, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that.” With its emphasis on practical learning, hands-on experience and fidelity of its vast alumni network, William Mitchell is in a great place to help its graduates toward greatness. If some of them turn out to be evil, maybe that can be forgiven.

The House of Ravenclaw

Rowena Ravenclaw, says the Sorting Hat, set out to teach those whose intelligence was surest. Among the four houses, Ravenclaw seeks the smartest students, the ones always searching for knowledge and eager to be taught. Fittingly, Ravenclaw’s common room is in an [ivory?] tower at Hogwarts, and by making Ravenclaws answer a question to gain admittance, their qualifications to be in that house are constantly challenged. While the least is said about Ravenclaw house of any of the Hogwarts Houses, it is clear from the beginning that Ravenclaw is the home for some of the smartest witches and wizards at Hogwarts. One thing you know about students from the U of Minnesota’s law school: they’re among the smartest guys in the room; they have the highest median LSAT scores and undergrad GPA of any of the four Twin Cities law schools. They have been consistently around the top twenty law schools in the nation, and more than any other school in the state, their graduates are recruited for on-campus interviewing at some of the top law firms in the country. If there is one drawback to this sort of academic education, however, it is that it misses the practicalities of the legal world. Luna Lovegood may have been smart, capable, and a fast learner, but she tended to be off in her own world. When paired with the more practical Gryffindors, however, she was able to put her smarts to good use. Although the U of M wears Gryffindor maroon and gold, with its rigorous standards and focus on intellectual achievement the school is clearly Ravenclaw at heart.

The House of Hufflepuff

Hufflepuff gets a bad rap in Harry Potter. Its reputation for being “a lot of duffers” belies a deeper calling; those who value hard work and commitment. Of the four Minnesota law schools, Hamline is often similarly derided as the only fourth-tier school. Setting aside for the moment that its ADR programs is one of the top in the country, however, it is too easy to be lulled into thinking of the law as a place for top-tier jobs and flashing legal showmanship. Every practicing lawyer knows that much of the law is grinding: hours of research to find that one bit of precedent or smoking-gun document that wins your case. As much as we would like it to be otherwise, briefs don’t write themselves.¹ As Carolyn Elefant of My Shingle recently wrote, the case of Jose Baez, who defended Casey Anthony to an upset acquittal, was more about hard work and determination than brilliant legal strategy. Lest we all forget, when Hogwarts needed a champion for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, no less an authority than the Goblet of Fire itself chose a Hufflepuff to represent the school. Cedric Diggory was willing to work together and play fair, and did as well as the famous Harry Potter based solely on hard work and guts. ¹Briefs, of course, are one of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration: You can summon a brief if it is already in the brief bank; you can transform it if it’s on a related legal issue, or you can increase the quantity if you already have a short brief, but you can’t make a good brief out of nothing.

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Jeep has recently been running an ad campaign whose tagline is “The things we make, make us.” Similarly, it is strictly true that the law schools we choose, choose us as well. We choose the law school that best fits our own interests and priorities, but in the process, that law school helps make us who we are as lawyers. “Ah,” but you say, “How are you going to relate this to solo or small firm practice?” Simple. Magic. Special thanks to Slytherins Landon Ascheman and Rashmi Seneviratne and Ravenclaw Nadia Wood for their contibutions to this post