Last week we looked at an essay-length blog post in which Brian Tamanaha cautioned law schools against embracing interdisciplinary programs.

Tamanaha’s post has led to a torrent of debate. The conversation is indexed here and here.

We’ll note especially this long analysis by Lawrence Solum, who teaches law and philosophy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Solum echoes some of Tamanaha’s concerns, especially that interdisciplinary scholars might be too removed from the task of training students to be practicing lawyers. But — as you might expect from someone who wears two disciplinary hats — Solum rejects Tamanaha’s prescription.

Instead, he supports a model that he calls “multidisciplinary legal education,” which would involve, among other things, Ph.D. programs that would train lawyers to join the legal academy. But he isn’t very hopeful that universities will move toward that model.