Thank you both for coming." McConnell sat down behind his desk. “I’ll be handling this matter in Sam's absence."

The dean is gone?

As you may know, he's on vacation. He left last week."

I knew that.

Angus said, "There's not much to handle, Jim. I take complete responsibility for what happened at the prison, and I've already suspended the externship program there, pending an investigation. I'm very sorry for the injury to Nat, as well as any adverse publicity to the school."

McConnell nodded. "Perhaps we should back up a minute. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Sure," Angus said, and Nat maintained her professionalism as he recounted a brief version of the attack, the riot, and the aftermath. At the end of the account, McConnell's lined face had fallen into even deeper lines. He patted his blue-and-green rep tie, then his silvery wave of hair, in thought.

"This is a very serious situation."

"It was, but it's over." Angus gestured to Nat. "She had it the hardest of all, and she'll need time to recover, physically and emotionally. You should give her a week off."

Nat interjected, "I don't need it, thanks." I need a month.

McConnell turned to eye her, smiling almost warmly. "You've been through quite an ordeal. I assume you won't be performing Shakespeare anytime soon."

"No." Nat managed a smile that telegraphed the Professional-Grade Toughness required of Chevy trucks and tenured professors.

"I must say I love the works of Shakespeare, and you were quite correct to emphasize the elements of law and justice." McConnell paused. "Of course, you must know that we can't continue to offer the seminar if it remains at its current low subscription levels."

My baby! "But I developed it myself, and I teach it in addition to my other courses." Read, for free.

"I understand that. But the school has other needs, if you have extra time." McConnell peered through his tortoiseshell bifocals to consult some papers on his desk. "Scott is going on sabbatical to finish his textbook, and we could use someone to teach taxation, which would demonstrate your versatility as a scholar and legal educator."

I'd rather date Kyle Buford. "I'd love to, in addition to the seminar."

"That's not what I had in mind, but we can discuss that later." McConnell turned to Angus. "Back to the problem at hand. This incident at the prison arose from one of your clinic's externship programs. Currently, how many externship programs do we have?"

"We're up to six. We have externs in the civil practice clinic, entrepreneurial, mediation, child advocacy, transactional, and public interest."

"Civil practice is the most subscribed, is it not?"

Angus nodded proudly. "Yes, our students counsel the indigent in housing, social security and disability, health law, education, child custody and support, and consumer law."

"Chester County Correctional Institution is the only externship program in which something like this has occurred, is that correct?"

"Yes, of course."

"I see." McConnell cleared his throat. "Well, in addition to the harm incurred by you two faculty members, my concern, of course, is the harm to the school. Its reputation and its potential exposure."

"Exposure?" Angus repeated, but Nat knew what McConnell meant, because she had learned a few things at Morgan Lewis:

Time for even the lawyers to lawyer up.

McConnell said, "Waiting for me this morning were messages from the parents of several of your clinic students, who had been out to the prison in the past. They're understandably concerned that their sons and daughters have been exposed to danger, or could be in the future. I assured them that, as of this morning, the externship Program to the prison has been cancelled."

Angus looked as if he'd been slapped, his mouth partway open.

"I've suspended the program. I'm not canceling it.”

“The parents are demanding as much.”

“The parents don't run my clinic."

"If you send a student out there and he gets hurt, you expose the school to an array of negligence actions."

"I've already taken the appropriate measures to protect those students, and I care about them, too." Angus shifted forward in his seat, his face flushing red even under his bruise. "The program is suspended."

"I'm afraid that's not your decision."

"Nor is it yours," Angus shot back. "I'll take it up with Sam."

"He can't be reached."

"I have his cell."

"Good luck trying it. He's in Kenya with Carolyn and the kids, on a safari. In his absence, I make the decisions."

"Jim, this is absurd!" Angus shouted, and Nat worried he'd pop a stitch. "There has never been an incident before at Chester County, and our best students have served in the externship program there, counseling inmates for over eight years."

"That benefits the prison, not us."

"Wrong. The students have learned more about criminal defense than they can ever get in a classroom. They represent real inmates on real cases. They draft all the pleadings, find all the experts. That's invaluable experience."

"They can learn it within these walls, Angus." McConnell tented his fingers. "I cannot ignore the concerns of these parents. As a result, effective today, I will be running all of the clinic externships programs, and you are relieved of your duties with regard to them."

"You're firing me?" Angus exploded, jumping to his boots.

"What?" Nat blurted out, astonished.

"Don't be so emotional, Angus." McConnell remained calm, his gaze even and unblinking behind his bifocals. "I'm not firing you. You will continue to teach your non-clinic classes, meet with clinic students, and run the in-house clinical programs. I'm merely assuming supervision of our externship programs. I have to make sure they're run with due regard for the welfare and safety of our students."

Nat interjected, "Vice Dean McConnell, Jim." Whatever. "Angus has the clinic under control, and if we overreact as an institution, it will only aggravate the situation."

Angus nodded. "Jim, you don't even know what the programs are. How can you begin to run them? This isn't about programs, this is about people. Real students who work ongoing lawsuits for real people."

"I know how to run a tight ship, no matter what it is. If you ask me, this happened because it's been loosey-goosey for far too long under you."

Angus looked stricken for a moment, as he realized he had lost. Nat felt terrible for him. His long hair, cowboy boots, and his image were coming back to haunt him, and she saw him in a different light. He'd been right when he said he was in his own little world. The students may have loved him, but McConnell had barely tolerated him, and with this, he had just declared war.

"I'll take it up with Sam, when he gets back," Angus said, struggling to rein in his anger. "He knows how important those programs are to the school. He's the one who raised the funds for them and for our renovation."

"Thank you," McConnell said, but Angus was already leaving the room, storming through the open door.

Nat watched him go, and her heart went out to him. He'd developed and grown those externship programs himself. The clinic was his passion, and he'd been very good at it. She turned back to McConnell just as the phone on his desk started ringing.

Thank you for your time, Nat," the vice dean said, dismissing her with a wave before he picked up the receiver.

Nat got up stiffly and left the office, shaking her head. Only she had been naive enough to think that academia would be politics-free, It was all the books they had lying around that fooled her.