Why Is This Debate Important? In 2007 the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching released a report entitled Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law.
The report highlighted the need to provide students with opportunities
to learn about, reflect on, and practice the all-encompassing
responsibilities of legal professionals. The other professions
(medicine, teaching, engineering etc.) employ well-elaborated case
studies of professional work while law schools, which pioneered the use
of case teaching, only occasionally do so. In order to provide the best possible learning experience,
law schools should focus on an integrative strategy that combines
cognitive, practical and and ethical modules. An international conference on the Carnegie Report in
February 2008 at Georgia State University in Atlanta attracted law
schools from 10 countries. The results are reported here. A conference on the future of legal education was held in
April 2010 at New York Law School attracted dozens of US and two
Canadian law schools. A follow-up conference will take place at
Harvard Law School in October 2010. A link to the NYLS conference can
be found here. Law schools in the United States have been making major
changes to their curriculum. Some have dropped one first year course
to offer a “lawyering” course in first year. Others have added
simulations and clinical work to their courses. Still others have
added externships or work terms. Here are links to some of the changes
going on in the US.
Legal education in Canada has not changed significantly for the past century.
Isn’t it time that we had a hard look at legal education and debate
what changes should be made to create the best lawyers in the 21st
century?
Stanford
Michigan
City University of New York
Indiana
Washington and Lee
NYU
Northeastern
Case Western Reserve
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