Tuesday 23 June 2009

Law School 4.0 suggests changing legal education

AmLawDaily has an article by Paul Lippe (founder of the Legal On Ramp) entitled "Welcome to the Future: Time for Law School 4.0", in which he argues that the legal education offered by law schools today is very disengaged from the professional practice of law and lags behind global competition.
He suggests six changes that would help modernize legal education:
-An accelerated curriculum, with no more than a year of case method, a year of clinical, and then a year of externship with subject area focus, along the lines of medical school.
--More practice orientation in teaching, with far more adjunct faculty who are active practitioners.
--Better use of technology (both connectivity, like video or Web conferencing, and Web 2.0 social networks) to connect schools and practitioners and clients.
--A much more empirical approach to practice, forcing much deeper inquiry, rather than just trotting out hypotheticals and issue-spotting--e.g., if choosing AAA arbitration is the right dispute resolution clause, do we know that a higher percentage of deals with no arbitration clause ended in a contentious dispute?
--A move back to mission-centered management.
--A lifetime (or at least ten years) of orientation for skills development for students/alums. d student experience, generate an income stream, and engender more alumni loyalty.

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