Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer has announced a "new model" for legal education:
From WSJ Law Blog.
Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer said the pedagogical changes the school is spearheading are focused on the second and third year curriculum. He hopes Stanford’s reform—which began last year and should be fully implemented by 2009—will provide a model for legal education generally.
“Talk to any lawyer or law school graduate and they will tell you they were increasingly disengaged in their second and third years,” Kramer said. “It’s because the second and third year curriculum is for the most part repeating what they did in their first year and adds little of intellectual and professional value. They learn more doctrine, which is certainly valuable, but in a way that is inefficient and progressively less useful. The upper years, as presently configured, are a lost opportunity to teach today’s lawyers things they need to know. Lawyers need to be educated more broadly—with courses beyond the traditional law school curriculum—if they are to serve their clients and society well.”
From WSJ Law Blog.