Rethinking Legal Education

There has been a bit of buzz surrounding the changes that the legal world is going through due to the economy, especially surrounding the possible end of the "Big Law" model of practice. Recently, The Conglomerate blogged about the potential end of the "Big Law School" model as well.

It seems appropriate to share a not-so-modest proposal for dramatically altering the legal educational process to more appropriately tailor it to prepare future attorneys to be, well, attorneys.

First, the LSAT needs to be rethought entirely. Law School is, as far as I can tell, the only type of graduate school that determines in large part qualifications of candidates based upon their ability to perform on a logic exam. The problem here is that the LSAT is no real indicator of how well someone will actually perform in law school. What makes it worse is that no one is in a hurry to change that. Changes occur slowly over time, but nothing has been substantial enough to make the LSAT accurately reflect a student's preparation for law school. The exam should be more practical, focusing on procedure, the structure of the legal profession, even particular areas of law that will be tested on bar exams more extensively in the future

Second, law school should be reduced to two years. The old adage is that in year one of law school they scare you to death. In year two, they work you to death. In year three, they bore you to death. This is largely true in all areas of education and life (remember high school senioritis?), but in law school, it is much more costly than a number of different areas because the cost for an additional year of law school easily tops $50,000 at a number of different schools factoring in tuition, books, and cost of living without a steady income. Law schools are big on teaching students to "think like a lawyer." However, the third year of law school does not do much in terms of increasing a student's analytical skills. The cost of an additional year of law school is far too great for the marginal benefits that are received, so it should be reduced by a year.

Third, law schools need to stop focusing on theoretical underpinnings of different areas of law and rather focus on teaching how to practice in that area. This would reduce the faculty requirements at all schools, which would obviously leave a lot of professors unemployed (I've got a partial resolution to this that you'll read below), by increasing the demand for adjunct faculty in the form of local practitioners with experience in the field. Decreasing full-time faculty would decrease the payroll, which could significantly reduce the skyrocketing tuition prices of law school. This would also benefit legal educations by preparing students to practice right from the get go. Firms would likely be less reticent to hire students straight out of school because they will be profitable much more quickly.

Finally, create a one or two year-long Judge School for those who want to qualify for consideration to be a judge. This would provide positions for many of the current full-time faculty at law schools that would be out of work by the transition to adjunct faculty. In addition, it would create some type of heightened standard for potential judges to meet prior to being elected or receiving an appointment to the bench. Additional school would also provide judges the theoretical background that is often necessary in determining the law. Lawyers don't need as much theoretical education because their job is limited to zealous advocacy.

Making these changes will do a number of things. First, it will make potential law students more prepared and informed about what their getting themselves into before making serious financial commitments to it. This will also make them weigh the very real possibility of a law degree not paying itself off very quickly or even at all. Second, it will make law students better prepared more quickly for legal practice. Third, tuition fees will decrease. And, finally, it will preserve the theoretical education important in developing high quality judges for our legal system.