"Law school is not a destination, it is a journey."
Upon graduating from law school, one tends to be at the same crossroads as they may have found themselves years before when they were close to high school graduation and had not chosen a college yet, or when their time in college was coming to an end and they had not yet applied to a graduate program. With the accomplishment of a law degree comes the next step, the real world application of what you learned. But are law students ready?
Many students fail to realize that much of what they learn during those 3 to 4 (sometimes 5 and 6) years that have not been explained by a judge and advise clients on how to comply with them. So with some law curriculum that have been in existence for 150 years, law schools are taking a step back and evaluating what is taught, all in an effort to maintain the school's edge, and keep students competitive.
An article in the New York Times named top law schools, Harvard, Columbia and Stanford to name a few, all looking to revise their current curriculum.
"That question is being tackled — seriously — at a variety of law schools around the country as they undertake a broad series of changes to their curriculum. The changes range from requiring new courses for first-year students to expanding clinical programs to adding electives in the later years to encouraging law students to take courses in other graduate-level programs at their universities.
What certainly stands out is that the dominant model in law school education is focused almost entirely on the development of thinking like a lawyer,” said William Sullivan, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation and the lead author of the report. “And by that, what they mean is being able to be good at legal analysis.”
With that, students can look to fresher courses in future law school years, and this can give many students the advantage they may need to compete for those coveted top ranking law firm positions. This will also give student a sense of satisfaction, because now, more than before, students can say that updated curriculum are giving them more of their money's worth.
It interests me even more in the idea of law school, because now I feel like the schools are really looking out for the students and their future accomplishments. And with the big names in law starting the trend, it will not be long before other, smaller schools follow suit.
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4 comments:
Interesting! I didn't know that this was a problem with law schools, but I understand now. Maybe that's why some law school applications are declining: http://media.www.utcecho.com/media/storage/paper483/news/2007/11/08/News/Law-School.Applications.On.Decline-3086427.shtml.
It makes sense to me to update curriculum. I thought schools would do that automatically. It's good that they're finally making changes, though. Of course not all 150-year-old curriculums would be fitting for today's students. I bet the aspiring law students are especially glad to have this getting taken care of.
I was not aware of this either, but then again law school has nver interested me. I mean I think it would be cool to be a lawyer mainly for the money but also because that career would never be boring. Although I thought that law school was already so hard. I didnt know they were needing to change the curriculum, but change is always good. I think they should automatically be changing the curriculum. People do pay big bucks though for law school and invest a lot of their time and life making sure they are fully prepared for the real world of law so therefore it should be made sure that the curriculum is up to date always.
Wow, it really makes you think?! You go to law school and pay all that money and you expect to know everything about everything that has to do with law. Why should these colleges have to go back and reevaluate what is being taught? This should not be a problem in our society; there should a competitave edge YES in the career world, but will it ever end? There is always gonna be something better or someone wanting to be the best....I dunno maybe it's just me?
Maybe law schools should start teaching to not step on anyone's toes.
My sister is in her second year of law school at St. Mary's School of Law in San Antonio.
She told me that the first thing her professor told the class was to be careful of those around you.
Apparently, the law community is a small world. If you piss someone off now, it could come back to haunt you.
"You never know who will be the judge at the next trial you're prosecuting..."
It would be interesting if you hit up some law school sites to see if they have addressed the problem directly.
The problem with the curriculm, that is -- not with Jim Bob in your consitution class.
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