Discussion Groups provide an in-depth discussion of a topic by a small group of invited discussants selected in advance by the Annual Meeting Program Committee. In addition to the invited discussants, additional discussants were selected through a Call for Participation. There will be limited seating for audience members to observe the discussion groups on a first-come, first-served basis.
The
importance of preparing law students for practice by creating opportunities for
experiential learning in law school has been recognized for many years. The
MacCrate Report, which was released in 1992, specifically called for increased
teaching of skills in order to prepare students for practice. More recently,
the ABA emphasized practice-readiness in their 2014 Standards governing
experiential learning, which stressed the importance of practical training and mandated
that law schools provide students with at least six credit hours of hands-on
education.
Partly (or
perhaps mostly) in response to this call for practice-readiness, experiential
learning opportunities have burgeoned in both number and diversity. Clinics are
an obvious curricular offering to provide experiential learning and to expose
students to practice skills. With live-clients and lawyering activities, a
clinic allows students to experience practicing as a lawyer in the context of
supervision and classroom education. But a variety of other curricular
offerings also provide opportunities for practice experience in the context of
traditional law classes, practicums, and externships.
This renewed
call for practice-readiness renders this a critical moment to ask two key
questions: First, how are law schools responding to the call for practice-ready
lawyers who are poised to enter today’s challenging job market? And second, is
it sound pedagogy for practice-readiness to be the central goal of programs
that have experiential learning components?
In this discussion
group, we will delve into what practice-readiness actually means in the context
of the contemporary legal profession and how the practice of law in clinics,
practicums, and externships differ from the practice of law post law school.