This is a watershed moment for legal education. Law applicants, students and graduates confront a troubled legal market. Law schools, themselves targets of criticism, operate in atmospheres of hostility and distrust. Faculties, faced with declining law school applications and the budgetary constraints they impose, reassess the structure and value of their programs. This confluence of factors, albeit posing a challenge, also presents opportunity. If we were to reimagine legal education, what might we do to alleviate students’ well-documented distress, while at the same time better prepare them to navigate a changing legal marketplace?
The program will focus on concrete steps professors can take to enhance student well-being, be it in the traditional classroom, in special courses, or through other activities. Speakers will discuss a variety of approaches, including teaching methods that address some of the identified major causes of student distress, and others that focus on development of the often neglected human skills that are essential parts of fully competent lawyering. There will also be a broader focus, in which participants explore institutional responses to the challenges identified above, including multi-faceted initiatives in the law school and medical school contexts which aim to create humane and supportive learning environments.
Business Meeting at Program Conclusion.