Toward a Writing-Centered Legal Education

Abstract

The future of legal education should bridge the divide between learning and practicing the law. This requires three things. First, tuition should bear some reasonable relationship to graduates’ employment outcomes. Perhaps Harvard is justified in charging $50,000 in tuition, but a fourth-tier law school is not. Second, no school should resist infusing more practical skills training into the curriculum. This does not mean that law schools should focus on adding clinics and externships to the curriculum. The focus should be on developing critical thinkers and persuasive writers who can solve real-world legal problems. Third, law schools should be transparent about their students’ employment prospects, and actively assist students with job placement during and after graduation. To be blunt, the days when students graduate with a six-figure, non-dischargeable debt, cannot find a job, and lack the skills necessary to practice law at a minimally competent level should soon be over.