How do Lawyers REALLY Learn to Practice Law?

What's missing from the law school curriculum in most cases? Lawyering skills.  Anyone who has endured grilling by a law prof as a first year knows most of what's taught in law school is theoretical, not practical.  The New York Times recently asked the former dean of Vanderbilt Law School, Edward Rubin, what needs to be added to better arm students with the practical skills they will need.  His reply:

• A better understanding of modern litigation practice, which is about gathering facts and knowing how to settle a case.
• Greater familiarity with transactions law, including how to draft, evaluate and challenge a contract.
• Deeper knowledge of regulatory law and the ability to respond to a regulatory inquiry or enforcement action.
• Basic corporate legal skills, like how to perform due diligence.
• Writing skills. Partners at law firms say they spend a lot of time improving the writing of their first- and second-year associates.
• A stronger grasp of the evolving economics of legal practice, which will rely less on leveraging the time of new associates and more on entrepreneurship.

The Times article went on to explain the steps--and costs--firms incur when  trying to prepare their new associates for the actual practice of law. Many of those on-the-job training costs were historically pushed out to clients who are now more inclined to scrutinize those fees in this economic climate.  It's another call for reform of legal education. And who can actually provide that training, or redesign a course of study where the skills needed to practice are part of the program?  According to a study by the Georgetown University Law Center, nearly half of law school faculty members hired by top-tier law schools since 2000 never practiced law, while the median level of practical legal experience among those who have practiced was one year. 

The Times notes that the traditional law school aversion to training practical skills is based on a notion that the schools would be viewed as providing vocational training rather than a scholarly education.  Until reforms are demanded, students paying more than $150,000 to acquire a legal education, and the firms who provide the real training, will continue to pay the price for this training gap.

Source:

The New York Times