Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Article

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2018

Publication Title

Clinical Legal Education Association Newsletter

Abstract

The American Bar Association did not require that each J.D. student receive training in professional skills until 2005, and even then "one solid credit" hour was considered adequate training to begin the practice of law. In 2014, the ABA recognized the inadequacy of its one-credit skills requirement and increased it to six-credits effective with the graduating class of 2019.

With a decade of mandatory professional skills training now completed, this short article examines enrollment trends in law clinic, externship, and simulation courses over the past ten classes of law students. It finds that total enrollment in these experiential courses has increased by approximately 25% over the past ten years and that this increase is not associated with the recent decline in bar examination passage rates. There has also been a corresponding growth in the number of available positions for students in law clinic and externship courses such that 90% of schools could require or guarantee enrollment in these clinical courses without adding any additional course or slots for their students. Nonetheless, only one-third of schools currently ensure that each of its graduates has the opportunity to participate in a law clinic or externship before graduation.

Keywords

Legal Education, Law Schools, Clinical Legal Education, Experiential Education, Professional Skills

Publication Citation

Robert R. Kuehn, Mandatory Professional Skills Training: What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been, 26 Clinical Legal Educ. Ass’n Newsl. 8 (2018)

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