I’m a little encouraged, actually, by some recent announcements of more clinical and practical courses at some law schools. I’m one of many who have been calling for such changes for years, and it’s nice to see a little movement in that direction. That said, it’s only a start. One of the problems is that clinical programs are notoriously expensive to run, and the fact that most students don’t bother to take them means that their tuition helps subsidize the experience for those who do. But if more students are going to be taking such programs, that could make tuitions rise even faster than they have been.

But practical teaching is the one place where regional and local schools can compete against national schools. The T14 do a lot of things very well, but they can’t teach you how to file a motion for sanctions in Jefferson County Court. A local school, staffed with adjuncts who actually practice what they preach on a daily basis, can be a lot more useful to someone who just wants to know how to practice in their state. Unfortunately, there are those that try and fail to compete with Harvard and Georgetown as national schools, or at the other extreme merely teach a glorified bar review course.

It seems to me that a local school that wanted to look more attractive to potential students would be touting the expertise of its adjuncts and the scope of its clinical programs, its success in producing lawyers who not merely pass the bar, but are prepared to practice. And make sure the local firms know it when hiring season comes around.

But something tells me that some would rather tout how many of their professors have a PhD in Law from Yale, instead.

I should have also added that they’re increasingly a gatekeeping tool for jobs outside of academia, as well. Particularly in the STEM world.

Unfortunately this is just more evidence of how far law schools have strayed from their mission of preparing the next generation of lawyers.

Based on that logic, there wouldn’t be PhD’s in literature, art, and so many other fields.