Academic

Deven Desai has organized a moblog over at Madisonian around the question, "What Kind of Institution Do We Want A Law School To Be?" The first entry is from Erwin Chemerinsky, who was subjected to a slew of unsolicited advice at the hands of Paul Caron last fall. Take a look at Chemerinsky's vision of the new law school:

My vision for a law school of the 21st century, and for our new law school in particular, has two key components: experiential learning and interdisciplinary learning. I also want to make sure that there are more opportunities for students to have smaller classes, especially in the first year. For example, I think that it is essential that all students have one course in a "small section" during both the fall and spring of the first year. In this course, there should be multiple evaluations of students' work, rather than the usual one exam at the end of the semester with no feedback.

Read the whole post, then tell me whether that looks like a blueprint for a "new approach to legal education." Maybe everything has been tried, but I didn't see a single fresh idea in the whole post.

Then again, maybe execution is the key. Aside from the foregoing post, about the only thing I know about Chemerinsky's new law school is that my friend Dan Burk is going to be on the faculty. Dan is extremely creative and energetic, and a faculty filled with people like Dan would make even the most mundane business plan come to life.