Legal Commentary

This from Northwestern:

Northwestern University School of Law will offer an accelerated JD program starting in 2009 as one of the initiatives of a major new plan to maximize its graduates? success in the changing worlds of the legal profession and the clients it serves.

Northwestern Law will be the only law school among top-tier institutions to offer an accelerated two-year JD program as well as the traditional three-year JD program. . . .

After reading the description of the new program - which requires the same number of credit hours, but emphasizes targeted "competencies" in "communication, teamwork, strategic understanding, basic quantitative skills, cross-cultural work, project management and leadership" -- I'm not sure what I think.  I tend to be (perhaps mistakenly) leery of legal-education proposals that seem to owe too much to a "law school is too theoretical; it should be more practical" view.  (It should, it seems to me, be both.)  Is that what's going on here?  A business-school-type approach to law school?  Or, instead, is Northwestern taking a wise, innovative step?  Thoughts?