Legal News

Conference concludes law education requires rethink

By Richard Binder

The two-day Leading Legal Innovation conference, sponsored by the Southern California Innovation Project at USC's Gould School of Law, drew 30 law firm leaders, professors and entrepreneurs to address necessary improvements for law education. 

Among the topics on the table: Law schools are great at teaching students how to read a court decision, but they don't teach many of the skills needed to be a successful lawyer. They also don't screen applicants for the qualities that make for good lawyers. High grades and test scores alone are not good predictors for success. The fostering of interpersonal skills was stressed by many as an invaluable asset to an improved curriculum.

Gillian Hadfield, a professor at the University of Southern California who organized the conference, has argued that the tight regulation of the profession by bar associations and courts has long impeded innovation. In an article published last April in the Stanford Law Review, Hadfield made the case that the legal system would be greatly improved by opening it up to more competition, including from nonlawyers who have ideas for improving the delivery of legal services. Increasing the "genetic diversity" of the minds solving legal problems would spark innovation, as well as bring more affordable legal services to the vast majority of Americans who can't afford a lawyer.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on January 05, 2009 (boomark / email).