This month, ALM is publishing excerpts across several of our brands from the second edition of Richard Susskind's “Tomorrow's Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future.” ALM editors and reporters have solicited reactions—positive and negative—to Susskind's ideas from law firm leaders, top legal educators, general counsel, law students and industry analysists to get their input.

Below is an excerpt on legal education from “Tomorrow's Lawyers.” Accompanying the excerpt are reactions to Susskind's ideas from four prominent law firm leaders: Cristina Carvalho, managing partner at Arent Fox in Washington D.C.; Madeleine McDonough, chair at Shook, Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City and Washington D.C.; Jim Walden, partner at Walden Macht & Haran in New York; and Mitchell Zuklie, global chairman and CEO at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in Silicon Valley. Click on their names to read their full reactions.

From “Tomorrow's Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future”

Training Lawyers for What?

Law schools around the world have for some years been criticized for accepting far more law students than will be employable in law firms and other legal businesses. In the US, the point was made very starkly in 2012 by Brian Tamanaha in his book, Failing Law Schools. He pointed to government statistics that suggested there would only be 25,000 new openings for young lawyers each year until 2018 while the law schools were annually producing around 45,000 graduates. While the figures have changed since then, the general trend of overproduction of law graduates continues in the US and is a disorder that can be observed in many other advanced jurisdictions.