Erwin Chemerinsky

Legal education is better than Richard Susskind realizes. He asserts legal education has changed little since the 1970s, which is when I went to law school. But every law school I have seen is doing far more of what Susskind recommends than it did four decades ago. Of course, law schools can do better, but Susskind overstates the problem.

At the outset, Susskind makes a key error in failing to recognize that law schools vary enormously in every way. The education provided and the opportunities available to students at a top 20 law school are vastly different from a bottom tier law school that is struggling to survive. My sense is that the events of the last decade – the great recession, the decline in law school applications – has significantly increased the disparity among law schools.

Susskind says we should be training “flexible, team-​based, technologically-​sophisticated, commercially astute, hybrid professionals, who are able to transcend legal and professional boundaries, and speak the language of the boardroom.” I agree, though I think Susskind has too narrow a sense of what lawyers do, relying on an image of corporate lawyers that does not seem to include criminal lawyers or public interest lawyers or many others.

Most important, clinical education is a crucial way in which law schools provide what Susskind wants. Clinics generally are team based and prepare students to deal with real world legal issues, while under faculty supervision. There has been a tremendous growth in clinical offerings for students, including some schools (like my former institution, University of California, Irvine School of Law) requiring all students to participate in an in-house clinic. Additionally, many law schools offer simulation courses that achieve what Susskind recommends.

Law schools, including mine, need to expand experiential education offerings. Clinics require a small student faculty ratio and therefore are much more expensive to teach than traditional courses. Schools facing financial pressure especially may find it hard to do more in this area.

My overall sense is that Susskind generalizes too much and with an insufficient basis. I agree that law schools need to improve, but they do a better job of preparing students for practice than he acknowledges.

» Susskind on Legal Education: Reactions from Law School Leaders