ABA Recommends that Law Schools Adopt More Practical Training for Students

The ABA House of Delegates voted Tuesday to adopt a resolution to urge law schools to more adequately prepare law students for the real-life experience of practicing law and bolster CLE training to better bridge the gap between law school and actual practice.

Submitted to the House in a late report from the New York State Bar Association at the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Resolution 10B (PDF-Revised) resolves that the ABA “take steps to assure that law schools, law firms, law examiners, CLE providers and others concerned with continued professional development provide the knowledge, skills, values, habits and traits that make up the successful modern lawyer.”

“Many new lawyers come out of law school never having drafted a complaint; never having seen a contract; never having interacted with a client, much less an adverse witness,” said former New York State Bar Association President Stephen Younger. However, those same lawyers, in increasing numbers, are hanging their shingles as solo practitioners. “It is a real ticking time-bomb for our profession,” Younger said.

Gerry W. Beyer (Governor Preston E. Smith Regents Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law) and Mary F. Radford (Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law) recently posted their article entitled Experiential Learning in Trusts and Estates Courses (2011) on SSRN which provides numerous suggestions on how to include practical training in trusts, estates, and related courses.