1 Clinical Legal Education: A Historical OverviewMargaret Martin Barry Vermont Law School April 29, 2016 My goal is to briefly introduce you to clinical legal education – its history, challenges, and place within the framework of the Law Academy. This overview should provide touchpoints as you navigate through this annual meeting of clinical and outpatient faculties and lead your entry into clinical legal education. 3 Origins of Law Education in the United States (1776) Apprenticeship System (1779) First Law School at William & Mary (1817) Foundation of Harvard Law School (1860) Twenty Law Schools in the United States (1870) Langdell`s Casebook Method J.P. “Sandy” Ogilvy, History of Clinical Legal Education, Lecture at the AALS Clinical Section Conference, May 2004, San Diego, CA. Legal training was initially provided through an unregulated apprenticeship system. One-on-one mentoring. Even when the establishment of law schools began, they were not mandatory and there were no standards to follow. Christopher Columbus Langdell has started a new trend of teaching law in a classroom rather than through apprenticeships. 10 MacCrate Report (1992) The MacCrate Report publishes the competencies and values identified by ABAI for lawyers to assume “the ultimate responsibility of a client.” Skills: Problem Solving, Legal Analysis and Argumentation, Legal Research, Factual Investigation, Communication, Advice, Negotiation, Litigation and Alternatives to Litigation, Organization and Management of Legal Work and Recognition and Resolution of Legal Dilemmas Robert MacCrate passed away on April 6, 2016; He will participate in the lunch of the Alliance for Experiential Learning`s Third Symposium (on Assessment in Experiential Learning) at NYLS from September 10-12. June 2016. The idea that legal education should focus on teaching skills and values was formulated in 1992 in the publication by the ABA of a document commonly known as the MacCrate Report. The MacCrate report identified ten skills and four values needed for lawyers to take on “the ultimate responsibility of a client.” With the exception of legal analysis and reasoning, the skills identified have generally not been central to the educational objectives or methods used in traditional education. CleprOrigins • (1968) Ford Foundation • Committed $12 million over 10 years • “Integrating clinical education as an integral part of the curriculum of the country`s law schools” • Council on Legal Ed.
for Prof. Resp. (CLEPR) • William Pincus Full-time President and Executive. Director • $$ supported in-house clinics where students received academic credits and were taught by a person with professor status 6 Origins of Clinical Law Education in the United States (1893) Students at U.Penn » “Dispensary” Student Non-Credit (1928) The University of Southern California established a 6-week clinical program (1931) Duke launches the 1st internal clinical program (1969) the first 9 CLEPR scholarships announced, including South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, Harvard (1970) Clinical programs for credit increase to 80 (1973) More than 100 CLEPR scholarships in total have invested 5/6 of law schools in their own clinical programs 42 of the 51 jurisdictions have enacted rules for student practice ENCORE, As recently as 1927, no jurisdiction required participation in law school to be called to the bar. John Bradway launched the USC and Duke programs. Early clinical programs for loans that were close to some of the current models of clinical programs. Bradway and Jerome Frank pioneered the Cle methodology in the 1920s and 1940s, advocating the in-house clinic as an essential component of a strong legal education. However, until 1950, only a handful of law schools had clinics. Origins of Clinical Law Education in the United States • (1893) The Students of u.penn. found a “pharmacy” • Not ready • Student-run • (1928) The University of Southern California established a 6-week clinical program • (1931) Duke launched 1. Internal Clinical Program • (1969) First CLEPR Fellowships Announced • Including South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, Harvard • (1970) Clinical Credit Programs Increase to 80 • (1973) Total Over 100 CLEPR Grants • 5/6 of Law Schools Invest in Their Own Clinical Programs • 42 of 51 Jurisdictions Have Published Rules for Student Practice One More Thing? • Legal education providers should focus on preparing future lawyers by improving clinical work and supervised activities such as meetings with clients in clinical settings and in court.
We must not abandon the traditional classroom, but we must improve it. The goal is for students to participate in clinical programs and other courses that teach skills that they can apply in real-world environments. New York State Bar Resolution (2011) The New York Court of Appeals followed the ABA in 2015 with its own new standard of competence for prospective attorneys, proclaiming that “the goal of ensuring effective, ethical, and accountable legal services in New York requires more than the new ABA standards provide.” [3] Commentators on the proposed standard in New York argued that it simply reflected ABA requirements with additional documentation and would not improve students` education. The table below shows that the New York Standard of Competence does not appear to have prompted New York law schools to significantly improve their education in students` professional skills or to provide more training than state schools that only follow the ABA requirement. Although students at New York City schools were offered more opportunities to enroll in simulation courses that lacked supervised experience in dealing with the complexities of real-world clients, opportunities to participate in a legal clinic remained unchanged and field internships decreased. But the students and clients they will soon represent in practice deserve more than just expanded reporting requirements. The ABA`s requirement for six credits of experience falls far short of the skills that other vocational schools require of their students. [7] Two recent studies on legal education have highlighted the need to significantly improve skills training, including mandatory clinical training prior to admission to the bar. [8] The ABA should respond to these requests for reform and reconsider proposals for fifteen credits of experiential courses and a mandatory clinical experience with live client for all JD students. The conference will include five panels that will explore the future of the legal profession and provide practical advice on how to create effective online courses: 21 full-time aba Standard 405 clinical faculty members are expected to have a “form of position security appropriate for tenure.” This Standard does not exclude a limited number of short-term temporary appointments in a clinical program composed primarily of full-time faculty members or in an experimental program of limited duration.
Interpretation 405-6 A form of job security that is suitably similar to permanency includes a separate occupancy plan or a program of renewable long-term contracts. Interpretation 405-8 A law school provides full-time clinical faculty members with the task of attending faculty meetings, committees, and other aspects of faculty administration in a manner similar to that of other full-time faculty members. Despite the changes to the standards in 2015, this has not changed. This was due in part to the attention paid to proposals to abolish the term altogether. Somewhat similar, however, did not result in what is needed for many clinical faculties.