Bridging the Gap Between Law School and Law Practice - May 2008 - Just Wondering

• Publication year: 2008
• Pages: 59
• Citation: Vol. 37 No. 5 Pg. 59

37 Colo.Law. 59 Colorado Lawyer 2008.

2008, May, Pg. 59. Bridging the Gap Between Law School and Law Practice - May 2008 - Just Wondering

The Colorado Lawyer
May 2008
Vol. 37, No. 5 [Page 59]

Departments
Just Wondering
Bridging the Gap Between Law School and Law Practice
by Brandon R. Ceglian

Just Wondering is published in a point/counterpoint format to provide an open forum for the expression of ideas The articles address issues that are substantially related to the law, to the practice of law, or to lawyers - not matters of general interest. Any CBA member wishing to submit a point/counterpoint article should work with another CBA member to provide a companion article that argues for a significantly different conclusion. For further information and writing guidelines, to discuss topics in advance, or to get help finding someone to write an opposing viewpoint contact Just Wondering Coordinating Editor Fred Burtzos atfred.burtzos.gdz0@statefarm.com.

About the Author

Brandon R. Ceglian is an Associate with the law firm of Anest & Brown, P.C. in Parker, Colorado - bceglian@parkerlawyers.com. Licensed in Colorado and South Dakota, he practices in the areas of commercial litigation commercial collections, construction law, family law, and criminal law.

The problem of "bridging the gap"(fn1) between law school and practice is one that dates as far back as 1928 and has persisted into the new millennium.(fn2) Law schools, the Bar,(fn3) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching(fn4) have bandied about the topic since nearly the inception of the law school and the demise of the apprenticeship. In 1928, the Carnegie Foundation published Present-Day Law Schools.(fn5) One issue discussed in the book is the debate over what should be the province of the law school to teach prospective lawyers, and what should be the province of the Bar. The author described two truths evident in the debate:

If, on the one hand, the theory of the law can be better taught in a law school than in an office, why should not all applicants for admission to the bar be compelled to graduate from a law school. If, on the other hand, a law school cannot develop, within its own walls, those qualities which actual contact with practice gives, why should not all its graduates be obligated to supplement their school studies by a period of office practice?(fn6)

At the time this was written, the law school degree and mentoring of graduates had just begun to replace the apprenticeship as a requirement of admission to practice.(fn7) Every state has always had its own laws, law schools, Bar, and way of doing things, but is seems there always has been universal discontent with the abilities of graduating law students and, with that, proposals for new ways to prepare new lawyers for the practice of law.

One of the first documented examples of an organized attempt by a state Bar to bridge the gap occurred in 1938 when the California Bar created the "Committee to formulate a plan for offering to young men admitted, or about to be admitted, to the Bar a system of postgraduate instruction in the arts and skills of practice."(fn8) A general national movement picked up steam in the 1960s and still exists.(fn9)

Numerous changes and improvements have occurred to the law school framework over the last century, including moving from a two-year to a three-year law school model,(fn10) and adding more lectures, classroom training (such as those sponsored by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy), and moot court and legal clinics.(fn11) For their part, state Bars have organized postgraduate practical skills programs and mentoring programs.(fn12) Law schools and the Bar should cooperate more with one another and continue to provide programs that teach students, in the final year of law school and prior to Bar admission, ways to make a successful transition into the practice of law.

In a previous "Just Wondering" article in The Colorado Lawyer,(fn13) Matt Costinett and I exchanged ideas about the proper number of semesters or credit hours that should be required to complete a law school degree Costinett argued that law school should be lessened to two years to curb the exorbitant cost; my position was that three years are a minimum to make a fledgling attorney "competent" to practice law.(fn14) It seems that your solution, Derek, is not to change the number of credit hours, but instead to meld casebook and practicum curricula from day one of the first year. I disagree that starting first-year law students in practice courses will...