The Need for More "Experiential Education" in Law School.

• Author: Lesser, Gary S.

Did law school prepare you to be a lawyer? It's a serious question.

As I have been traveling all over Florida, speaking to various legal and non-legal groups about the work being done by The Florida Bar to help our legal profession, the court system, and the public we serve, one of my regular talking points is the mentoring program that we are creating and will be rolling out in just a few months.

Wherever I have traveled, I have received strong support of and interest in this mentoring program for newer lawyers with three or less years of experience at firms of three or fewer lawyers. I know this program will have a positive impact on newer lawyers in terms of greater professionalism and legal ability, along with personal and professional growth.

But during my travels, many people have commented to me that they wish that law school did a better job of preparing its graduates for actually practicing law in the real world. Of course, the reality is much more complicated and nuanced. There are law schools that offer and recommend internships and similar opportunities, and a much smaller number of law schools that require a certain level of "experiential education" as a requirement of graduating law school.

Over the years, there have been "thought leaders" who have recommended getting rid of one of the semesters of the third year of law school to allow for the opportunity for law students to have an internship, clerkship, or law clinic experience. I'm not sure if that's necessary or if law schools would voluntarily give up on a semester of tuition. As the American Bar Association presently has the role of accrediting law schools, there would be many hurdles in taking that approach. I think a more realistic and helpful approach would be to implement what some law schools have started doing: requiring a certain number of credit hours of experiential education. This could take the form of an internship, law clinic, and even simulated work experiences in a law school setting. The Washington and Lee University School of Law was a pioneer in this movement, and over the years they have adjusted their program to spread this requirement out over multiple semesters, making it less burdensome for law students and creating more opportunities.

To be clear, this sort of thing is way above my pay grade as Florida Bar president, but as we create this new mentorship program, it is apparent how many people graduate law school without any internship or other...