In the 40 years since I graduated from law school, the legal profession has changed dramatically; legal education has changed much less so.
Except for the important addition of some skills and clinical programs, legal education is, generally, not purposeful or sufficiently integrated, and most law schools offer too little encouragement for students to have a practice-area focus throughout law school that culminates in a third year focused on a broad practice area. The result is law graduates who are generally ill-equipped to be effective beginning lawyers — which is increasingly the case due to significant changes in the legal profession.
