New Carnegie Report on Legal Education

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has released a new report on legal education. The report, entitled Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, is discussed in today's edition of Inside Higher Ed. A summary of the findings and recommendations of the report is available on the Carnegie Foundation's website, and the report itself is available for $40.

The study concludes that "law schools need to do a better job integrating the teaching of legal doctrine with a much stronger focus on helping students develop practical 'lawyering' skills and understandings of ethical and moral considerations." Law schools do a good job of teaching students analytical skills, but are less successful in teaching skills, a sense of justice, and ethics. As the article points out, the report has come out at a time when a number of law schools have initiated curriculum reviews, and may play a role in their deliberations.