Response to “The Emperor (Still) has No Clothes”
Imagine a scenario where two individuals are learning to ride a bike. Without actually mounting the bike, one student studies the gears linked by a chain, the relationship between the pedals and speed, and the art of balance. A second student eagerly hops on the bike. While a bit wobbly at first, the second student gradually gains a sense of control and coordination that is unattainable to the first student, who only acquired the knowledge to ride a bike without actually doing so. The difference between the two scenarios reflects the ongoing dilemma of practical experience versus mere theoretical knowledge and extends to many law students with modern law school curricula to blame.
Professor Russell Engler confirms this position in his recent publication “The Emperor (Still) Has No Clothes: Reflections on Joan W. Howarth’s Shaping the Bar.” As the Director of Clinical Programs here at New England Law | Boston, there is no other person better suited to discuss the disadvantages associated with law school curricula that prioritize preparation for the bar exam over encouraging students to gain practical skills for the legal profession that lies ahead.
In his response piece to Joan W. Howarth’s Shaping the Bar, Professor Engler discusses the snowball effect of conventional law school curricula on attorney competence, access to justice, and public protection. Aiming to unveil the interrelation of the aforementioned concepts, Professor Engler distinguishes traditional academic skills from professional proficiencies. He argues that legal education often downplays the latter's importance due to apprehensions about bar passage rates. As a result, graduates often enter the workforce as memory masters rather than fact pattern analytical thinkers. The consequence? An absence of professional skills required to assist real people in real dilemmas.
Professor Engler’s commentary is resourceful and informative because of his role as a legal educator and his experience with institutions prioritizing the bar over preparing students to become lawyers. There is a dire need for reform, perhaps beginning with requiring students to take clinics. Clinics provide students with the opportunity to develop lawyering skills not typically available in the traditional classroom setting. Practical skills acquired during clinic placements positively influence both performance in the classroom as a student and competence as a practicing attorney.1 Personally, I have absorbed and retained more information in the areas of my two clinics: immigration law and criminal procedure. I attribute a significant portion of this to the professional skills and knowledge I acquired during my placements.
Even if law schools have clinical programs, they are often not required to graduate. Therefore, as Professor Engler points out, a complete overhaul of legal education is needed. A successful transformation entails shifting the focus away from abstract learning for test-taking to gaining professional skills. In the meantime, it is crucial that we, as law students, learn to hop on that metaphorical bicycle and steer through those initial wobbles to eventually gain practical skills for our chosen paths.
1See Expert Advice on the Benefits of Law School Clinics, New England Law | Boston, https://perma.cc/82CU-YQCP (last visited Feb. 22, 2024).
