By Robert Chapski 

Paul Lippe posts an excellent article in the AmLaw Daily calling for much needed changes to the overall structure of the law school curriculum.  The article is notably not a criticism of one law school in particular, nor should it be, but rather a commentary on a system that quite honestly does not adequately prepare individuals for the actual practice of law.   

As many young lawyers come to find out, it often takes several years following law school to gain some comfort in the law practice.  Furthermore, the lack of experience that most law students develop in law school has, as Mr. Lippe notes, probably exacerbated the anger of clients who do not want to pay the hourly rates charged for some first year lawyers.  One of the suggestions Mr. Lippe offers is that law school should more closely follow medical school and have an accelerated curriculum, with no more than a year of case method, a year of clinical, and then a year of externship with subject area focus (i.e., along the lines of medical school).

Some schools currently do a great job of incorporating a clinic as part of the law school curriculum (such as my alma mater, the University of Tennessee College of Law), but, just as there are some fundamental changes going on right now between corporate clients and law firms, there definitely needs to be less of a disconnect between law school and the "real world."