Navigating Troubled Seas: The Future of the Law School in the United Kingdom and the United States
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NAVIGATING TROUBLED SEAS: THE FUTURE OF
THE LAW SCHOOL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND
THE UNITED STATES
Gemma Davies* and Margaret Woo**
Abstract: Legal education in both the United Kingdom and the United States
has faced troubled waters in recent years. With a decrease in employment
opportunities for lawyers, rising expenses in legal education and unceasing
critiques from the practicing bar, law schools in both countries have worked
to revamp their curriculum to meet these new challenges. This article outlines
some of the legal education reforms implemented in these two countries.
In some areas, the reforms match in goals and methods, but in others, they
diverge. Ultimately, these changes add insight into the nature and identity of
the legal professional itself This article ends with comparative observations
about the direction of legal education in both countries.
Keywords: legal education; Legal Education and Training Review; Solicitors
Qualification Examination; transnational education
I. Qualifications to Become a Lawyer in the
United Kingdom and the United States of America
The legal education model in the United States has remained constant for over
a century.' Beginning in the 19th century, US legal education moved from a
clerkship/mentoring system of educating lawyers to a three-year graduate school
model in a university setting, culminating in a degree in law, the Juris Doctor (JD).
The traditional law curriculum is based on the Langdellian appellate case method,
under which students carefully analyse previous judicial opinions that further
principles or doctrines of law. Core courses, such as property, torts, contracts,
civil procedure and criminal law, are closely tied to preparing students for the bar
exam that is to be taken after graduation. With the exception of one school (notably
Northeastern University School of Law), this graduate professional school model
requires no work or apprenticeship experience for graduation. The reality, however,
is that most US law students would have some limited work experience prior to
* Senior Lecturer and Director of International Development, Northumbria Law School, Northumbria
University, United Kingdom.
** Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Interdisciplinary Education, Northeastern
University School of Law, USA.
1 Robert Stevens, Law School: Legal Education in America from the 1850s to the 1980s (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1987) p.35.
[(2018) 5:1 JICL 43-69]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jintcl5&div=6&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Navigating Troubled Seas: The Future of the Law School in the United Kingdom and the United States
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