Law School Innovation

As anyone who has read this blawg long knows, I have characterized law school as "cramming a year of education into three years."

Well, it looks like W&L (my law school) is taking a step which will make it cramming 2 years of education into three years. The third year of school is now going to be all about practicums:

Students will not study law from books or sit in classrooms engaging in dialogue with a professor at a podium. The demanding intellectual content of the third year will instead be presented in realistic settings that simulate actual client experiences, requiring students to exercise professional judgment, work in teams, solve problems, counsel clients, negotiate solutions, serve as advocates and counselors—the full complement of professional activity that engages practicing lawyers as they apply legal theory and legal doctrines to the real-world issues of serving clients ethically and honorably within the highest traditions of the profession.

I'm impressed. I just wish they were doing this back when I was there.