Law schools for lawyers, citizens, and people

Pages: 26-40

DOI: 10.4324/9780429438110-2

Abstract:

The idea that law schools should aim to produce really good citizens presupposes a law school with a number of distinctive features. If a law school takes the liberal model seriously, one of the first tasks is to address questions of structure and progression. In global terms, the expansion of law student numbers has not been matched by central government resources for the law schools. Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee of Legal Education says that ‘a liberal and humane education implies that students are engaged in active rather than passive learning’. A liberal education will have as an aim that students should not merely know or know how to but understand why things are as they are and how they could be different. The liberal legal education seeks to prepare the graduate for intelligent participation in the politico-legal life of the community.

Source: Scopus