legal sanity

This article (pdf) from the Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors posits that law schools miss the mark by focusing on training students to “think like lawyers” rather then equipping them to “transition from ‘thinking’ to ‘doing’ to ‘being.’” The reality is, the article continues, that thinking like a lawyer only gets students so far. If they can’t write, speak well, craft a cogent argument, work cooperatively or relate well to other human beings, “all the thinking like a lawyer in the world will not help them become good lawyers.” After chronicling the fears that keep law schools from revising their curriculums to address the “full panoply of necessary skills” for today's lawyers, the article asks educators to consider the fundamental question “Who are our law schools run for?”