Eyes to the Future, Yet Remembering the Past: Reconciling Tradition with the Future of Legal Education

This Note explores the relationship between legal education and the legal profession, and what can be done to stop the two institutions from drifting farther and farther apart. Part I examines the history of the American law school, focusing on how the schools came into existence and what goals they intended to serve. Part II questions whether these goals have been reached, and dissects the present-day law school curriculum in search of both its triumphs and its failures. A necessary part of this curriculum analysis includes examining the evolution of the profession into a creature of both law and business, asking whether law schools have adapted accordingly, and presenting ideas for reform. The Note concludes by suggesting how the two communities, academia and the profession, can learn from each other to bring forth a class of better-trained, better-educated lawyers for the practice of today.