•  
  •  
 

Abstract

The MacCrate Report presents law schools, and particularly clinical law teachers, the opportunity to make positive changes in law school curricula to better educate law students to become good lawyers. In most law schools those changes are likely to be incremental changes. Over time, even incremental changes will help transform law schools into integrated learning experiences closer in spirit to competence- oriented skills and values training found in clinical courses. Just as clinical teachers, who focus on skills training integrate doctrinal teaching into their courses, so can doctrinal teachers begin to integrate skills and professional values training into their courses. An informal survey taken of approximately fifty clinical teachers attending the 1993 Midwest Clinical Teachers Conference provides a picture of the present law school response to the MacCrate Report. Through a series of questions asking for a show of hands, it was determined that eight faculty worked at law schools where there had been at least one formal discussion among the entire faculty concerning the MacCrate Report. Five other clinicians worked at law schools where the MacCrate Report had been discussed by the curriculum committee, or some other collection of faculty outside of the clinic. Eleven more clinicians worked at law schools where there were plans underway to have one or more meetings of the entire faculty about the MacCrate Report. Finally, approximately half of the clinicians surveyed worked at law schools where there had been no organized discussions of the MacCrate Report, and where no discussions were planned.

Publication Title

Clinical Law Review

Volume

1

Issue

2

First Page

401

Download

Share

COinS