NY State Bar Asks ABA to Support “Practice Ready” Law School Education

ALBANY – Arguing that in addition to knowing the law attorneys must “know how to do useful things with the law to help solve client problems,” New York bar leaders are pressing for a greater emphasis on making law school graduates and young attorneys “practice ready.”

via www.law.com

I certainly hope that law schools do continue the trend toward more practical legal education, and not just practical legal education in the form of clinical programs that allow students to work on cases with clients, but also practical education that allows students to learn about the business aspects of running a law practice.

This would include learning how to communicate with clients, how to screen clients, set client expectations, evaluate cases and clients to determine whether the client should be accepted or rejected by the firm, how to evaluate performance on a case and discuss it with the client, how to manage and supervise others, how to develop business, etc.

All law school curricula should include courses on practice management, client relations and business development. This kind of education would not only serve our law students well, but it would serve the public as well.