Legal Education: Whither Thou Goest?

Abstract

Richard B. Amandes, dean of the Texas Tech University School of Law, discusses the nature of legal education and past adjustments in the length of the law school curriculum. In doing so, he maintains that the bedrock principle of legal education should be training students to think like a lawyer, that is, to never be completely certain of an opinion, to always be learning, and to be a problem solver. Dean Amandes concludes by describing the evolution of the three year legal curriculum, possible changes in the future, and the effectiveness of the current curriculum in preparing students to become teachers of the law themselves.