By Nisha Rajoo

A recent article in the New York Times created much buzz over an seemingly uncontroversial topic. After all, an article highlighting the need for curriculum of law schools in the United States to be updated to ensure that law graduates are better trained for legal practice does not appear to be too much cause for concern among the general populace. Yet, it certainly made a considerable number sit up in their seats, wondering if law schools today have indeed got it all wrong when it comes to legal education.

An in-house counsellor for an American oil drilling company was interviewed in the article, and he quipped that today’s law graduates are lawyers by virtue of the fact that they possess a law degree, “but aren’t ready to be a provider of services”.

It is certainly true that law schools worldwide tend to focus more on the theoretical aspects of the law. Contract law is not about the drafting of contracts for a client in a corporate transaction, but focuses on the creation of a contract and how vitiating factors such as duress and undue influence affect its validity. Criminal law likewise engages its students in much discussion about the interpretation of penal provisions, but a criminal lawyer knows only too well that criminal cases entail sentencing principles and plead guilty mentions, which are rarely mentioned in class.

The Function of Law Schools

Is there an “aversion to all things vocational” in law schools? An examination of a typical law school curriculum shows that the focus is largely on the theoretical or substantive aspects of the law. Courses like jurisprudence for example, aim to introduce students to the concepts of natural law and positivism, and whether the law can or ought to be divorced from morality. The question then is whether such intellectually stimulating discourse bears relevance for a lawyer in legal practice?

Those calling for a more practical focus are not entirely dismissive of the present curriculum in law schools. The theory is just as critical, and questions of morality and the law do feature in a number of legal issues that prevail today. True, a corporate merger might not exactly invite a heated debate over Hart and Fuller, but in areas like human rights law, these questions are undoubtedly of great paramounce

But law schools have heard their critiques, and they are listening. After holding discussions with recruitment and managing partners in a number of law firms, the curriculum has been reformed to incorporate more legal practical work, to introduce students to what they are likely to deal with in their first few years as an associate in legal practice.

The Art of ‘Lawyering”

Changes have been made to the local legal education scheme as well. The Practice Law Course (PLC) was recently revamped, culminating in Part B of the Bar Examinations for local graduates, after receiving feedback that a more practical-based approach to training would prove more beneficial in practice.

In our law schools, modules have been introduced as part of the core curriculum to engage and involve students in more ‘lawyering’ work, shifting away from a strong academic and theoretical focus. For example, Legal Research and Writing, a key feature of both the law schools, NUS and SMU, aim to inculcate practical skills in advocacy, legal research and the drafting of submissions and memos, which are essential in legal practice. Legal Case Studies, a core module in NUS for second-year undergraduates, involves students role-playing as lawyers and representing ‘clients’ embarking on a business venture. The students are involved in researching novel areas of the law and industry-specific rules and regulations in order to draft a suitable contractual agreement to protect their clients’ interests. This culminates in a mock negotiation exercise where the student lawyers representing both their clients come together to settle, challenge and agree on the final contractual terms.

Such programmes and courses are particularly useful in enabling students to have a feel of what legal practice truly entails and engaging them in the law, which is certainly not just about understanding the ratios of landmark cases and identifying as many key issues as possible in a hypothetical problem.

In fact, many students themselves have remarked that these ‘hands-on’ modules were a great deal more enjoyable than the usual substantive law courses, which can be too technical or ‘dry’. Then again, for most law students, not much excitement can be gleamed from reading judgement after judgment, trying your very best to decipher the key principle behind a case and the grounds for the decision amidst a heap of pages filled with words, words and more words!

Nevertheless, it is clear that law students themselves are keen on learning the art of lawyering: knowledge of the black-letter legal doctrines at your fingertips is simply not enough. Interviewing and dealing with clients and handling particularly challenging cases tactfully and ethically are just some of the things a typical lawyer would have to deal with, even on a daily basis. Hence, the focus should rightly be on equipping law students with these ‘soft skills’ and these cannot be learnt by reading case-law alone.

Changing Legal Landscapes

Nowadays, the rise of dual degree programmes means that law students are also equipped with knowledge in other academic disciplines like business management and economics, and political science. Indeed, the article itself mentions the evolving nature of legal work itself, where graduates “will need entrepreneurial skills, management ability and some expertise in landing clients”, in order to succeed.

So, gone are the days where law students muse about the theoretical underpinnings of a legal doctrine, discussing about ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’. Law schools today function as more than just hallowed institutions of scholarly debate in the legal arena- it serves to equip its students with both the hard and soft skills and strives to teach not just the law, but the practice of law.

Non scholae, sed vitae discimus