What Cornell Veterinary School Taught Me About Legal Education

Abstract

Law schools continue to seek courses and curricula to prepare students for entry-level positions after graduation. This article examines the innovative pedagogy that Cornell Veterinary School instituted in 1993 and suggests it as a model for law schools. At most vet schools, students follow a specified series of lecture and lab courses; for example, gross anatomy, histology, immunology, diagnostic imaging, and physiology. To the extent these courses intersect, students must figure out the interrelationships on their own. In contrast, Cornell’s “new” curriculum relies on interdisciplinary courses to teach students the foundations of veterinary medicine. Students study organ systems, using all the scientific disciplines available. To make theory real, students start their clinical skills training immediately. If they are studying the heart, they learn how to examine it. Cornell’s pedagogy also relies heavily on its tutorial courses which meet several times a week to work through real-world cases collaboratively. Importantly, students are not spoon fed the answers. They’re expected to research what they decide they don’t know.

This article imagines a fantasy world that takes the lessons from the Cornell curriculum and applies them to law school. In this world, each law school would create three foundation modules, one module for each of what I term “umbrella practice areas”: litigation, transactions, and legislation/regulation. Each module’s goal would be to teach doctrine and skills contemporaneously, creating synergistic learning. For example, the litigation module would teach civil procedure, evidence, and torts. In addition, students would learn motion practice and obtain extensive practice in narrative and persuasive writing. Moreover, students would learn such other skills as appropriate for the module. A module’s content would determine its length, but the goal would be to complete all modules by the end of the third semester. Therefore, students would continue to have significant opportunities to take clinics, externships, and more doctrinal courses.

Keywords: Cornell, Veterinary, Curriculum, Veterinarian, Education, Law, School, Doctor, Clinical, Skills, Legal, Doctrine, Practice, Interdisciplinary, Course, Foundation, Integrate, Different, Discipline, Practice, Area, Adult-Learning, Pedagogy, Tutorial