The Evolution of Legal Education in the United States and the United Kingdom: How One System Became More Faculty-Oriented While the Other Became More Consumer-Oriented

International Journal of Clinical Legal Education, Vol. 6, p. 101, 2004

48 Pages Posted: 9 Aug 2006

Abstract

This paper explores how the approaches to preparing lawyers for practice in the United States and the United Kingdom became so different. It first traces the evolution of the systems for preparing lawyers for practice in the United Kingdom and the United States, and then examines the relative merits of our current situation. In British Commonwealth countries, law schools could reasonably claim that the beneficiaries of their services are their students, and to some extent, the legal profession. In the United States, law schools bear the entire burden of preparing students for practice; therefore, they should be striving to serve the interests of their students, their students' future employers, their students' future clients, and the public in general. The paper describes the key differences in the systems, major events in the histories of legal education in both countries, and new initiatives in that the United Kingdom and the United States that may improve legal education.

Keywords: legal education, united states, united kingdom, evolution, students, faculty

JEL Classification: K00

Suggested Citation

Stuckey, Roy T., The Evolution of Legal Education in the United States and the United Kingdom: How One System Became More Faculty-Oriented While the Other Became More Consumer-Oriented. International Journal of Clinical Legal Education, Vol. 6, p. 101, 2004, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=923176

Roy T. Stuckey (Contact Author)

University of South Carolina ( email )

701 Main Street
Columbia, SC 29208
United States

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