As California considers whether to require 15 credit hours of experiential learning prior to admission to the bar, the executive committee of the AALS Section of Clinical Legal Education and the AALS’s Deans Steering Committee have lined up on opposite sides of the issue.
Setting aside the merits of the argument, it is good to see the Steering Committee weighing in on a policy question affecting law schools. Deans have previously been unable to organize in a way that allows us to have a collective voice in the ABA accreditation process, AALS policies, state bar issues, etc. Clinical faculty have been admirably diligent about monitoring and expressing views about these matters. Deans are an important voice on legal education issues, and should be heard. Even where there is not widespread agreement among deans on important questions, policy makers should be informed about what deans think and why. More on this later.