Law Schools Resist Proposal to Assess Them Based on What Students Learn

As I was perusing The Chronicle tonight, an article regarding assessment caught my eye. The article entitled, “Law schools resist proposal to assess them based on what students learn,” grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go… It seems not only are two and four year institutions plagued by the ever demanding call for assessment, but so are prestigious and at times pretentious law schools. As I sat here reading the article, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of some of the most notable and respected Law School Deans being asked to implement standardized assessment initiatives to prove their students are learning. Can hear them scoffing at such a lowly request? I sure can and this brings a smile to my face. You see, I don’t know about you, but is it too much to ask that your future lawyer, the person who may be defending you, in heaven-forbid a murder case, pass standardized assessments in order to prove they have mastered content and met their school’s objectives before representing you, your family, and your life in front of a jury? I would like to think that my lawyer, the person who I could potentially need to place my life and trust in, could pass some measly assessment standards to prove they have what it takes to represent me to the best of their ability. This concept seems like common sense to me, however as mentioned previously, the Deans scoff at such a request. Don’t believe me? Read the article.

The article explains that Law Schools across the country are preparing themselves for mandatory accreditation standards as proposed by the American Bar Association. Such standards are not currently in place, however the American Bar Association is concerned that lawyers graduating from law schools simply do not have the skills they need in order to perform basic job functions expected of a lawyer.

The standards, as proposed by the American Bar Association, and outlined in the article asks “…law schools to define learning outcomes that are consistent with their missions and to offer a curricula that will achieve those outcomes… Law schools will also be required to come up with a system to assess how well students are meeting those goals.”

The Bar Association said that lawyers today simply are not meeting standards, they are lacking in many areas which they should be educated and familiar with post-graduation. Thus, by enacting such standards the Bar Association would move the focus of accreditation from “input measures” like faculty-student ratio and number of library collections, to “outcome measures” proving what students will and should learn in their career at their respected institution.

However, as with all calls for assessment, Deans of many Law Schools are up in arms over such an assessment overhaul. There are many contentions people have with this proposed call for assessment standards; the most predominant, however, relate to the cost and other resources associated with implementing assessment, as well as how said outcomes can be measured in a tangible fashion to prove students are learning what they are expected to be learning in their collegiate career.

Unfortunately, the market for lawyers in our downward economy has plummeted with thousands of legal professionals being laid off in the last year. However, with that being said the rare companies and firms who happen to be looking for lawyers are tired of hiring new graduates that lack essential skills necessary for the profession. When companies and firms hire said new professionals, they are inherently wasting precious resources training and teaching skills and knowledge to new employees that they should have learned in their schooling.

As stated in the article, “Phillip A. Bradley, senior vice president and general counsel for Duane Reade, a large drugstore chain, likened law schools to car companies that are ‘manufacturing something that nobody wants.’" Mr. Bradley goes on to state that law firms today are generating their own list of “core competencies they expect from their lawyers,” so the question remains, why can’t law schools do the same?

This debate about the validity and need for standardized assessment initiatives in law schools is not over; in fact it has just begun. However, I do think it will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the future, as some of the nation’s most prestigious law schools, including Harvard and Yale, may need to revise their curriculum and devise some learning outcomes they can prove their students are mastering, in order to turn out the most educated and sought after lawyers in the country.

Mangan, K. (2010, January 10). Law schools resist proposal to assess them based on what students learn. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Law-Schools-Resist-Proposal/63494/.