Law Schools Innovate With Hands-On Learning
These five pioneers are among the law schools overhauling programs to build in extensive hands-on practice. Law school continues to be more of a buyer's market than in years past, as many programs invent new ways to reel in applicants who've been wary of the poor job outlook and steep tuitions. The legal education community is still trying to regain its footing after the Great Recession forced firms to radically tighten their belts, shutting out many new grads and sending applications into a spiral. Among the more unconventional curricular experiments law schools will keep an eye on are several new programs. The Mitchell Hamline School of Law – a merger of Minnesota's William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University School of Law – will offer a first-of-its-kind hybrid curriculum, for example. Students will take online courses for 12 or 13 weeks a semester and visit the campus 10 times during the four-year program to participate in skills work...