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32 B.C. J. L. & Soc. Just. 279 (2012)
Back to the Future of Clinical Legal Education

handle is hein.journals/bctw32 and id is 291 raw text is: BACK TO THE FUTURE OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION PHYLLIs GOLDFARB* Abstract: The premier strength of legal education resides in its dual iden- tity as an academic department of a university and a professional school training future practitioners. This dual identity, which gives law school its unique blend of the intellectual and the practical, can support law gradu- ates as the legal profession undergoes a profound restructuring. Tradi- tional classroom education, when focused not on revealing legal doctrine but on cultivating foundational skills of analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and reasoning, will benefit law graduates even in an altered legal practice environment. Clinical education-which engages students in the multi- dimensional enterprise of representing clients to inculcate a wide range of generalizable skills and public service values-will need to assume a larger role in tomorrow's legal curriculum. Because clinical learning emerges from yet transcends specific, holistic, lawyering contexts, it can enable law graduates to adapt to transformation in the legal profession of the future. INTRODUCTION A Zen Buddhist story depicts a rider on a horse that is galloping at a tremendous pace, as if rushing to an important destination. A by- stander shouts out, Where are you going? The rider replies, I don't know. Ask the horse.I In some respects, legal educators are riding that runaway horse. The legal profession is undergoing a seismic shift and it is difficult to determine exactly where it is headed. There is increasing commentary on the sources and contents of this shift, suggesting that it is animated @ 2012, Phyllis Goldfarb. * Jacob Burns Foundation Professor of Clinical Law and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, The George Washington University Law School. Thanks to George Washington Law School for supporting my research, the clinics, and my research on clinics, endorsing by example the intersection of the intellectual and the practical. Many thanks as well to Loughran Potter for valuable research support. I am especially grateful to the clinical fac- ulty at Boston College Law School for organizing a stimulating symposium on the meaning of the Carnegie Report for clinical education, and to all the participants in the symposium, held at Boston College Law School on October 28, 2011, for their conscientious engage- ment with these issues. I THIcH NHAT HANH, THE HEART OF THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING 24 (2d ed. 1999). 279