Excerpt:
Imagine if you will the following scenario. Joe decides to become a doctor. After college he spends four years being educated at the IU Medical School. The professors teaching Joe how to practice medicine have graduated from medical school but have never been doctors themselves nor have they ever sat foot in a hospital or clinic as a medical professional.
During Joe's training in medical school he doesn't specialize in any particular area. He is not required to undergo any sort of residency or apprenticeship with an experienced doctor. Instead his profession grants him a general medical license that he can use on Day 1 to do anything from giving a tetanus shot to the most complicated surgery.
How confident would you be in having that doctor do your open heart surgery? My guess is not very. Yet the above described scenario is how we train lawyers in this country.
During Joe's training in medical school he doesn't specialize in any particular area. He is not required to undergo any sort of residency or apprenticeship with an experienced doctor. Instead his profession grants him a general medical license that he can use on Day 1 to do anything from giving a tetanus shot to the most complicated surgery.
How confident would you be in having that doctor do your open heart surgery? My guess is not very. Yet the above described scenario is how we train lawyers in this country.
What do you think about the education of new lawyers?
Click to read the rest of The Insanity of How We Educate and Train Lawyers (Ogden on Politics).
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