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Abstract

I attempt to address what is wrong with law schools and how to fix it. First of all, with respect to the issue of the justice mission, one of the things that is wrong is that most law schools do not even recognize they have a mission. Secondly, there is the issue of what gets taught in the curriculum. Furthermore, the justice mission calls for us to reexamine the way in which we approach the question of admissions. The question not only whom do we teach but who teaches is also of great concern to us. How we teach has something to do with what we produce at the end of that teaching process. We also need to ask ourselves questions about our methodology and our materials. The final question is where do your graduates go? We need to go beyond the production of more lawyers because the answer is not just more lawyers. We need to be creative in how it is that we approach the issue of delivery mechanisms, including how it is the law schools themselves can use their resources to help make systemic and structural changes in the way in which law is practiced. Until there are major changes in the society of which they are a part, major changes within American law schools will be difficult to achieve. But every effort must still be made to speak "truth to power," to recognize that law schools themselves are centers of power and can be made to use that power for the public good.

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The Justice Mission of American Law Schools

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