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International Conference on the Future of Legal Education

February 20 - 23, 2008
Web site: http://law.gsu.edu/FutureOfLegalEducationConference/

Webcasts of conference sessions on February 21 and 22 are now available along with abstracts, papers, and powerpoint presentations for sessions on February 21-23. Select "Program" from the left hand menu.

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This conference, a major event in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the GSU College of Law, took as its point of departure a highly critical report on American legal education recently issued by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Educating Lawyers. The report calls for fundamental changes in both the structure and content of legal education in the United States to integrate realistic and real-life lawyering experiences throughout the curriculum, and challenges American law schools to produce lawyers who are not only smart problem-solvers but also responsible professionals committed to service of both clients and the larger society. The conference brought together leading legal educators from both the United States and other countries with leaders from the legal profession.

The conference asked two related questions:

  • First, if one was charged with starting a new law school, how would one implement the Carnegie recommendations? What would the budget look like? How would the faculty be recruited and structured? What would one want the student body to look like? What would be the curriculum?
  • Second, how would an existing law school transform itself into the kind of law school envisioned by the Carnegie Report? What would a 5 year transition plan look like?


    • Many of the conference speakers, especially from other countries, gave concrete examples of how to create a new law school and how to transform an existing law school into a model of innovative legal education.

    The conference chair was Clark D. Cunningham, W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics, Georgia State University College of Law.


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