Update: Brian Leiter (Chicago), Law Schools Should Oppose an ABA Proposal to Double the Experiential Learning Credits From 6 to 12

ABA Journal, Should Law Schools Have More Hands-On Learning Requirements?:

Law students will need to get twice as much practical, hands-on experience before graduation if a proposal by the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions moves forward.

The Standards Committee released a memo on May 2 outlining recommendations to increase required experiential learning credit hours from six to 12, which would impact Standards 303, 304 and 311. At its quarterly meeting in Chicago on Friday, the council voted it be sent out for notice and comment.

“Three of the 12 credit hours must be in a clinic or a field placement where there is a real client being represented, so students get to learn about the attorney client relationship and managing that relationship,” said Carla L. Pratt, chair of the Standards Committee, at Friday’s meeting. …

The proposed changes would bring legal education in line with other professions, the memo states. “The medical, veterinary, pharmacy, dentistry, social work, architecture, and nursing professions each require significantly more experiential learning than legal education currently does,” it says. …

The proposal states the changes would go into effect three years after being heard by the House. “So, we’re anticipating that schools would not need to come into compliance with this standard until 2030,” Pratt said.

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