Reflections On Clinical Legal Education

During the social ferment of the 1960s, the legal landscape in the United States was significantly transformed by a handful of visionary lawyers and organizations. Among the pioneers was the Ford Foundation, which formed the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility (CLEPR), an innovative experiment to establish legal clinics at law schools. Now a standard curricular feature at law schools throughout the nation, the clinics enriched and reformed legal education by teaching students about the practice of law.

Philip G. Schrag and Michael Meltsner address the structure and methods of clinical teaching programs, the process of supervision, the learning contract between professors and students, and the administration of legal clinics. The volume concludes with a discussion of the relationship between law schools, clinics, social justice, and law reform.