...because law school clinics have traditionally served the twin functions of public service and professional training, they have been specialized laboratories, emphasizing civil rights, criminal defense, and poverty law but neglecting important areas of commercial, private, and public practice...
The law school clinic has long stood as a crucial complement to Langdellian teaching methods, offering opportunities to observe and engage in legal tasks prior to graduation. But the bridge from the Langdellian classroom to direct legal service is incomplete in three important respects. First, clinics are expensive, and few schools expend the resources to make them available to all students. Second, because law school clinics have traditionally served the twin functions of public service and professional training, they have been specialized laboratories, emphasizing civil rights, criminal defense, and poverty law but neglecting important areas of commercial, private, and public practice. Finally, clinical programs have been asked to do too much. Because of the Langdellian method’s limited focus, it does not leave students “client-ready.” Conscientious clinical professors have therefore been required to devote time to basic training that might otherwise be devoted to direct and/or more advanced professional service.