What's the point of law school?

Our Student-at-Large has been wondering the point of law classes ... Most won't practice law ... Those who become real lawyers are under the misguided impression that what they are learning is of some practical benefit ... Confusion 

Students - with their hero

MY lecturer paused for a moment, turned away from the microphone and sighed.

"Of course this material will only be relevant to those of you who end up as practicing lawyers," the prof insisted. "The class will however press on."

That we are all to be turned out as sparkling new professionals seems to be a deeply embedded assumption. 

On average only about half of all recent graduates end-up in practice, while the number of non-legal law graduates is increasing.

We're here to learn a new and somewhat unique way of thinking and the lecturers don't seem too concerned that much of what they impart will never be practically applied. 

It's a bit ironic when you consider that these same academics went through the mill of law school yet they have shunned private practice.  

Law students are being told to press on with the existing course models, despite the trend away from a life in the profession. 

It's curious. Lecturers may think they are being practical but it's pretty clear that practical considerations don't seem to feature prominently in almost any aspect of the degree.

This is a great relief. Of course, this degree is impractical. Flights of fiction permeate the whole process. 

Which is not to say that learning about murder is not fun. (I never knew so many people carry knives in the glove box of their car.) And if I ever need to launch a native title claim, public law principles might come in handy. 

Admittedly, for most of us students none of this is overly meaningful. In fact, it's among the things I'm enjoying most - along with Kirby's poetic dissents.  

The message is - just relax. Most of what we absorb will play little part in whatever we might do as practitioners, which makes the whole process ideal for law students who don't want to be lawyers.

The content of many lecture slides won't relate to real-life problems and the amount of time spent on a particular topic will be frequently out of all proportion to its future utility.

It's amazing how many of my fellow students haven't quite grasped this.