Legal Education Reform after Carnegie: Bringing Law-in-Action into the Law School Classroom

Intellectual Overview:  This conference takes its impetus from a current wave of interest in reforming legal education.  Recent publication of both the Carnegie Report and a statement of Best Practices for Legal Education have drawn attention to innovative pedagogical efforts in law schools across the country. We continue the conversation in this conference, focusing in particular on how the law works in action, and on how a law-in-action perspective can inform our teaching. This is a unique moment in the history of the legal academy, when interest in pedagogical reform is arising simultaneously with renewed attention to social science. At the same time, many law teachers are experimenting with new teaching methods designed to bring law to life in the classroom. Today there is the potential for a kind of synergy not seen since the rise of legal realism and the push for clinical education in law schools.
     Carnegie Report authors join law school deans and law professors at a two-day conference in Madison, home of the law-in-action approach with a longstanding tradition of combining social science and law. But we seek to highlight the advances at other institutions as well: law schools like Indiana, Harvard, and Southwestern, which have taken major steps to integrate knowledge of the real world into their curricula.
     This is just a beginning -- we invite you to share your wisdom and ideas as we continue the process of rethinking legal education, working together.  Stay tuned for plans to launch a national website, hosted by the American Bar Foundation, where examples and ideas from all law schools will be welcomed.
Location: Room 325 at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street, Madison.
Timeline: 
   Friday, 10/22:  Coffee 9:30 am; Sessions 10:00-5:30, followed by reception and dinner for participants and registered guests.
   Saturday, 10/23: Coffee 8:30 am; Sessions 9:00-4:00 (followed by post-conference session for planning group steering committee 4:15-5:30)
Sponsors: The UW Law School and the Institute for Legal Studies.
Program Chair: Elizabeth Mertz, John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, and Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation.
No Fee but Registration Required: Attendance is limited to faculty, academic staff, law students, and visiting scholars. If you are interested in attending this event, please email Pam Hollenhorst, Associate Director, Institute for Legal Studies, including your full name and institutional affiliation, indicating which days or half days you wish to attend. Registrations will be accepted until we reach capacity.

Links to Conference Information: