ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the ‘Big Bangs’ in American legal education from ‘thinking like a lawyer’ (classical Socratic education), developing legal theory, critical thinking, jurisprudence, critical legal studies, critical race and feminist theory, ‘acting like a lawyer’ (clinical and experiential education), ‘being a lawyer’ (legal ethics and professional responsibility education), socio-legal and law economics study (’law and …’), and comparative, internationalization and globalization studies. The chapter then queries whether ‘law and technology or artificial intelligence’ suggests a new era of legal education or ‘the end of lawyers and legal education’ as we know it. (Answer: no). The chapter identifies some things we know about these different contributions to legal education, but also suggests important questions that require further empirical study to test the various claims made about the best ways to structure legal education. Should one size fit all? How might the modern world finally come to grips with models of education developed in the 19th century that are often still in use. How is legal education variable in different legal systems - are we converging or diverging in legal pedagogy?
