ABSTRACT
Legal education has always been influenced by the tension between being an academic pursuit and a professional qualification. One area in which legal academia has been more sensitive to market concerns is in the response to globalization. In terms of doctrine, there is value to the orthodoxy of a law degree. Loosely grouped under the skills heading, it may be helpful to say something about three areas that have seen some development: clinical programmes, ethics, and pro bono work. Most also provide opportunities for mooting, and an increasing number of law schools offer opportunities to practise negotiation and dispute resolution skills. The incorporation of skills elements has drawn heavily on the experience of medical schools, though typically with nothing like the rigour and empirically-grounded research that goes into the medicine curriculum. A relatively development at National University of Singapore Law is the introduction of a clinical programme.
