Theory or Practice
The changes that take place in education have always struck me as sort of a swing of a pendulum that moves over a long period of time. Initiatives that were once popular fall into a state of redundancy or worse, only to be rediscovered by some future generation as highly relevant and now a necessary part of a modern curriculum. Both the initiatives and the speed of the pendulum swing vary according to what aspect of education you're talking about. Generally speaking, in a secondary school world, the initiatives are fast, furious and extremely focused and the pendulum swing moves at a brisk generational pace. In the post secondary world of law school however, the initiatives appear much broader and the swing of the pendulum is slower. Ponderously slow would be an understatement.
There was a time that the study of law involved mainly an apprenticeship of on-the-job training and very little theoretical discourse. Eventually, the majority of on-site training gave way to a more theoretical approach, resulting in the mainly theory-based approach of recent years. The pendulum has begun a swing back to include on-site clinical work such as criminal and civil law clinics as well as Dalhousie's own Legal Aid Clinic, but the training generally still favours a theoretical mandate. My own experience with law school has demonstrated to me the need for more on-site, practical training to be evenly balanced against the heavily favoured and current theoretical standard. As the diversity of the student body expands to include older, disabled or minority students, the training aspects should also expand to account for the different strengths these students bring to the university setting that a concentration in theory does not capitalize on.
I spent a term at the Legal Aid Clinic during my law school years. As both an older student and a physically disabled one to boot, I needed to discover if I could keep pace in a firm setting where juggling a number of files and a variety of issues was a necessary part of the actual practice of law. It didn't take long to discover that time management skills I probably took for granted were instrumental in my ability to maintain the same pace with fellow students who were neither disabled nor particularly older and who had an equal number of files to maintain. It was those same time management skills that I give credit to that enabled me to complete the exhaustive process of getting my files ready for the next group of students completed before anyone else in the group that went through when I did. My experience taught me that I knew I needed to start early to complete that process, and to meet a daily quota I set for myself was endemic to having the files ready for turnover by the date set by the clinic. Without the practical opportunity afforded by participation at the clinic, I may have gotten all the theory without ever being able to determine if I could actually function as a lawyer. Theory is hard pressed to teach that to anybody.
The variety of strengths brought into a modern law school setting by all students demands a wider range of practical testing and further development of those strengths. I maintain that the pendulum swing from theory to practical must reach a midswing that sees equal importance between the two extremes. Legal Research and Writing might be useful during all three years of law school, as would significantly more mooting exercises during all three years. Frankly, I would have been better served if I had been given the opportunity to demonstrate what I can already do for law. An over emphasis on theory is closing the door on the otherwise valuable experiences many of us can bring to the forum. ALEX HARROLD
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