The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
|
 |
 
|
Harvard Law School's New Curriculum & Law Firm Placement
| Mildly autistic regret | 11/21/06 |
| Razzle Chrome Roast Beef | 11/21/06 |
| Mildly autistic regret | 11/21/06 |
| Razzle Chrome Roast Beef | 11/21/06 |
| Mildly autistic regret | 11/21/06 |
| khaki twisted stage useless brakes | 11/21/06 |
| khaki twisted stage useless brakes | 11/21/06 |
| Mildly autistic regret | 11/21/06 |
| khaki twisted stage useless brakes | 11/21/06 |
Poast new message in this thread
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:15 PM Author: Mildly autistic regret Harvard Law School's recently announced changes to its first year curriculum--the most significant changes since Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell instituted the current curriculum in the 1870s--have inspired a significant amount of commentary from faculty, law school administrators, and current law students. The new curriculum, which mandates courses in statutory interpretation, international law, and problem solving, will be phased in over the next several years, with the school likely instituting some of these changes as early as Fall 2007.
My upcoming series of blog posts will not discuss whether this new curriculum is sufficiently innovative, or take a position as to whether the changes herald a major shift in legal education. Rather, I'm going to focus on the issue of utmost importance to current and prospective law students: what impact will the new Harvard Law School curriculum have on the market for summer associate positions?
My first set of posts will discuss the impact the changes may have on the 1L summer associate job hunt. I expect the second set to deal with the effect on 2L OCI (and, by extension, the market for entry-level elite law firm associates). I hope to conclude with at least one post suggesting some options Harvard may wish to consider to maximize its summer associate placement.
Consider this an open thread to discuss any issues relating to the new curriculum's impact on employment placement, or just the new curriculum generally. For those unfamiliar with the changes or want more information, I'd highly recommend Andrea Saenz's excellent coverage in the HL Record (see http://www.hlrecord.org/media/storage/paper609/news/2006/10/12/News/Faculty.Unanimously.Overhauls.FirstYear.Curriculum-2347013.shtml ).
* Cross-posted at First Movers ( http://firstmovers.blogspot.com/2006/11/harvard-law-schools-new-curriculum.html ) |
 |
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:36 PM Author: Razzle Chrome Roast Beef Since when did what someone learns in law school become remotely important in the jobs they get, especially when they're looking to score jobs at "elite law firms"?
An HLS degree is an HLS degree. These changes are pathetic and not new to law schools. It won't change a thing about the job hunt, unless it somehow means that curves are harder or 1Ls get their grades later. |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:40 PM Author: Mildly autistic regret I probably should clarify -- I'm not going to argue that the course content is what matters.
Without spoiling the blog post I have planned for later tonight (or maybe tomorrow), the part of the changes that's going to have a real impact on jobs are the structural ones (moving exams from early to mid January to early to mid December, having three extra grades on your transcript during 2L OCI, etc.) |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:42 PM Author: Razzle Chrome Roast Beef I probably should clarify--if you really think any of this matters, you're crazy, besides 1Ls getting their grades earlier, if that's even going to happen.
EDIT: Your preview makes it seem like with these curriculum changes HLS students are on the verge of not being highly sought after. This is ridiculous. Why not focus on a school that recently made changes and whose students are on the cusp of getting BIGLAW offers or not, not questioning whether this pushes the average BIGLAW Vault ranking of HLS grads from 7 to 10. |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:44 PM Author: Mildly autistic regret Well, we already know that the # of classes on a transcript does matter to some extent. See http://www.autoadmit.com/studies/ciolli
As for the rest, I'm going to make the full argument later today or tomorrow. Feel free to criticize though -- obviously this is all speculation. |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:48 PM Author: khaki twisted stage useless brakes Why would it affect OCI as all of 1L grades will still be in? And let's face it, 1L jobs are based on undergrad. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=531104&forum_id=2#7041939) |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:40 PM Author: khaki twisted stage useless brakes Int'l Law and the other changes to 1st year make sense in a global economy where most HLS grads end up over say, Con law, which is nice to know but not essential to what the majority of grads practice. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=531104&forum_id=2#7041899) |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:41 PM Author: Mildly autistic regret Obviously that's the HLS faculty's position.
The thing is, what kind of international law is this going to be? An international law class that focuses on things like the Geneva Convention isn't going to be that relevant to practice either. |
|
Date: November 21st, 2006 1:43 PM Author: khaki twisted stage useless brakes I'd assume a basic history of Int'l law starting with NATO (since it's HLS, probably with the city-states of ancient Greece) to NAFTA to the creation of the EU to Latin American free trade agreements to OPEC with an emphasis of comparitive constitutions as well to get in basic US con law history as well. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=531104&forum_id=2#7041917) |