The New Landscape of Legal Education

Today, law schools do—and need to do—much more than they did 30 years ago. The curriculum is broader; new kinds of courses are offered, requiring different types of space and teaching resources; and the student-to-faculty ratio is significantly reduced in each class.

The research mission of law schools has also changed dramatically. Legal scholarship is often empirical in nature, and research is frequently collaborative, being generated from within interdisciplinary centers. These research and teaching hubs play a significant—if not a central—role in developing new courses and opportunities for hands-on legal training and collaborative programs across the university and within the community.

In addition to full-time faculty, today's top law schools require professional staff capable of providing leadership and complex support to centers and clinics, as well as academic fellows who assist with teaching, work closely with students, and administer new programs. All of this also requires much more traditional administrative and technological support and space.