Evidence and "The Shift Toward Law School Specialization"

Victor Fleischer, The Shift Toward Law School Specialization (blog post), Dealbook (Oct. 26, 2012):

In the traditional model of legal education, schools offer a general professional degree in law. No majors or concentrations. Schools provide a strong foundation of legal analysis and grounding in the common law, on the assumption that law firms will teach new associates the specifics of what they need to practice law, whether that means drafting deal documents or taking a deposition.

In the emerging model, law students must add on a degree, certificate or other indication of readiness to engage in a particular practice area or industry. N.Y.U.’s strategy committee described this goal as providing “professional pathways that prepare students to operate in a world that demands increasing specialization.” (Full disclosure: I was a visiting professor of law at N.Y.U. in 2010.)

Comment by Tillers: But if the new N.Y.U. program does not attempt to teach evidential analysis (statistical analysis is a subset of evidential analysis), N.Y.U.'s new program may turn out to be a retrogade step. Evidence mediates between legal principles and real-world conditions.

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