Clinical Education: A Report to the Faculty

The increased student interest in clinical education at the University of Georgia, as manifested by the Symposium held here last spring, lead to the formation of the ad hoc Faculty Committee on Clinical Education. The Committee\u27s basic purpose was to examine clinical legal education at the University and to formulate clinical programs which would improve and in some instances increase student opportunities in this phase of the law school\u27s curriculum. This report presents the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee. The report consists of a brief description of the major trends in American legal education over the last 100 years and the disputed role of practical experience or clinical training in that period; a discussion of the educational goals furthered by clinical education along with criticisms of the clinical concept; an examination of the present clinical offerings at the law School with an eye to determining the educational goals advanced by these programs and ascertaining what changes, if any, might be made in them to increase their educational value; and finally, a discussion of possible additions to the present clinical program. Consideration of the proposed new programs will center on the relative educational benefits of each, problems of supervision and evaluation of student performance, costs of program implementation and administration, and the success of comparable programs, if any, at other law schools. The Committee wishes to note at the outset two important limitations on the scope of this report. First, in terms of its effect on the law school curriculum, the report will have only a limited impact. It does not challenge the underlying philosophy of the existing curriculum which of course already embraces the concept of clinical education. To the extent that curriculum changes are recommended, they involve only clinical course offerings and are designed to update the quality of clinical instruction here at the Law School. Second, the Committee through this report is making recommendations for change and identifying areas within which the clinical program can develop. Many of the proposals therefore will be presented in general terms or outline form. If the faculty sees merit in any of these proposals, it will be the task of other to fill in the details