The University of Tennessee College of Law\u27s Business Law Clinic Continues to Make an Impact for Students, Clients, and the Community

In 1992, the American Bar Association published a report entitled Legal Education and Professional Development – An Educational Consortium (commonly known as the MacCrate Report), and in 2007, the Carnegie Foundation published a report entitled Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, (known as the Carnegie Report). Both reports made suggestions for improving the immediate usefulness of legal education, and, although published fifteen years apart, both reports essentially advocated the same thing: that legal education should place more of an emphasis on practical skills training in order to increase its usefulness to law graduates and their employers. The disconnect between law school and practice seemed especially severe in the business law area. The challenge for law schools today is how to effectively bring graduates to market who have at least been introduced to the practical skills necessary to succeed in the competitive world of business law. However, many in legal academia believe that an emphasis on skills training clashes with law schools\u27 emphasis on theory and doctrine