Writing for the US News & World Report web site, Vincent Rougeau -- Boston College Law School dean since July 2011 – professed that law schools must change the way they operate to keep pace with the evolving legal profession.

Partnerships

In the article, Mr Rougeau made four suggestions as to how law schools can respond to the challenges they face: First, they must create more partnerships with employers to ease the transition from graduation into practice, similar to the pathways taken during medical residencies.
Mr Rougeau also backed the establishment of academic programmes to prepare graduates for the workforce. ‘A good education must offer strong academic and theoretical content, but it also must provide preparation for working as a lawyer,’ he commented.

Financial realities

The dean also said students should be educated about the realities of law school before applying for places. Too many students choose law school because of the perceived juicy potential salaries on qualification, when in reality ‘the median starting salary for recent grads with full-time jobs is $63,000.’
Finally, Mr Rougeau said the law school courses must ‘reflect the realities of an integrated global economic environment’. Although law schools ‘have done a good job’ at preparing students for US work, Mr Rougeau says they should focus on positioning themselves as ‘world leaders in legal education’.