How One Law School is Striving to Innovate

Students in BYU Law’s LawX lab during a visit there last November.

It is a truism to say that law schools do not do a good job of equipping students with the skills they need to succeed in the real world. But some law schools are striving to be more innovative in what and how they teach their students. Daniel W. Linna Jr., director of The Center for Legal Services Innovation at Michigan State University College of Law, has been tracking these through his Law School Innovation Index, which I wrote about when he launched it last November.

One of the schools that is putting significant effort into thinking about and implementing innovation is the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Last Friday, both Linna and I were present at BYU Law as it convened a board of advisors for a day-long discussion of innovation in legal education. The overarching theme of the day, as set out by Dean D. Gordon Smith, was: “How will BYU prepare students for an increasingly complex and unpredictable world?”

While there are any number of approaches to law school innovation, I found it fascinating to participate in and learn more about one school’s thinking about innovation.

I provide an overview of the day’s discussions in my column this week at Above the Law: How Does A Law School Innovate? Mulling That Question At BYU Law.