‘Education, education, education’: Legal, moral and clinical

Abstract

ON THE assumption that law schools should seek to foster a legal profession which takes ethics seriously, this article explores how it may promote the moral development of its students. Having examined how legal education currently fails in this regards, it explores competing psychological theories of moral development and argues that law schools should seek to start students on a ‘moral apprenticeship’ leading to the development of the necessary moral character to equip them for the ethical challenges of practice. The article then looks at the extent to which ideal methods for promoting moral development can be implemented given the current climate in legal education. In particular, it argues that an excellent and viable means of assisting in the process of moral character development is through student involvement in live‐client clinics, particularly if they are run on an extra‐curricular basis.

Notes

University of Strathclyde. I would like to thank the many University of Strathclyde Law Clinic students who assisted me researching this article, particularly Natalie Amer, Lindsay Bruce, Angus Gillies, Alice Morgan, Christine Rae and Adrienne Shepherd. I would also like to thank Aileen McHarg, Simon Halliday and two anonymous referees for their comments on an earlier draft.