Educating Lawyers, often referred to in legal circles as the “Carnegie Report,” has found its way into a number of articles and blog posts lately. Just Monday, it was cited by Professor Benjamin Spencer of Washington and Lee School of Law in his Washington Post guest post urging that we reform legal education, rather than deregulate it. Also Monday, the Canadian Lawyer suggested that Canadian law schools look to it to address the challenges Canada is facing with its articling system. And, of course, last week Rebecca Love Kourlis of our executive committee referenced it in the National Law Journal’s forum on legal education.     

If you’re new to Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, you might not know just how rooted in the Carnegie Report we are. Our relationship with the pivotal report goes deeper than any similarities in our name. In fact, the Carnegie Report is the very foundation of our work. William Sullivan, the Director of Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, is the lead author of the Carnegie Report and was co-director of the Preparation for the Professions Program at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

In a recent interview (below) Professor Andy Schepard caught our attention with the way he talked about the Carnegie Report, which he said served to bolster a support network for legal educators who were concerned about the professional development of lawyers. It’s a fitting description of the effect of the industry-changing publication, and we plan to use Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers to continue to support that network—and to help it grow.