Stanford Law School recently completed the first phase of the comprehensive curriculum reforms it began in 2006. Here are some examples of what we have done.
We have utilized the whole university to create a multi-dimensional legal education that combines the study of law with other disciplines so that our students gain domain knowledge in their area or practice.
We have developed interdisciplinary team-oriented, problem-solving courses (such as how to bring an invention to market—evaluating the technology, drafting a business plan, protecting intellectual property, and managing the regulatory process).
We have greatly expanded clinical training and have organized clinical courses under the umbrella of a single law firm (The Mills Legal Clinic). We introduced clinical rotation—based on the medical school model—with no competing courses or exams.
We have expanded the international dimension of our curriculum to emphasize international business, trade, and tax, as well as national security, integrating this new emphasis with our traditional public international law curriculum.
We have developed a wide variety of new programs to give law students direct experience of studying and working in a global setting (study abroad and student exchange programs, enlarged opportunities for externships and summer jobs abroad, an international clinic, and rule of law and development programs that have students doing work in countries around the globe including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Timor Leste, and Iraq).
We have enlarged and modified student and faculty research opportunities through the launch of a dozen new research centers and programs, in areas as diverse as constitutional and criminal law, energy, corporate governance, the legal profession, and more.