Blackstone's Tower: The English Law School - College of Social ...

What are Law Schools for?
At the time this kind of argument was unfashionable. "Development"
was generally conceived almost entirely in economic terms
and law schools were seen as institutions for producing lawyers,
a low priority in the public service, and potential parasites and
trouble-makers in the private sector. This somewhat idealised claim
for the potential of legal education—the report was highly critical
of much existing practice—could be brushed off as special
pleading by a group of law teachers.
Since then the mood has swung to the other extreme in some
circles. Under the slogan of "democracy, human rights and good
governance" some Western governments and organisations such
as the World Bank have placed law and the administration of justice
quite high on the agendas of foreign aid and "restructuring". 35
In my view, chapter II of Legal Education in a Changing World
still contains the best general statement about the potential importance
of law in society, the role of law schools and the values of
legal education. 36
In the present context two passages are immediately relevant.
The first, which has already been quoted in part, puts forward the
model of law schools as multi-functional centres concerned with
the study of all aspects of law both domestically and globally. Most
English law schools are agreeably small and intimate by international
standards, and few can hope to take on all of these functions
on their own. The model, like the metaphor of Blackstone's Tower,
applies to our national system rather than to individual institutions
which are and should be quite diverse. In order to realise their
potential, our law schools need to maintain a reasonably stable
economic base. This will depend on their ability to provide legal
education services for which there is a demand.
Secondly, Legal Education in a Changing World summarises the
general educational values of studying law as follows:
"90. Typically, the discipline of law is regarded as part of the humanities.
This is so because: (a) law covers so many human activities and
relationships; but (b) it also deals with much the same phenomena as
the social sciences and is increasingly informed by them; and (c) it is
intellectually demanding—requiring abilities to draw from a variety of
sources in analyzing problems, evidence, and arguments to make careful
distinctions and to handle abstract concepts; and (d) it is directly
related to the world of concrete practical problems; and (e) it is concerned,
as perhaps no other subject is concerned, with the practical
operation of processes and procedures; and (f) it has a rich heritage of
literature, philosophy and historical experience.
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