Big news from the past week has been the Law Society of Upper Canada's decision to create a Legal Practice Program (LPP) that will allow students to qualify as lawyers without traditional articles. Ryerson University - with no law faculty - was able to grab the LSUC's attention with a proposed program. At least for the next few years, they'll be running a pilot program designed to mimic legal practice.
There are many interesting angles to examine in this story - but I'll focus on one. Without commenting in any way on whether it's a good idea to have a program of this nature, or even whether Ryerson's program will be a good one, I was impressed with their launch video. It seems clear that they will try to build a program from the ground up and try to use technology as a teaching tool in a way that currently seems beyond the capacity of most law schools (the derogatory reference to "traditional classroom seems to me a clear dig at the universities). Personally, I think every law school should be looking at some of these tools to enhance the classroom experience - even if we don't go quite as far as Ryerson is. And frankly, I think it will happen, eventually.
It's interesting that Ryerson - without the infrastructure and financial obligations (read: Prof. salaries and other objectives to service, like research) - is the school to take this on. I believe all law schools would be well served to keep an eye on what this new entrant to the world of "law teaching" (broadly defined) is doing.
