Legal Education and the Experience Legal Education and the Experience Economy: The Apprenticeship Age?Economy: The Apprenticeship Age?

Chris AshfordReader in Law and SocietyUniversity of Sunderland

Dramatic shift in the legal profession landscape.

HE ‘experience’ and the wider experience economy

‘The Student Experience’ – evolving definitions Specific shifts in Legal Education market and

experiences (vocational vs liberal) Legal Education and Training Review (2011)

Context

Solicitor/Barrister/Paralegal/PSLs – The Rise of the Paralegal

High Street/Regional/National/City/International

Commoditisation – Susskind, e.g LegisSQL

Legal Practice

Modern Legal Apprenticeship ILEX (and beyond) Body (2001) Law Society Gazette Ashford 2003 – Grew response Ashford (2004) (2006) (2009)

Commoditisation – the training imperative

Clementi Review Alternative Business Structures (ABS) e.g.

Irwin Mitchell Tesco Law Apprenticeships – Gordons, Pinsent Masons

Legal Services Act 2007

Milburn Report 2009 – “closed shop mentality” of professions such as

law 75% judges, almost 70% of barristers are

privately educated Increasingly narrow access Global arguments – notably David Latt in the

USA MLA as an alternative?

Access

Function of Law Schools Law Schools within Practice 2011, Irwin Mitchell University (IMU) Law and

Business School – partnership with College of Law

Liberal vs Vocational

Creation of ‘experiences’ Raises fundamental questions about the

nature of the HE experience – function and form

The Experience Economy