THE LAW SCHOOL

Dean Pound of the Law School in his report to the President states one of the real dangers inherent in the modern study of law. This lies in the tendency to exert pressure to "set students at premature so-called research" before they have acquired the information and mastery of legal technique required for any genuine and fruitful investigation. It is a danger which is equally applicable to other branches of learning where men are rushed into research for which they are not qualified.

To avoid falling into the pitfall of superficiality the Law School makes no attempt to cover in the curriculum everything "which experience has shown practitioners should know." The present practice allows a real degree of independence entirely outside the rigid demands of the fields prescribed for the degree. The Law School student has opportunities for investigation in practical problems through the agency of the Ames Competition, the Law Review, and the work with the Legal Aid Bureau. The policy governing the Law School, as explained by Dean Pound, is both severe and strong. With an inflexible minimum requirement and many chances for independent work, opportunity is provided for acquiring real legal training and a basic knowledge of law.

Today when the country is weltering in inefficiency and corruption both in the government and in the judicial system it is of the utmost importance that the Law Schools of the different universities should realize the truth as expressed by Dean Pound "that the adequate conduct of judicial institutions is impossible without a high level of practitioners before the tribunals." By producing men trained in the fundamentals of law who have been able to try their steel in independent research and practical experience the Law School is contributing to the restoration of a judicial system of high ideals functioning with real efficiency.