Preface

This is an unusual book in legal education literature. It is at once a homage to and critique of another book written quarter of a century ago, and which has been influential on the thinking around legal education since then. That book was entitled Pressing Problems in the Law. Volume 2, What are Law Schools For? (henceforth, ‘Birks’ collection’) – a collection of chapters largely on legal education, edited by Peter Birks. The arresting title gives a sense of the book’s ambition to seek answers to one of the most fundamental questions that we can ask about our lives as legal academics. 25 years later, we are seeking answers to the same question, and our book comprises one set of responses.

In this introduction we shall set out some of the context of Birks’ collection, describe some of the methodology of our own text, and preview the shape and content of this book.