Former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Randall Shepard will lead a task force looking into the state of legal education across America. The panel was appointed by the American Bar Association. Shepard says it will examine the way schools prepare their students to practice law, and the economic state of the profession.
"We are at the moment graduating more people from law schools than there are law-related jobs in the country. And while part of that may have to do with the current state of the economy, not everyone’s convinced that this will all go back to the days of yore when the recession is over," says Shepard.
Shepard says the panel will hold a series of public hearings and at least one conference to hear from law school students, faculty and administrators.
Shepard retired from the Indiana Supreme Court earlier this year after a 27-year career on the bench and has since joined Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute.
The legal education task force is expected to complete its work in 2014.