Recommended Citation
Eduardo R.C. Capulong, Andrew King-Ries, and Monte Mills, Democratic Lawyering: Upending the "Hidden Curriculum" to Prepare New Lawyers for a New World, 2 J. Law Teaching & Learning 191 (2025), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/1139
Publication Title
Journal of Law Teaching and Learning
Keywords
law school, legal education, ABA Standard 303, professional-identity development
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Multiple heightening crises reveal the deficiencies and contradictions of legal education, in particular the values it imparts. Perpetuating myths about U.S. democracy and rule of law, the enduring formalist, liberal legalist cast of law school is increasingly at odds with students’ lived experiences. As liberal democracy and the rule of law falter, no longer is relying on the “hidden curriculum” or the historically nebulous and mythical narratives of the law and our legal system sufficient to prepare tomorrow’s lawyers for the challenges faced by our profession. Instead, with a boost from ABA Standard 303, this article draws on the tradition of democratic lawyering as a well from which to continue to propagate an approach to professional-identity development. This approach— democratic lawyering—makes explicit its orientation: training legal professionals rooted in and committed to multiracial democracy. Only by clearly and intentionally recentering the project of legal education to embrace and spring from this tradition can the legal profession meet the challenges ahead.