From The "case Method" To "law Clinic"

Case methodology in teaching,which is also called approach of prejudication,was initiated by Prof. Landell,dean of Law School,Harvard University. It was first adopted in 1870 and then the widespread in U.S. greatly contributed to the education of law world-widely. The teaching content according to the method is mainly based on the cases of U.S. courts and conducted in the form of Socrates' style,which aims at promoting the professional ability in analyzing and judging. Though it is regarded as a revolutionary step in the history of law education,it stills bears some disadvantages concerning ability training which stimulated people to make it up. Since the 1960's and 70's,clinical approach of law education-a practical teaching model aiming at improving students' pragmatic capacity-was introduced in the U.S.. The newly-appearing model sprang into being because of the lack of real experience with the law school students,and effective results were gained upon the reforming of education concept,improvement of techniques and responsibilities of the students'. An introduction,analysis and comparison of the two above-mentioned are put forward in this dissertation,through which the author concluded that the transition from case methodology to clinical approach may also serve as valuable lessons for the work in China. We shall always keep in our mind that practice should not be ignored while emphasizing the importance of theory. The law education in China should be profession-oriented which can foster pragmatic professionals. Achievement could be gained by learning those examples with close connection to the Chinese condition.