[lbaskin]

> "Traditionally, law schools would teach classes to prepare students for taking the bar exams"

Really? When and where? In fact, the opposite is true. Traditionally, law school classes have little to no relation to the actual bar exam (or to the actual practice of law, for that matter - unless you do constitutional appellate litigation).

In recent years, some (many?) school have begun teaching to the bar, so to speak - so as to raise their bar passage rate. This has happened primarily post-crash (and the resultant contraction in the market of high-paying legal jobs), to (1) help their students look somewhat more marketable and (2) just as important to them, make the schools look better (both to prospective students and prospective employers).

Subsequently, "here has been a major push back to curb bar based teaching." But I don't think the same people who disapprove of teaching to the bar are those behind the movement to teach more real lawyering (workshops, etc.) - I think those who dislike the trend are professors and other legal academics who refuse to admit that they are teachers in (what should be) a vocational school - not philosophers.

All too many law professors are wannabe PhD's of economics, policy and/or philosophy who believe they missed their true calling.