Episode 76: Legal Education Done Differently – 4L Academy (Canada)

Legal education has come under fire, been going through a transition, and inevitably will end up looking a lot different. Why? Because who, how, where and when legal services and products are delivered has changed and, continues to change, so it stands to reason that the capabilities and profile of the legal workforce needs to be changing too.

While legal educators are just one part of the legal ecosystem, they’re potentially a big part of this change agenda but, it’s unlikely this agenda will pick up pace without a compelling case being made for change, or people thinking and doing differently, or educators being willing to lead and challenge the status quo – but, is that possible and/or where is that happening in our law schools (and outside our law schools in Alternative Legal Education Providers) today?

To discuss all this within the context of legal education in Canada, we welcomed Aaron Baer, a Partner and the Director of Training and Development at Renno & Co AND the Co-founder of the 4L Academy to the podcast. Aaron has been an proactive thinker and doer in this space for some time and has channelled that into a new way of thinking about and delivering legal education through the 4L Academy.

Topics covered in this episode included:

• The legal education system and process in Canada
• The changing emphasis in legal education from acquiring only knowledge to combining this with experience as well
• Who can or should lead legal education transformation
• How the 4L Academy is creating a new model for conceptualising and learning the business and practice of law

Thanks so much for an amazing discussion, Aaron and congrats on leading the way in doing legal education differently!