<p>When I was in law school 30+ years ago, my contracts professor had actually practiced law. One of our assignments was to divide into teams and negotiate and draft a contract. We had certain parameters but most of it was open. I worked very hard and did a good job and got an A and an appreciation of how tough it is to draft a good contract from scratch. Fortunately, much of the basic work was done decades ago and incorporated into forms. The real skill is being able to determine which parts of the standard form you need to try to get rid of and what you need to add custom for your needs. In my practice, I do not draft contracts, but I do read, evaluate, interpret and try to enforce or defeat them.</p>
<p>I also agree that law school now seems to have a much bigger focus on clinical training than when I was in school. My law school runs a number of clinics where students can get experience in family law, criminal law, bankruptcy, debtor-creditor and other areas. When I was there only crim law was offered and you had to actually work through a different school’s clinic.</p>
<p>I don’t know that I would actively encourage any of my children to follow our paths (I met my husband at the law school library) but if any of them chose to go to law school, I would support their decision.</p>