Robert MacCrate

Robert MacCrate is a New York lawyer who served as Counsel to New York Governor Nelson D. Rockefeller and as Special Counsel to the Department of the Army for its investigation of the My Lai Massacre. In the late 1980's MacCrate served as president of both the New York State Bar Association the American Bar Association ("ABA"). MacCrate later chaired the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession. The Task Force's Report, widely known as the MacCrate Report, was issued in July 1992. cite study |url=http://www.abanet.org/legaled/publications/onlinepubs/maccrate.html|title=Report of The Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap (the McCrate Report)|accessdate=2008-09-17|author=American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar |date=July 1992] MacCrate was a partner and vice chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Although retired from active practice, MacCrate continues to serve on many boards and is active as a Senior Counsel of Sullivan & Cromwell.

The MacCrate Report

With the backing of the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession, the MacCrate Report impliedly criticized the state of American legal education and called for a practice-oriented, rather than theory-oriented, approach to legal education. Specifically, the MacCrate Report suggested mandatory externships with government agencies, judges, and pro bono legal assistance clinics. It also encouraged state Bar associations to alter Bar examinations to focus more on practice-oriented skills rather than rhetoric and legal maxims, "to ensure that applicants are ready to assume their responsibilities in practice." While the MacCrate Report is widely viewed as the template for modern legal education in the United States, many traditional and high-ranking law schools have yet to adopt many of its recommendations. [ [http://michbar.org/journal/article.cfm?articleID=141&volumeID=12&viewType=archive Crossing the Bar - Law Schools and Their Disciples] ] Because of this resistance to practice-oriented legal education, many have called into question the existing law school ranking system, generated entirely by U.S. News and World Reports, and criticized it as being outdated and reflecting American upper class paradigms rather than an ability to produce competent attorneys. [ [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/12/13/17134/488 Crashing the Supremacy Paradigm] ] This resistance has only added to the continually increasing criticism and mistrust of the law school ranking system.

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