AlthoughtheUniversityofSydneyLawSchoolopenedin1855,itonlyexamined and did not teach law students until 1890.
19 A fullhistoryofthe AdelaideLawSchoolisavailableat AlexCastles, Andrew LigertwoodandPeterKelly,LawonNorthTerrace:TheAdelaideUniversityLaw School 1883−1981 (1983).
20 SeefurtherLindaMartin,‘FromApprenticeshiptoLawSchool:ASocialHistory ofEducationinNineteenthCenturyNewSouthWales’(1986)9UniversityofNew South Wales Law Journal 111
23 Weisbrot, above n 22, 120. Educationin Australiareleasedareport,theMartinReport,which recommended: Itisverydesirablethatlawyersseekingadmissiontoindependentpractice
...haveaneducationfoundeduponfull-timestudiesatuniversitylevel... notsomuchtotrainthemaslegalpractitioners astoprovidethemwith thebackgroundintellectual trainingnecessaryforleadersinthehighly complex society of the future.24 Law thus eventually became accepted as an important academic disciplineinthemodernuniversity,andthiscreatedthepossibility oflegaleducationextendingbeyondstrictdoctrinaltrainingandinto broadertheoreticaldisputes.Inshort,itcreatedtheopportunityforthe teachingofcriticalthinkingwithinthelegalcontext.Thusthemove fromvocationaltrainingtoauniversity-basedandthenacademically focusedlegal education representsafundamental shiftinthenature ofthelegalprofessionitself—fromapprentice-trainedprofessionals touniversitygraduates.Inthenextpartwewillconsidertheplace of universities, and university graduates more generally, within our communities and the importance of teaching graduates to engage in independent judgment from both within and outside of the law; that is, to engage in critical thinking.
However, law schools continue to operate within a very specific regulatory and institutional context and this has meant that despite theopportunity created bytheshifttoauniversityeducation model, Australianlegaleducationhas,byandlarge,remainedpredominantly focuseduponthetransmissionofdoctrinalrules25and,morerecently, practical skills.26
Therehasonlybeenonesignificantchallengetothistemplate forlawschoolsinAustralia.Inthe1970s,lawschoolsstartedto be influenced by more politically radical movements, and Marxist, feministandcriticallegalstudiescritiquesstartedtobetaughtin thecurricula.27Theincorporationofthesemoreradicalcritiquesinto lawcurriculadividedthelegalprofessionandtheuniversities.Inthe
1980s, academics at Macquarie University engaged in a vigorous debate about whether law schools should define themselves as a purelyacademicdisciplineengagedinthetheoreticalcritiqueof theconceptoflaw,withnonecessaryroleintraininglawyers.28