Stanford Magazine profiles the work of Stanford Law School’s Law and Policy lab in its September/October 2015 issue. 

A LITTLE OVER A DECADE AGO, discontent spread about the quality of an elite law school education. Companies complained the degrees weren’t sufficiently client-focused. Firms needed their future lawyers to be more business-savvy. And many lawyers were finding themselves called into the public policy arena but felt unprepared, with no relevant school­ing or experience to draw on.

Stanford Law School faculty listened to those concerns and pondered how to reform their curriculum. One result has been the Law and Policy Lab, a policy incubator that enables small groups of students working with faculty members to advise government agencies and nonprofits on active policy concerns. The brainchild of former dean Larry Kramer, the lab officially began in 2013-14 with 22 practicums covering a wide range of topics. In 2014-15, some 159 students enrolled in the program.