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Law schools construct competence in two respects. First, law schools are where in the first instance students are turned into lawyers. Second, professional competence is constantly changing, and law schools participate in the construction of what it means to be competent. The first concern leads to obvious questions. How well are law schools accomplishing this task? Where does someone really learn the skills that lead to professional success? Does law school in particular do its share? Typical criticisms of law schools and their relation to practice include the following, taken from comments on the responses to questionnaires that will inform this article: