The GW Law School dean search committee narrowed the candidate field from eight to five Tuesday, one day after the only candidate from GW withdrew from the process.

Law professor Lawrence Mitchell, who is still seeking deanships at other law schools, declined to say why he withdrew from GW’s candidate pool, but said he thought someone from outside the Law School would make the best dean.

“Having been on the dean market all year, I’ve been reflecting a lot on whether this would be the best deanship for me in any event, and I concluded that it would not. It was also clear to me that I would not be the best dean for this law school,” Mitchell said.

The next step toward tapping the Law School’s next leader will come in an early April faculty meeting, when candidates must receive a two-thirds vote from the faculty in order to have their names forwarded to University President Steven Knapp and Provost Steven Lerman, who will pick the dean by early May, dean search committee chair Roger Transgrud said.

Faculty and administrators have thus far stressed the need for dean candidates to have strong fundraising capabilities, but in the next phase of the search, candidates’ visions for a more practical curriculum may take center stage.

The dean search is enlivening the debate over how to prepare students for a changing legal profession, and all of the remaining candidates have advocated for a push toward practicality in GW’s curriculum, Transgrud said.

“We need to rethink our curriculum from time to time and not just let it remain what it is because that’s what it is, but rather make sure it’s appropriate for the changing environment that our students find themselves in,” Transgrud said.

Transgrud added that candidates have proposed more faculty supervision and resources for students doing experiential learning, increasing externship – or experiential learning programs – and adding more practical skills courses for first-year students.

Mitchell said the debate over updating law school curricula has been contentious nationwide.

“It is obvious to me that this is both a crying need in most law schools and one that our Law School doesn’t serve very well at all,” Mitchell said. “In fact, one of the great opportunities of a dean search is to bring people in from other schools, and get a sense of what is going on in the rest of the world.”

A poor economy has saddled law students with the prospect of fewer job openings after graduation, as large law firms have eliminated about 15,000 jobs since 2008, according to a Northwestern University study. That dwindling job market may affect the way in which law schools prepare students.

Organizations like the Association of American Law Schools, American Bar Association and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have said law students should develop more of a real-world understanding of clients and cases, and take classes that focus more on simulations and clinics rather than abstract theory.

Revamping clinical training and adding practical courses add costs, Mitchell said, and a potential dean would need faculty members who are on board with the changes.

“Right now, we’re looking at anywhere from a moderate to a radical addition to a program, and that is something that will take some persuading,” Mitchell said.

Second-year law student Veronica Surges, who is a member of the student dean search committee that has met with candidates, said potential deans have an eye for a more practical future.

“Every candidate that we’ve interviewed has definitely seen the direction of law schools changing into much more of an experiential learning curriculum, whether it’s the top schools in the country like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or No. 20 like GW,” said Surges. “They’re turning toward more practical learning.”