A rationale for developing courses and programs at the undergraduate level, in law school, and in continuing legal education that will serve to raise the communication level of the legal profession is proposed. The rationale is presented around five themes: (1) the relationship between communication and law from antiquity to the establishment of the modern law school; (2) the nature and criticism of the case approach to teaching law; (3) a description of lawyering skills and a justification to include practical skills as one dimension of law school education; (4) the nature of skills training in law school today; and (5) how communication education can assist legal education in the further development of teaching lawyering skills. Among the recommendations proposed are the need for joint research between interpersonal communication theory, public communication theory, and argumentation theory to the practice of law; the need for the communications faculty to learn more about law; the need to adapt undergraduate instruction in speech communication to the interest of prelaw students; and the need for law schools to learn what constitutes a speech communication major. (HOD)