This essay is an edited version of the closing address given at the Australasian Professional Legal Education Council International Conference held in Sydney, September 4-8, 1996. The conference theme, Skills Development for Tomorrow's Lawyers: Needs and Strategies, was presented through five streams: (1) Tomorrow's Legal Services; (2) Learning and Teaching Strategies for Skills Development; (3) Institutional Vehicles for Professional Training; (4) Competence, Excellence, Professionalism & Ethics; (5) Training in Specific Skills. This paper concentrates on one idea which pervaded the presentations and discussion at the Conference: the status of preparing new lawyers for practice.