Law students’ most valuable experiences put them in the role of lawyer

The following post is from Paula Schaefer (Tennessee) and is sponsored by West Academic.

I spent the past three years chairing the review of the 1L curriculum at my law school, the University of Tennessee College of Law. As part of our committee’s research, we surveyed alumni about the law school classes and experiences that were most valuable to them in practice. Time and again, our alumni responded with stories about working in the law school’s clinics, writing briefs and making arguments in moot court competitions, and taking simulation-based classes like trial practice and legal writing.

As a civil procedure professor, I noted that no one listed “civil procedure” in response to our question about most valuable law school experiences. Even though many of their best experiences were litigation-related, civil procedure did not make the cut.  But it was not just civil procedure that was absent. Doctrinal classes were rarely listed in response to the survey.   

What is the difference between a traditional doctrinal class and the classes remembered (and used in practice) by our alums? The vast majority of “most valuable experiences” placed students in the role of lawyer. In those settings, students started acting like and feeling like lawyers. The experiences noted in response to the survey were transformative, and doctrinal classes generally did not fit the bill.

Integrating skills training into doctrinal classes – even first year classes - can provide students with a richer learning experience, akin to the experiences our alums found significant in practice. To place students in the role of lawyer, professors can develop their own materials or use one of the many books now on the market. In my Civil Procedure book in West Academic Publishing’s Developing Professional Skills series, students are asked to draft an answer based on information learned in a client interview, use Twombly and Iqbal to prepare an argument for dismissal of a counterclaim, negotiate the return of an inadvertently disclosed document, and address other simulated problems related to civil procedure. Self-assessment, peer feedback, and group discussion make it possible to complete these exercises in a large class.

These assignments do not displace the law, but provide students context to understand the law. In course evaluations, my students often note these mini-simulations as something that enhanced their learning in the class. Even if my students do not remember civil procedure as one of their most valuable law school experiences, I hope they will remember it as a course that helped them begin to understand the law and what it means to be a lawyer.