Connecting Solutions to Challenges: Developing Practice Skills and Resiliency in the Legal Writing Curriculum
Description
The presentation will consider the connection between the first-year legal research and writing (LRW) curriculum and the ability to build and enhance law students’ practice-ready skills and resiliency. LRW professors are well aware of the pressures of incorporating within the LRW curriculum sufficient education, training, and experience to: (1) develop the skills students need to become “practice ready” lawyers; (2) comply with American Bar Association standards; and (3) promote law students’ bar passage and employment rates. The recent focus on the lack of resiliency and decline in psychological well-being of both law students and lawyers – manifested by depression, substance abuse, personal and professional dissatisfaction, unethical conduct, and other negative effects – indicates that law schools may need to consider the potential contribution of the traditional law school instructional approach to these problems. This presentation will focus on whether and how the first-year LRW curriculum may be adapted to maintain practical skills development, respond to the negative impacts of lack of resiliency, and promote the development of resiliency among law students.
Connecting Solutions to Challenges: Developing Practice Skills and Resiliency in the Legal Writing Curriculum
The presentation will consider the connection between the first-year legal research and writing (LRW) curriculum and the ability to build and enhance law students’ practice-ready skills and resiliency. LRW professors are well aware of the pressures of incorporating within the LRW curriculum sufficient education, training, and experience to: (1) develop the skills students need to become “practice ready” lawyers; (2) comply with American Bar Association standards; and (3) promote law students’ bar passage and employment rates. The recent focus on the lack of resiliency and decline in psychological well-being of both law students and lawyers – manifested by depression, substance abuse, personal and professional dissatisfaction, unethical conduct, and other negative effects – indicates that law schools may need to consider the potential contribution of the traditional law school instructional approach to these problems. This presentation will focus on whether and how the first-year LRW curriculum may be adapted to maintain practical skills development, respond to the negative impacts of lack of resiliency, and promote the development of resiliency among law students.