Report gauges frequency, value of law school experiential learning opportunities

A report about law school experiential learning was released last week by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) and the NALP Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to research about legal careers.

The 2010 Survey of Law School Experiential Learning asked practicing lawyers about the usefulness of their law school experiential learning opportunities. The survey respondents were exclusively associates in private law firms across the country. Almost 1,000 associates participated.

The associates were surveyed about their experiences in law school with respect to:

1. legal clinics;
2. externships/field placements;
3. practice skills courses; and
4. pro bono work done in law school.

Although we don't have data about KU Law student satisfaction with their experiences, we can report how many students in the Class of 2011 participated in clincs, externships and practice skills courses.

Clinics
30.2 percent of respondents reported that they had participated in at least one legal clinic during law school. Within this group, 63.1 percent rated these clinics "very useful" using a scale of 1 to 4 (with 1 being "not useful at all" and 4 being "very useful.") Only 3.9 percent of the respondents in this group rated the clinics as "not useful at all." At KU Law, 41 percent of 2011 grads participated in a clinic during law school.

Externships/field placements
Similarly, 36.2 percent of respondents reported having taken part in an externship, and 60.1 percent rated the experience as "very useful." Among the KU Law 2011 class, 48 percent of students took part in an externship.

The most common setting for first externships was a court or judge's chambers, while the most common setting for second assignments was a government agency or the legislature.

Practice skills courses
70.1 percent of responding associates had taken at least one practice skills course, but only 38.5 percent of respondents considered them to be "very useful." At KU Law, 83 percent of 2011 grads took at least one practice skills course.

Pro bono work
42.1 percent of respondents reported performing pro bono work during law school, but well over half of the respondents reported that they had performed fewer than 40 hours of pro bono. Respondents ranked the experience an average of 2.2 on the scale of 1 to 4.

The report is available as a free downloadable PDF at www.nalp.org/lawyer_student_PD.

Todd Rogers, Assistant Dean for Career Services

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Practical matters: clinic participation and legal experience

I’ll admit it: Walking into law school, I was pretty sure that every lawsuitconsisted of attending depositions with former exercise instructors anddiscovering crucial evidence by examining an individual's shoes ("LegallyBlonde," anyone?). I showed up for the first day of orientation in full-blownElle Woods mode, despite a shocking lack of pink in my outfit. Then Lawyeringstarted.

By the end of orientation, I was introduced to the wonders of Westlaw andLexisNexis and became intimately familiar with the library. By the end of 1Lyear, I had written memos and briefs and spent too many hours highlightingcases. Somewhere along the way, I realized that being a lawyer had a lot to dowith writing and less to do with my knowledge of this season’s flats. Trust mewhen I tell you that legal writing is a whole new mountain to climb. If youthought "thinking like a lawyer" was a tough transition, writing like a lawyercan be even more difficult.

While Lawyering provides a great foundation for building legal writing skills, there are some things you cannot master in a classroom. Among other things, I choseto participate in a clinic to strengthen my legal research and writing ability.KU’s clinics provide students the opportunity to get out in the field andpractice law under the guidance of a supervising attorney. We have our ownclients and often carry a case from beginning to end, counseling clients ontheir options and drafting many of the necessary documents to proceedsuccessfully through a lawsuit. As a result, I have written supporting briefs,petitions and other documents that are ultimately filed with my clients’ cases.Being a great legal writer takes on a new level of importance when there’s aclient relying on you.

The clinic has also been a great way to experience what practicing a certain areaof law is like. KU offers 12 different clinics in differing practice areas, soregardless of what field interests you, you’ll likely have an opportunity to engagein practice before you graduate. Additionally, it never hurts to build morelegal experience for your resume. KU’s clinics are a great way to step outsidethe classroom and learn what practicing law is like … preferably in a pair ofreally cute shoes.

Amanda Ferguson, 2L

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