Bridging the Gap between Law School and Law Practice
63 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2015 Last revised: 29 Jun 2015
Date Written: January 1, 2015
Abstract
This paper and attendant presentation materials first present research findings from the New Legal Writers Survey, an IRB-approved empirical study of legal employers' expectations of law students and new lawyers. The anonymous survey sought employer opinions in three major areas: (1) hiring lawyers’ expectations regarding writing samples that accompany job applications; (2) supervisors’ expectations about the legal document types (i.e., genres) that new lawyers write; and (3) the habits of attorneys who supervise new lawyers. This paper focuses on (1) the types of documents that employers expected law students and recent graduates to be able to write proficiently with minimal supervision, and (2) the skills that supervisors believed were essential for law students and recent graduates to possess when they walk through the door to practice law. After presenting findings, we suggest teaching and supervision strategies to help improve the practice-readiness of new law students.
Keywords: practice-ready; empirical research; legal writing; law practice; mentoring; supervision; lawyers; legal education
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