Foundations for Practice 2.0
Project Status: National survey complete; focus groups underway
Practice-ready lawyers for modern law practice
Lawyers, judges, employers, and clients have been consistent in their call for new lawyers who can hit the ground running. Call it what you like—practice-ready, client-ready, or just plain ready—the charge is clear. And as our country faces transformative change in areas such as a shifting economy, rapid advances in technology, the access to justice crisis, and increasing demands on the profession, the urgency for updating how we teach, assess, and hire new lawyers has never been greater.
Improving legal education and legal hiring requires first understanding exactly what lawyers need as they enter and develop careers in the profession, and through empirical research Foundations 2.0 is compiling the competencies, skills, and characteristics new lawyers need to be ready for modern law practice. In 2016, IAALS' original Foundations for Practice project developed this framework, along with models to align legal education and legal hiring around it. But the face of lawyering has changed drastically in the decade since the original Foundations data was collected, and the time is ripe to refresh the data upon which our Foundations models are built.
In this major update to IAALS' original Foundations work, we are collaborating with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) to survey thousands of practicing lawyers in every field of law and every geographic and demographic sector to identify the key foundations needed in today’s legal profession. Foundations 2.0 will establish an evidence-based framework to unify educators, employers, and students around clear and consistent standards that will ensure students are as practice ready as possible upon graduation—and equipped to meet the ever-evolving needs of their clients.
Objectives
- Identify the foundations entry-level lawyers need to succeed in the practice of law
- Develop a relevant, empirically validated, and effective outcomes-based framework for education and hiring practices that will ensure new lawyers are prepared as best they can be to serve clients as soon as possible
- Use that framework to create more objective, transparent, and accountable practices for assessing qualified candidates for law school and for hire
- Deliver and implement this new framework through user-centered design that focuses on the needs of students, educators, and employers
- Align hiring and professional development criteria with law school educational outcomes to strengthen legal education and the legal profession
Our vision is a profession where the transition from school to career is seamless, where students graduate fully prepared to serve clients, and where legal employers hire based on credentials that accurately reflect legal competence. By targeting both legal education and legal employment, Foundations for Practice 2.0 aims to strengthen both.
Foundations in Action
Our original Foundations suite of resources includes Model Learning Outcomes and our Model Learning Outcomes Map, an Instructional Design Guide and Toolkit, and a Hiring Guide and Toolkit. IAALS has also mapped curriculum with pilot law schools to ensure graduates have the foundations they need, and we have established pilot projects at regional law firms to implement Foundations-based hiring practices and assess the outcomes.
Partnering with IAALS on the Foundations for Practice work fundamentally reshaped how we think about identifying and hiring talent. The data-driven insights helped us clarify the characteristics that truly predict success, improve retention, and increase diversity across our associate class. We encourage other firms to embrace this approach. Hiring based on proven foundations makes your process more objective, equitable, and aligned with the long-term success of your lawyers.
— Kathryn A. Reilly
Firm President, Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
IAALS Project Team
Foundations Advisory Committee
Our Foundations Advisory Committee represents a diverse set of perspectives to help us guide the Foundations for Practice 2.0 project forward. Committee members provide critical input on various aspects of the project, including outreach strategies, product development, pilot projects with law schools and employers, and, ultimately, the prospect of developing a more interactive online set of tools for stakeholders to capture the full “system” we envision for Foundations.
Project News & Updates
Connect & Get Involved
Our work is only possible through purposeful listening and collaboration with people across the country. Everyone, from legal system stakeholders to members of the public, plays a critical role in our innovations. Together, we jumpstart the groundbreaking and achievable solutions that will clear a path to justice for everyone.