Lawyers, judges, 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. But what are the competencies, skills, characteristics, and qualities that new lawyers need to be ready? And how can law schools and employers develop learning outcomes and identify hiring tools to instill the desired competencies, skills, characteristics, and qualities in future lawyers? IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, created Foundations for Practice to answer those questions.

IAALS surveyed over 24,000 lawyers in all 50 states to identify the blend of legal skills, professional competencies, and—notably—characteristics that new lawyers need for success. The results of the study can be found here.

Brought to you by NALP, SALT, and IAALS, this webinar was designed to introduce the Foundations study and to lead a discussion on how legal education can use the Foundations study to improve and better prepare students to become successful lawyers. The webinar provided real-world examples to inspire and inform others and will discuss not only how the Foundations study is already being used in law schools across the country, but also the potential for its use in the future. The webinar was structured to provide the following information:

  • Introduction to Foundations for Practice
  • How Foundations for Practice is being used in our schools
  • How we can learn from others (panel discussion with specific examples)
  • Open facilitated discussion (the audience will be able to submit questions, which will be used as discussion points)

Zack DeMeola, Manager at IAALS, introduced the Foundations study and Christine Cerniglia, Assistant Professor of Law and Director of Clinical and Experiential Education at the Stetson University College of Law, introduced the webinar and how schools are already using the Foundations.  

Panel members included:

  • Julia DiPrete, Assistant Dean and Director, Professional Development Programming & Advising, Duke University School of Law
  • Thiadora A. Pina, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law
  • Paul Holland,Vice Dean and Associate Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law

A wider discussion based on questions submitted by the audience was moderated by Alli Gerkman, Senior Director at IAALS and project lead for Foundations for Practice.

Now, more than ever, reform in legal education is a critical issue, and the Foundations study provides hard evidence that has the potential to bring the rest of legal education up to speed on what practicing lawyers already know.

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