Foundations For Practice

The legal profession is fraught with systemic barriers to entry that form ripple effects on the road to becoming a lawyer. The pathway is much like narrow pipeline—entry is limited and every segment is springing leaks, disproportionately affecting people of color along the way—creating a profession that is among the least diverse in the country.

In February, IAALS Manager Zack DeMeola joined the Law 2030 podcast of the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Future of the Profession Initiative to talk about learning outcomes in law schools, predictions for the legal profession’s future, and how it all ties together with IAALS’ landmark Foundations for Practice project.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges to lawyers and law students alike. For many students enrolled in live-client clinics, the challenges of meeting their clients' needs in a transitional environment are particularly demanding. Yet these law students in clinical programs have a unique opportunity to rise to the occasion.

Last month, the University of Pennsylvania Law School announced the launch of their Future of the Profession Initiative. The initiative aims to “Teach, Lead, and Transform” by looking at ways law schools can “adopt a holistic vision” for the formation of lawyers, both during law school and on through their careers. 

On Thursday, April 25, IAALS will present the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and our four Foundations for Practice partner schools with the 2019 Rebuilding Justice Annual Award at our 12th Annual Rebuilding Justice Award Dinner for their efforts in bringing the Foundations project to life.

According to IAALS’ Foundations for Practice project, legal employers and current practitioners believe that, to be successful, new attorneys right out of law school must do much more than simply refine their legal skills—they must also possess the professional competencies and characteristics that will allow them to be thrive in today’s demanding market. Today, the question remains: How can law schools adapt to meet the needs of the modern legal profession?

More and more law schools and legal educators are embracing the fact that legal theory and skill aren’t enough to satisfy today’s legal employers. In response to this new reality, R. Lisle Baker, Professor of Law at Suffolk University in Boston, has created a course on Positive Psychology for law students.

For years, law school graduates have struggled to find full-time employment, facing a highly saturated, fiercely competitive job market. There continues to be a gap between what law schools teach and what legal employers expect from new graduates—and not enough traditional law firm positions to hire them all. 

Since publishing the results of our Foundations for Practice survey, we have been using those results in the second phase of the project to work with select law schools to develop a set of learning outcomes, assessments, instructional designs, and hiring tools to instill and identify desired characteristics, competencies, and skills in future lawyers. 

In direct response to an ABA study on attorney well-being and IAALS’ Foundations for Practice project and findings, University of Denver Sturm College of Law Professor Debra Austin brought to life a class called “Professionalism and Well-Being Skills for the Effective Lawyer,” which began this fall.