Building the Whole Lawyer: Preparing Students for Entry-Level Success

What competencies best assure entry level success for new legal professionals? Survey feedback from more than 24,000 hiring professionals offers solid guidance. The survey was conducted by Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, an initiative of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System and published in 2016 as Foundations for Practice: The Whole Lawyer and The Character Quotient (FFP). The authors found “characteristics (such as integrity and trustworthiness, conscientiousness, and common sense) as well as professional competencies (such as listening attentively, speaking and writing, and arriving on time), were far more important in brand new lawyers than legal skills.” So how can externship faculty teach and assess these characteristics and competencies? The University of New Hampshire School of Law is now in its second year incorporating FFP’s lessons into its externship course. Through writing assignments, self-evaluations, and workshops students identify and assess the characteristics and professional competencies developed during the semester. Vermont Law School’s externship courses employ a sequence of group and individualized tutorials, utilizing a variety of traditional assignments grounded in well-established concepts: reflection, self-evaluation, and self-directed learning. VLS is a newcomer to the FFP work, and it began experimenting this spring semester with how its courses might be enhanced by introducing students to the survey data. Join us to hear more about FFP, how two schools are using the data to improve their courses, and share your thoughts on how FFP can support our efforts to develop student character and professional identity