Developing Students’ Identities as Legal Apprentices Through Interaction with Lawyers and Judges in a First Year Legal Writing Course

Abstract:     
This short essay discusses several ways that legal writing professors can create opportunities for students to interact with lawyers and judges as part of a first year writing course in order to encourage students to think of themselves as lawyers in training and clarify to the students that the writing, research, citation, advocacy and professionalism skills that they learn in class will be applied in practice. Developing this apprenticeship identity as a first year law student is a critical step to reforming legal education and graduating practice-ready lawyers. By bringing lawyers and judges to the students, and by sending the students out to see lawyers and judges in practice, the students realize early on that they are embarking on an apprenticeship in law school.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 2

Keywords: legal education, law school, legal writing, skills, apprenticeship

Accepted Paper Series