Empirical Research on the Core Competencies Needed to Practice Law: What Do Clients, New Lawyers, and Legal Employers Tell Us?

Abstract

Key stakeholders in legal services, legal education, and the professional regulation of lawyers are asking the following question: What are the core competencies needed for a new lawyer to practice law effectively and successfully? Since the focus of professions like law, medicine, the clergy, and the professorate is to provide assistance at a high level of commitment and professional competence to the person served (client, patient, parishioner, and student), a good place to start in answering this question would be to examine empirical research on what core competencies are needed by the person served. This article summarizes some of the empirical data available to answer this question.

Keywords: legal education, professional formation, professionalism, professional regulation, professional responsibility