legal sanity

Jim Hassett at the Law Firm Business Development blog is in the midst of delivering a terrific series of posts on the Six Facts Every Lawyer Must Know to Develop New Business. You can start with his inaugural commentary on discovering and owning our unique selling style and then follow the top links to read the rest of the series to date. Hassett’s roundup provides the kind of practical advice and understanding that bridges the knowledge-skill gap between law school learning and real world lawyering.

I’ve commented on this gap before. Law schools often fall short when it comes to engaging students in active learning, teaching them how to cultivate client relationships and encouraging students to see how emotional and interpersonal factors interplay in legal matters they’ll handle. 

This knowledge gap is also the subject of an interesting new article about efforts to enhance typical law school offerings through first-year instruction in problem-solving. While the piece focuses on a curriculum review currently underway at Harvard Law School, it goes beyond those ivy walls to sample some opposing viewpoints on incorporating this practical skill set into 1L coursework.