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Legal Education Needed After Law School

Legal Education After Law School: Lessons from Scotland and England Clark D. Cunningham W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics Georgia State University College of Law. Basic Competence (Qualified to practice unsupervised) Proficient (Qualified to supervise). How is the competence acquired?

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Legal Education Needed After Law School

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  1. Legal Education After Law School:Lessons from Scotland and EnglandClark D. CunninghamW. Lee Burge Professor of Law & EthicsGeorgia State UniversityCollege of Law Fordham Conference

  2. Basic Competence (Qualified to practice unsupervised) Proficient (Qualified to supervise) How is the competence acquired? How is the competence assessed? Legal Education Needed After Law School Fordham Conference

  3. Basic Competence: The Scottish Approach • 28 Week Diploma in Legal Practice • 1 Year Traineeship in Law Firm • 2 Week Professional Competence Course • Restricted License to Practice • 2nd Year of Traineeship • Assessment of Professional Competence • Unrestricted License Fordham Conference

  4. Scottish Approach • Flow chart Fordham Conference

  5. Proficiency:The Quality Mark in England Specialist Quality Mark evolved from two different sources: • (1) Voluntary certification efforts by organized profession • (2) Quality assurance for government-funded legal services Fordham Conference

  6. Requirements for Quality Mark • Seven standards • Client feedback process required • Quality Mark audits primarily to assure that procedures are being used • Do not assess quality of service actually provided Fordham Conference

  7. Methods Used in England to Assess Actual Proficiency • Criminal Litigation Accreditation • Required in order to meet with arrestees at police stations • (1) Take course approved by the Law Society • (2) Exam based on taped interrogation • (3) Present portfolio of 5 actual cases handled by applicant • Case file audits • Transaction Criteria for Criminal Defense Fordham Conference

  8. Competence in Client Communication • Study by Prof. Avrom Sherr (U of London) • 143 actual 1st interviews • 24 % lawyers in training • 76% experienced lawyers • 70% at least 6 years • 23% more than 11 years • High percentages of ineffective interviews • Experienced lawyers generally no better Fordham Conference

  9. Common Problems with All Lawyers(Sherr Study) • 51% failed to get the client’s agreement to advice or plan of action • 76% failed to confirm with client the lawyer’s understanding of the facts • 85% failed to ask before ending whether there was anything else the client wanted to discuss Fordham Conference

  10. Where There Were Differences Between New and Experienced Lawyers • Experienced lawyers • Used less legalese • Better at “filling in the gaps” • Rated their own interview performance higher than did new lawyers • But the clients saw no difference in performance between new and experienced lawyers Fordham Conference

  11. Lawyer skepticism about client feedback • Low response rates • Very happy or unhappy clients most likely to respond • Skewed by outcome • Clients not qualified to assess lawyer effectiveness • Better client communication not a focus of professional development Fordham Conference

  12. Effective Lawyer-Client Communication (ELCC) Projecthttp://law.gsu.edu/Communication/ • Focus on initial meeting • 100% response rate • Not skewed by outcome • Feedback can be used to improve representation of THIS client • Tells client the lawyer cares about how client experiences the first meeting • Let’s look at the forms Fordham Conference

  13. ELCC Partnership with Glasgow Law School • Glasgow Graduate School of Law (GGSL) operates largest Diploma Program in Scotland • Emphasizes competence in client interviewing • Test for Diploma includes videotaped interviewing exercise Fordham Conference

  14. Pilot Project in Glasgow • Use ELCC client survey forms for simulated interviews • Train “standardized clients” for these interviews • Consistency • Clients participate in assessment • Inspired by medical education, now required of all MD candidates in U.S. Fordham Conference

  15. Plan to design interview exercises based on input from Scottish lawyers and studies of real client meetings • Potential extension to Proficiency stage, use in proposed new speciality certication program in Scotland Fordham Conference

  16. For More Information and Further Developments • Handout in your materials • ELCC Web Page [http://law.gsu.edu/Communication/] • Burge Chair Professionalism Pagehttp://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/Professionalism/Index.htm Fordham Conference

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