{"id":632,"date":"2013-10-17T09:23:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T13:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=632"},"modified":"2014-03-12T11:42:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T15:42:00","slug":"the-1l-as-lawyer-spotlight-on-university-of-denver-sturm-college-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/10\/17\/the-1l-as-lawyer-spotlight-on-university-of-denver-sturm-college-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1L as Lawyer: Spotlight on University of Denver, Sturm College of Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first-year Lawyering Process Program<\/a> at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, students are encouraged to \u201clean forward\u201d while learning and jump into their identities as lawyers. Beginning in the early 1990s as a basic legal research class taught by adjunct professors, the Program has evolved into a foundational course taught by full-time faculty. It is the first component of the Experiential Advantage Program, a full year of experiential courses that students take in their second or third year. In addition to building writing and research skills, Lawyering Process incorporates practical simulations and problem solving. The course meets twice a week for 75 minutes, earning 3 credits each semester.<\/p>\n

David Thomson, former Director of the program, is a leading voice discussing the future of legal education. (His blog, Law School 2.0<\/a>, shares the name with his interactive book<\/a> on the subject.) One recent blog post<\/a> explains the Formation of Professional Identity, one of the three \u201capprenticeships<\/a>\u201d that Sturm, as a member of the Educating Tomorrow\u2019s Lawyers consortium, commits to developing in its students. According to Thomson, professional identity is more than just basic ethics; it requires that professional work have personal meaning and a sense of duty.\u00a0 By asking students to actively engage with legal questions as they learn, the Lawyering Process program cultivates this personal connection.<\/p>\n

Students are given realistic\u2014or even real\u2014problems to tackle. Given the ethical concerns of providing clients with untrained lawyers, Thomson assured, \u201cWe\u2019re not turning the first year into a clinic<\/a>.\u201d Rather, some of the professors partner with clinics to provide writing and research assignments that can be used for actual client problems. For simulations, faculty rely on teaching assistants or local theater students to enact the dilemma. These simulations touch on a breadth of legal concerns that further both Knowledge and Practice, the other two apprenticeships. Faculty specifically focus on cross-course continuity and topical issues like the nearby Aurora movie theater shootings of July 2012.<\/p>\n

A cornerstone of the Denver program is feedback: from peers, professors, practitioners, and personal reflection. Rubrics break down assignments into discrete skills, with the goal of producing \u201cwork [that] would need very little revision for a supervising attorney to use.\u201d The program also self-evaluates<\/a>, and recently scaled down its class sizes in response.<\/p>\n

Though Lawyering Process offers all of the content of a legal research and writing class, Thomson and his colleagues have re-envisioned the way material is presented. \u00a0Thomson is a proponent and proud implementer of technology and innovation in the legal classroom, using iPads, clickers, wikis, and Case Map<\/a> to make learning more interactive. The Lawyering Process program has also experimented<\/a> with flipped classrooms and distance education. He explained, \u201cWe have to prepare students for their future, not our past.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the first-year Lawyering Process Program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, students are encouraged to \u201clean forward\u201d while learning and jump into their identities as lawyers. Beginning in the early 1990s as a basic legal research … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5482,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[88574],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news-and-debate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CR8M-ac","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":979,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2015\/06\/09\/new-vice-dean-to-develop-experiential-learning-at-hls\/","url_meta":{"origin":632,"position":0},"title":"New Vice Dean to Develop Experiential Learning at HLS","author":"Amanda Reilly","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dan Nagin, Clinical Professor of Law and director of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center, will serve as Harvard Law School\u2019s first Vice Dean for Experiential and Clinical Programs. In this position, Nagin will work to build the school\u2019s experiential offerings and foster new opportunities for hands-on learning. Nagin, who joined\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Daniel Nagin, Clinical Professor of Law","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2015\/06\/Dan-Nagin.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":644,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/10\/23\/the-1l-as-lawyer-part-2-spotlight-on-nyu-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":632,"position":1},"title":"The 1L as Lawyer, Part 2: Spotlight on NYU Law","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"October 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Decades before the cries that law school curricula needed stronger practical components, NYU had a practical course called Lawyering. \u201cMy sense is that it was never a response to internal pressure,\u201d says Andy Williams, Director of the Lawyering Program at New York University School of Law. \u201c[The founders] felt it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/16\/summer-reading-legal-educations-9-big-ideas-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":632,"position":2},"title":"Summer Reading: Legal Education\u2019s 9 Big Ideas, Part 2","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"July 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Four Cs Last week we shared solutions to the crisis in legal education, drawn from the disciplines of science and technology.\u00a0 Particular schools have piloted other new programs for legal education, and these experiential \u201cinnovations\u201d have proven track records in other contexts. The capstone: Boston College Law School Dean\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/AmeriCorps_logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1200,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2017\/03\/16\/using-case-study-method-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":632,"position":3},"title":"Why and How: Using the Case Study Method in the Law Classroom","author":"Lisa Brem","date":"March 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo by: Brooks Kraft Post by: Jackie Kim and Lisa Brem Why should legal educators use case studies and other experiential teaching methods, such as role plays and simulations, in their classes?\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t the Langdell method served legal education well these last 140 years?\u00a0 Certainly creating and using experiential materials\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"person walking by langdell","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/03\/2237550-R6-019-8-1024x659.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/03\/2237550-R6-019-8-1024x659.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2017\/03\/2237550-R6-019-8-1024x659.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1242,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2018\/01\/19\/experiential-learning-in-the-international-humanitarian-law-classroom\/","url_meta":{"origin":632,"position":4},"title":"Experiential Learning in the International Humanitarian Law classroom","author":"morourke","date":"January 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Rebecca Sutton, who taught the Somalia in Crisis role play during the Re-Imagining International Humanitarian Law course at University of Western Ontario Law School.\u00a0 This is the first post in a series; in subsequent posts we will hear from students in the course as they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Experiential Learning and the Case Study Method"","block_context":{"text":"Experiential Learning and the Case Study Method","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/experiential-learning-and-the-case-study-method\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":479,"url":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/07\/09\/summer-reading-legal-educations-9-big-ideas-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":632,"position":5},"title":"Summer Reading: Legal Education\u2019s 9 Big Ideas, Part 1","author":"Elizabeth Moroney","date":"July 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking Cues from Science and Technology Last week\u2019s blog post\u00a0made it seem as if the end of traditional legal education is near.\u00a0 But, as the saying goes, every ending is a new beginning. Scholars and practitioners are proposing solutions to the crisis in legal education that draw on the successes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Legal News and Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Legal News and Debate","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/category\/legal-news-and-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/files\/2013\/06\/800px-EPA_GULF_BREEZE_LABORATORY_CHEMISTRY_LAB._THE_CHEMIST_IS_TESTING_WATER_SAMPLES_FOR_PESTICIDES_-_NARA_-_546277-500x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}