When assessing the ranks of schools, assessors usually look to deliverables like bar passage rates and the amount of graduates that have legal jobs after receiving their JD. Those data points can speak to how helpful law schools can be with getting someone’s foot in the door, but what about once they’re in? A legal recruiting firm collected some data and the results suggest schools could pick up some slack. Reuters has coverage:
Nearly half of law firm associates believe law school did not adequately prepare them for practice, a new survey has found.
Among the 546 junior associates surveyed in January and February by legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa and legal data intelligence provider Leopard Solutions, 45% said law school did not sufficiently prepare them for their current role. And 31% said their law firm experience didn’t meet their expectations coming out of law school according to the study, released on Monday.
When asked what they would change about their law school experience, the most common answer provided by the surveyed associates was more practical skills and a greater focus on transactional practices.
While it is nice (and highly encouraged) for law schools to change up the courses they offer to their students, a couple changes to the pedagogy wouldn’t hurt either. For a long time, most law school curricula ran on the tacit assumption that the audience was a room of future trial attorneys. And while some star students do go on to dazzle court rooms, a significant number of them opt for work that is either in-house or more transactional in nature.
Schools looking to stay on the cutting edge could get the ball rolling by offering summer workshops on what a day in the life of a transactional lawyer or other legal career paths looks like — even if it isn’t the most in-depth learning opportunity possible, a crash course would be better than a crash landing.
Law School Failed To Prepare 45% Of Junior Associates For Practice, Survey Finds [Reuters]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
