In a project sponsored by The Southern California Innovation Project of the University of Southern California School of Law and hosted by the Center for the Advanced Study of Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, participants, including Elon Law's John Alexander, worked to develop concrete goals, metrics and methods to transform legal education in ways that better prepare law students for the business and ethical dimensions of law practice.
Planners of the Building Better Lawyers Workshop, held May 13 and 14, said that the purpose of the conference was to direct dialogue between legal educators, practitioners, and clients of legal services, toward discussion of how to achieve outcomes in the preparation of lawyers that meet the needs of law firms and their clients.
“Corporate clients are increasingly demanding ‘new lawyering’ approaches that emphasize problem-solving, business integration and judgment, and depart from ‘traditional lawyering’ approaches that emphasize compartmentalized legal expertise,” the conference’s Summary, Outputs, and Next Steps document states. “It is clear that this need is not being satisfied by the current model of legal education either at the law school or professional development levels.”
Alexander, distinguished leadership coach-in-residence at Elon Law and former president of the Center for Creative Leadership, spoke at the conference about several aspects of Elon Law’s Leadership Program and Preceptor Program, a student/attorney mentoring program beginning at the start of each student’s law school experience.
Click here for more information about the Building Better Lawyers Workshop.
Click here for more information about John Alexander.