Tag Archives: Lawyering

Law Students Can Use Portfolios to Plan Their Practice Systems

It’s not exactly breaking news that a major function of American law schools is to train an upper stratum of students for jobs as associates in elite law firms and as judicial clerks.  Parsing appellate case opinions and ace-ing closed-book exams are tasks especially well designed for this purpose. Although these activities reflect some important … Continue reading Law Students Can Use Portfolios to Plan Their Practice Systems

Helping Law Students Define and Pursue Success

On the AALS listserv, Gabe Teninbaum (Suffolk) asked, “[H]ow do we teach students to define successful outcomes in a given scenario?  And how do we help them understand how to communicate with clients about defining their own success?  As a former litigator, I remember balancing clients’ varied goals (their definition of “winning” didn’t always comport … Continue reading Helping Law Students Define and Pursue Success

Real Lawyering Practice Systems

So far, my pieces in the Real Practice Systems Project have focused on mediation.  The theory is not limited to mediation, and this post applies it to lawyering. In the mediation context, the theory argues that mediators have unique practice systems that grow out of their personal histories, values, goals, motivations, knowledge, and skills as … Continue reading Real Lawyering Practice Systems

Brian Farkas: Using Checklists in My Course on the Law of Settlement

Brian Farkas has been deeply involved in our field since he was a student at Cardozo, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution.  He is an attorney at ArentFox Schiff LLP, a prolific author and speaker, and a regular adjunct professor at Cardozo. He is one of the people who … Continue reading Brian Farkas: Using Checklists in My Course on the Law of Settlement

How Do You Want to Use the Real Practice Checklists?

I received many enthusiastic responses to my menu of mediation checklists, including that they are “interesting,” “informative,” “so very useful,” “really helpful,” “great,” “excellent,” “wonderful,” “fantastic,” “invaluable,” “impressive,” “very thorough,” “brilliant,” and “utterly awesome” resources.  “Just wow!” No kidding. The checklists are part of the Real Practice System Project.  Although it has focused particularly on … Continue reading How Do You Want to Use the Real Practice Checklists?

Real Practice Systems Project Annotated Bibliography

Gary Doernhoefer, the founder of ADR Notable, suggested that I produce a bibliography for its users.  ADR Notable is an app providing case management software to help mediators handle case intake, bill clients, manage client documents, develop checklists and task reminders, take notes, build documents, and manage client relationships generally. Gary recognized that our respective … Continue reading Real Practice Systems Project Annotated Bibliography

Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers

Randall Kiser just published another great book relevant to our community, Professional Judgment for Lawyers. Randy is the principal analyst at DecisionSet®, which consults with lawyers and law firms to improve their effectiveness.  This earlier post describes his background and his book, Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer.  That book presents research showing that legal … Continue reading Randy Kiser’s New Book on Professional Judgment for Lawyers

Taking Advantage of the NextGen Bar to Stimulate Changes in Legal Education

At this year’s excellent AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress conference, I invited people to share their perspectives about how we can take advantage of the NextGen bar exam to stimulate changes in legal education. This short article suggests how reformers can do this, and it includes colleagues’ ideas from the conference. Starting in July 2026, the … Continue reading Taking Advantage of the NextGen Bar to Stimulate Changes in Legal Education

The LEAPS Project

Until recently, the University of Oregon Law School graciously hosted the website of the Legal Education, ADR, and Practical Problem-Solving (LEAPS) Project. This short article describes the history of the project and presents the materials it developed. The project promoted “practical problem-solving” (PPS), which was defined as including interpersonal skills, general lawyering skills, dispute resolution … Continue reading The LEAPS Project