March 28, 2007
Lawyers Want Technology Training
New lawyers say law schools are failing to train them to effectively use technology in their work, says a report by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in cooperation with LexisNexis. The report recommends, among other things, that law schools encourage students to experience what casework is like by using computer simulations. It also says small law firms can become more competitive with larger ones by making better use of Web data and software. --Andrea L. Foster
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One finding we picked up along the way is a passing-the-buck approach to skills training that is now taking place among schools and first employers. The Carnegie Foundation’s study found that schools are already avoiding skills education; there is substantial evidence out there that employers are also doing their best to avoid this expense. The impact is most strongly felt in smaller practices that lack formal training infrastructure. Those smaller practices are the same ones where lawyers take on a larger role in managing technology. It also happens that these very lawyers are declining as a percentage of all lawyers and are the primary service providers to moderate- and low-income Americans. The upshot: not including technology in the legal curriculum probably has a depressive effect on the amount of legal services available to average people in the US.
You can find a wiki version of this study, which we invite you to correct/edit/extend, here: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/legaled/New_Skills%2C_New_Learning
— Gene Koo Mar 30, 03:00 PM #