Intellectual Property Practicum – The Faculty Perspective

Today we continue our focus on the practicum requirement of our third year curriculum with an interview with Professor Sally Wiant. Professor Wiant leads our Intellectual Property practicum. In the  course catalog, this practicum is described as follows:

“This practicum will introduce students to trademark law and copyright law, doctrine, and policy. The course will focus on private enforcement of rights as opposed to government action through anti-trust laws and trade regulation. In the trademark area, the emphasis will be on misappropriation of marks or product configuration, false advertising, and trademark infringement in both the traditional markets as well as on the internet. In the copyright area, students will consider rights in literary works, including art, software, and music. Copyright and web issues will be addressed. Students will conduct interviews, perform research, draft documents, and engage in exercises relating to registration and licensing.”

For you, what do you hope your students get out of your practicum?

My intention is that students will know how to begin working on any IP assignment that is handed to them during their first year of practice.

What do you think about when designing this kind of course?

I think about the types of projects that a young associate is likely to receive during the first couple of years of practice. I attempt to design a series of projects that range from federally registering  a copyright and federally registering a  trademark, drafting policy papers, drafting licensing clauses or complaints and answers to writing a trial brief, instead of an appellate brief, and arguing points of law.

In what ways is a practicum/your practicum different from a lecture-based course?

Instead of an exam at the end of the term, students regularly receive assignments to be done individually or as a team, depending on the particular project.  In addition, students must learn how to work as a member of a team. This collaborative aspect is perhaps one of the biggest differences between a practicum and a lecture-based course.

Are there things you can do, topics you can cover in a practicum course that would be harder to accomplish in a lecture-based class? 

The best way to learn anything is through doing.  A person becomes more proficient at sports or music, for example, by coaching and practice.  Talking about how to register a copyright or a trademark is only that–talk.  Learning how to search the Principal Register and to make assessments based on a research report prior to writing a letter to a client explaining the risk of entering the market with a particular mark cannot be duplicated in a lecture class.

Do you think the experiences your students have in your practicum will help them be better lawyers? If so, how/why?

The short answer is yes. They will be better lawyers entering the market because they will have already drafted a complaint or answer or attempted a negotiation before arriving at their first job.  They have learned to manage their time, become more proficient in their research, more concise in their drafting and work well with others. These are critical professional skills and it’s important students cultivate and hone them before entering the “real world.”

What do you think the hardest thing is for students in terms of adjusting to this different style of learning? 

Students like to compartmentalize their learning.  Practicum courses force them to think across disciplines.  Practical learning classes force students to take more responsibility for their learning and to rely less on the faculty member to spoon feed them the knowledge they are expected to learn.

Any particularly favorite moments from your classes in the past?

In teaching a class on rights of publicity a student provided me with a link to a life-sized image of Tiger Woods carved out of butter.  There is no end to the possibilities for infringement.  In Torts last fall, while teaching a landmark case involving joint liability among defendants who had been hunting, a student commented “well, when I got shot…”  The class and I broke into laughter.  Fortunately, it was the end of the hour and I didn’t need to bring them back under control.

How do you feel your class fits into a student’s larger law school experience?

I have long believed in the concept of capstone courses in which students are required to pull together learning from the specific class as well as procedure and skills. My practicum provides students with just this sort of opportunity.

Banking Law Practicum – The Faculty Perspective

Yesterday, we featured a post from current third-year law student, Ashleigh Greene, in which she discussed her experience in the Banking Law Practicum. We know many of you may be wondering what a professor thinks about when designing a practicum course, and today, we have an interview with James Pannebecker, the professor who led the Banking Law Practicum. In the course catalog, this course is described as follows:

“This simulation of the Office of General Counsel, Elk Cliff Bank, will explore the rich, forward-looking environment of an in-house banking law practice in a time of financial crisis and, in the process, impart a broad exposure to the discipline of financial institutions law. The Office of General Counsel will hire new staff, negotiate an assistance agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department, help the bank develop a project plan to address the most comprehensive financial reform legislation since the 1930s, and assist with implementing the statute and regulations as developments occur in Washington and the states. As part of Elk Cliff Bank’s corporate team, within a growing firm that needs lawyers who understand its business as well as the intricacies of banking law, the Office of General Counsel will negotiate and draft contracts; analyze and implement new legislation and regulations; advise lobbying efforts; prepare resolutions and proxy materials; write concise business memos; assist in product development; revise consumer forms; manage priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment; and set reasonable expectations within the Office of General Counsel and the bank.”

Here are Professor Pannebecker’s thoughts on his practicum course:

For you, what do you hope your students get out of your practicum?

I hope it informs and eases their transition to the year after 3L, “the real world.”

What do you think about when designing this kind of course?

I want to cover the curriculum that would be covered in a traditional class, but through realistic experiences that simulate what actually happens in law and business practice. I want to design assignments that combine law, business, writing, thinking, rhetoric, issue-spotting, research, analysis, intuition, social responsibility, ethics, humor, psychology, prioritization, and much more.

In what ways is a practicum/your practicum different from a lecture-based course?

A practicum flows with current developments and unexpected diversions, without being tied to a linear, chapter-like, prescribed progression. In this respect, a practicum is more life-like, more like the years after 3L. It requires as much discipline as a lecture-based course, perhaps more, in that the soon-to-be lawyer is plopped into problem-solving that requires self-motivation, self-teaching, social interaction, always impending deadlines, and what some folks might consider “nonlegal” skills (although I’ve never met a good lawyer whose skills are only “legal”).

For the instructor, “teaching” is more spontaneous. I doubt that a practicum can be effectively “taught” by worming into books and cases or by someone who has only limited experience in everyday practice. As much as the professor may prepare for a particular class, that preparation will be almost useless without the many years of varied experience he or she must bring to an environment that cannot be fully scripted.

Are there things you can do, topics you can cover in a practicum course that would be harder to accomplish in a lecture-based class?

In a practicum, students can be “lawyers” and, due to the typically small class size, the instructor can observe and facilitate like a supervisor in a law practice environment.

As in practice, frequent assignments call for immediate attention, prioritization, input and feedback. Students who fail to keep up will be spotted and counseled. Those who excel will be recognized and rewarded. Teamwork can and will be quickly appreciated.

In the Fall 2011 Banking Law Practicum, staying on top of the developments occurring in Washington was an essential element of the course. After all, we were the Office of General Counsel, Elk Cliff Bank, and we were responsible for being the bank’s front line for implementing Dodd-Frank financial reform. We discussed developments as they happened. Our CEO would have been very disappointed if we had waited a week or two to tell him about changes. While this approach might be taken in a lecture-based course, I think it is ideal for a practicum, where “lawyers” with assigned areas of responsibility (rather than a lecturer) can be expected to promptly report on developments.

In a lecture-based course, an instructor might be reluctant to “digress” when developments unrelated to a scheduled curriculum, such as a recess appointment or a sexual harassment complaint against a law school, hit national headlines. In a practicum course, discussion of these developments is not a “diversion” at all, but a valuable, realistic example of what class participants may face one year hence.

Do you think the experiences your students are having in your practicum will help them be better lawyers? If so, how/why?

The practicum experience will enable attorneys to hit the ground running, while some colleagues who still are essentially “law students” will lack the experience gained in my practicum. For example, my attorneys will not be surprised by childish behavior in a supposedly sophisticated business environment; they will not be thrown off base when a supervisor asks them to drop what they’re doing and handle something else; they will not draft a 10-page memo packed with “legalese” and send it to a nonlawyer executive; they will check corporate policy and consult with other colleagues before responding to a shareholder’s inquiry; they will not freak out when asked to handle a topic they’ve never heard of before.

What do you think the hardest thing is for students in terms of adjusting to this different style of learning?

I think the hardest thing for students in this style of learning may be realizing that mistakes will make a huge difference the year after 3L. Tests aren’t exercises any more; they affect other peoples’ lives. So their handling of an assignment has repercussions far beyond a grade.

Any particularly favorite moments from this past semester’s class?

After the bank’s CEO (actually, an actor) led a meeting on Dodd-Frank and asked questions of various attorneys who had responsibility for certain provisions, he and I stepped out of the room and overhead someone say, “My palms were sweaty” and someone else, “Is this what it’s going to be like next year?”

At one point, the Office of General Counsel was focused on determining how the bank’s proxy statement needed to be changed to implement several Dodd-Frank provisions. An email appeared from a fellow who wanted to nominate a director (secretly sent by a friend of a student, not by the professor). One student promptly answered, saying thank you for the inquiry and indicating that the bank would respond as soon as possible. Another student sent a detailed email explaining the law on the subject. A certain amount of heat animated team discussions between then and our next meeting, when we discussed whether the response had been approved by the rest of the class, whether the emails had been sent according to bank policies and procedures, and whether the sender might have been a “corporate gadfly,” and other issues.

When the class began to work on final projects, we eliminated a few Thursday meetings. One of those weeks, I asked the class to attend at least an hour of the law school’s Fringe Lending Symposium. On Monday, the General Counsel sent an email conveying the CEO’s disappointment that no one except the General Counsel had come to the “company event.” The second paragraph of the email described the CEO’s blowing up about whether our Dodd-Frank implementation plan was complete and urging the Office of General Counsel to double-check and make sure it covered everything. When we discussed this email at our next meeting, several folks pointed out that the second paragraph was unfair, so we talked about how we might handle it – which demonstrated that corporate emails can be as juvenile as arguments with spouses and friends when they deteriorate from the point of anger to unrelated jabs.

How do you feel your class fits into a student’s larger law school experience?

The first two years help students develop a solid base of legal skills, including an ability to spot issues. Practicum and clinical courses help students apply these skills while expanding their legal, business and practical knowledge. The more varied a lawyer’s experience and knowledge, the more effectively he or she can identify and analyze issues and help clients solve problems. The Banking Law Practicum also reminds us that we need other smart people, many of whom are not lawyers, as much as or more than they need us.

Banking Law Practicum

Today, we continue our look at the third year’s practicum course requirement with a blog post from one of our third year students, Ashleigh Greene. Last semester, Ashleigh was enrolled in the Banking Law practicum. In the course catalog, the course is described as follows:

“This simulation of the Office of General Counsel, Elk Cliff Bank, will explore the rich, forward-looking environment of an in-house banking law practice in a time of financial crisis and, in the process, impart a broad exposure to the discipline of financial institutions law. The Office of General Counsel will hire new staff, negotiate an assistance agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department, help the bank develop a project plan to address the most comprehensive financial reform legislation since the 1930s, and assist with implementing the statute and regulations as developments occur in Washington and the states. As part of Elk Cliff Bank’s corporate team, within a growing firm that needs lawyers who understand its business as well as the intricacies of banking law, the Office of General Counsel will negotiate and draft contracts; analyze and implement new legislation and regulations; advise lobbying efforts; prepare resolutions and proxy materials; write concise business memos; assist in product development; revise consumer forms; manage priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment; and set reasonable expectations within the Office of General Counsel and the bank.”

This course is led by James Pannabecker. Professor Pannabecker has extensive experience in the banking and mortgage industries.

Here are Ashleigh’s thoughts:

After working in the banking industry for two years prior to starting law school and during the summer after my first year in law school, I knew the Banking Law Practicum would be a practicum that would fit my interests well. I knew one day I wanted to work in a corporate general counsel’s office, but who would have thought I would get to serve as a member of the general counsel office of Elk Cliff Bank before I even graduated from law school? Plus, with the recent enactment of the Dodd-Frank legislation, a bill with significant implications for banking practices in the United States, I knew this would be an interesting time to take a course in which I would have an opportunity to deal with these kinds of cutting edge issues.

So, one of the things you should know about the practicum courses is that they are simulated experiences. This means that while the problems you encounter are very much like the ones you might encounter if you were an attorney practicing in the area the class focuses on, the clients, parties, etc. involved are fictional. For example, in this class, I worked in the counsel’s office for Elk Cliff Bank (not a real bank), run by its President Dennis Devito (not really a bank president). However, our Professor (Professor Pannabecker), who functioned as our supervising senior attorney in the counsel’s office, was very much real and largely served as our liaison with Mr. Devito.

One day the senior partner forwarded to us an email from a shareholder of Elk Cliff Bank who expressed some concerns on executive compensation. We all panicked. Some responded directly to the shareholder, some responded to general counsel, and some responded to Professor Pannabecker. What we did not know was, this was a test. Professor Pannabecker wanted us to call a meeting to discuss our response and learn the importance of effectively communicating with people outside of the bank.  Professor Pannabecker clearly expressed his opinion about sending communication out before consulting the entire general counsel’s office staff. “Please tell me what your thoughts were when you sent the email to the shareholder? Did you consult your colleagues before this went out, because I did not receive an email?” Even though the class was a simulation, this mistake felt very real.

Flash forward a few weeks. We are in our weekly general counsel meeting. “Where are we with our implementation plan, I asked for this last week?” Professor Pannabecker asked.  Everyone sat in silence, once again we had no idea what to say; we had just started working on this project, it was nowhere near finished. Finally Professor Pannabecker spoke. “Ashleigh, please tell Mr. Devito how the Dodd Frank provisions regulating mortgage lending will impact Elk Cliff.” What? Did he really put me on the spot? “Well Mr. Devito, based on my research Elk Cliff has put itself in a really good position. There are some regulatory changes that impact timing, but overall we have little to worry about.” Glad that was over.

When I signed up for this practicum, I thought I would only learn about swaps, yield spread premiums, and other banking terminology. However, this practicum spread over various areas of law. My final presentation to my colleagues dealt with Dodd-Frank’s constitutional issues. Other colleagues presented on corporate structure, antitrust implications, and much more. Through this practicum, I learned many things. I learned how to conduct myself in a boardroom, how to respond to an email from a supervising attorney or a shareholder, and how to meet the sometimes invisible expectations of your supervising attorney. These were things I could not have learned from a book or even during my summer internships. Professor Pannabecker taught us more than banking law; he taught us how to be lawyers.

Appellate Advocacy Practicum

Today, we continue our look at the third year’s practicum course requirement with a blog post from one of our third year students, Ellis Pretlow. Last semester, Ellis was enrolled in the Appellate Advocacy practicum. In the course catalog, the course is described as follows:

“This course is ‘hands on.’ Students will have the opportunity to argue in a moot setting cases that are currently on appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia. After moot arguments, students will observe the actual arguments before the Court. Students will learn the nature and function of appellate courts; how to preserve issues for appeal; what is subject to appeal and when; standing and what parties must be before the court; how to perfect an appeal; how to make the appellate record; effective brief writing; standards of review; oral argument; and how a judge thinks and makes decisions. With visits to one or more of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Court of Appeals of Virginia, students will also observe appellate advocacy “up close” and have the opportunity to speak with appellate judges about their roles and their work.”

This course is led by Justice Donald W. Lemons. Justice Lemons is Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. In addition, he has served as a judge or justice at every level of the judiciary in Virginia.

Here are Ellis’ thoughts on the course:

Being in the Appellate Advocacy Practicum with Justice Lemons last semester took me from preparing an Appellate Brief and Oral Argument all the way through seeing cases argued in the Supreme Court of Virginia and the United States Supreme Court.

During the classroom portion of our practicum, my classmates and I met once a week with Justice Lemons to discuss various issues affecting the nation’s appellate court system today. Justice Lemons’ unique perspective was invaluable to these class disucssions. Having been a trial attorney, trial judge, Court of Appeals of Virginia Judge, and a Justice on the Virginia Supreme Court, Justice Lemons is able to share war stories and real life perspective on litigation in Virginia and across the Nation. Because Virginia’s court system is unique and sometimes quirky, having someone who knows the law well and has molded some of it himself in various important decisions was incredibly helpful as we worked to learn more about the intricacies of appellate practice.

In addition to these class meetings, we had to conduct an oral argument. To this end, each one of the students in the class was assigned a case currently before the Supreme Court of Virginia to argue in front of a three judge panel, consisting of Justice Lemons, Professor Calhoun, and Professor Bruck.  Arguing in front of our classmates and receiving critique from the judges was tough but it definitely helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses as an oral advocate.

After our oral arguments, we then travelled to Richmond to see the very cases we argued in class argued in front of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Most of us were impressed and humbled by the attorney’s knowledge of the record, case law, and persuasive tactics.  It was interesting to see what the attorneys focused on in their arguments and how they molded the facts in the record to fit a cogent oral narrative.  I have a newfound respect for oral advocates after having done it myself, and I am here to tell you that it is never as easy as it looks, especially when you’re getting peppered with questions from Justices on the Supreme Court!

Next, we all wrote Briefs for cases that were also being argued in front of the Supreme Court of Virginia this term. Interestingly enough, the case I was assigned centered on a car accident in my hometown; you can’t get much more real world than that! The Brief writing process was arduous and wading through the trial court record of five hundred plus pages was not fun, but it was definitely rewarding. In law school, you typically don’t spend a lot of time on case facts. Instead, professors tend to focus on the principles of law and not so much the people involved, their lives, the circumstances surrounding a dispute. Consequently, it was refreshing to get involved in the specifics of a case and put names to faces instead of just gleaning the legal doctrines from a case in a textbook.

For our final class meeting, we travelled to D.C. to hear two arguments in front of the United States Supreme Court.  This was an excellent culmination of the semester and a very cool experience for those of us who had never been to the Supreme Court before. The building itself was beautiful and awe-inspiring; as I told another member of the class: Going to the Supreme Court is prime law-school geek out time. It was so amazing to imagine all of the important cases that have been heard in that building and all of the advocates that have gone in front of the Court.

We heard arguments in Setser v. United States and Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper.  The issue in Setser was whether a federal district court may direct that a criminal defendant’s sentence run consecutively with a yet-to-be-imposed sentence that the defendant is expected to receive for a state crime. The Justices started firing off questions almost immediately after the Petitioner’s attorney started talking, and the contentious nature of the argument did not stop until the attorney sat down. It was especially interesting to see the Justices speaking to each other and pushing for their position through the oral advocates. I also never realized that there were pages behind the Justices who assisted the Justices with everything from passing notes to getting anything the Justices may need during the argument. I saw Justice Kennedy pass Justice Scalia a note which made Scalia chuckle. Justice Thomas sent away for a book to look something up, and I thought we just might hear him ask his first question in nine years, but we weren’t so lucky!

The issue in the second argument, Cooper, was whether a plaintiff who alleges only mental and emotional injuries can 
establish actual damages within the meaning of the civil remedies provision of the
 Privacy Act. It was pretty cool to hear the attorneys and Justices cite to cases that I used in support of my argument in the John W. Davis Appellate Advocacy Competition last year. Following the arguments, our class had lunch in the Supreme Court cafeteria, got a behind the scenes tour of the Supreme Court and met with General Suter, the Clerk of the Court.

Overall, the Appellate Advocacy Practicum was one of the best experiences I have had in my law school career. I know that looking back on law school, I will always remember going to the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Supreme Court of the United States, even if I am never lucky enough to have a chance to go back and argue in front of either body. The practical aspects of the class combined with the interactive field work was truly a unique and inspiring experience at a time when I thought I knew everything there was to know about law school!

The Practicum Courses

Today, we continue our review of our third year curriculum with a look at the practicum course requirement. Over the next week or so, we will feature posts from students and professors reflecting on these courses.

All third year students are required to take four elective courses, one real-client experience (either a clinic, an externship or a Transnational Human Rights program) and three additional electives taught in a problems-based, practicum style. And, as you might guess by their description, these courses are very different from the lecture-based courses students take during their first and second years at W&L Law. In fact, in many ways, the practicum courses represent the biggest change for students during their third year.

In the dictionary, ”practicum” is defined as follows: “A school or college course, especially one in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of previously studied theory.”  And this is what the third year practicum courses are designed to do: Allow students to see and experience how the law works in actual practice. These courses are rooted in the idea that the best way for students to learn what lawyers do is to actually do what lawyers do. In their third year, students move beyond the more theoretical discussions of their first two years to actually applying the law to client problems (both real and simulated).

The practicum courses represent the simulated part of the learning equation described above. These classes are taught in an active, hands-on, problems-based approach, with students assisting fictionalized clients with the very sort of problems that might arise if they were an attorney practicing in the topic area touched upon by the course. Students no longer read cases and spend class time discussing judicial opinions or black letter law. After all, these classes are designed to approximate the intellectual and practical rigors of the profession, and lawyers certainly don’t sit around all day discussing abstract questions of law.

Furthermore, these classes’ simulated quality allows professors to expose students to a broader, more complex and thornier range of legal questions and problems than they could through a clinic or an externship. There are practicum courses offered during the third year (Federal Energy Regulation, Cross-Borders Transactions, Entertainment Law, to name a few) that would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to offer as clinical or externship experiences. These courses run the gamut of the representational spectrum, touching upon many areas of both litigation and transactional practice. And there is no limit to the courses that can be taught in a practicum style. As our professors will tell you, any course can be taught in this way. It only requires the professor leading the course to think about the subject matter in a different way.

Admittedly, law school looks a little (or a lot) different during the third year. For example, there are no exams, and students are evaluated continuously throughout the semester. In addition, “class” during the third year looks very different than during the first and second years. Gone are the Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday strictures. Classes meet less regularly and students do more work in groups. A practicum course may meet once a week, or every day for two weeks straight, only to be followed by a week or two when students work with their classmates outside the classroom on an assignment. In these classes, professors function more like senior-level attorneys, teaching the law as necessary while directing and evaluating students’ work product through regular meetings.

As you might gather from the above comment, there is a great deal of student-faculty interaction built into these courses, with students regularly meeting with professors to discuss their submitted work . In these courses, the professor has an opportunity to mentor and advise a student in a way that would be almost impossible in the real world. Lawyers have less time than ever to mentor young attorneys. However, in the third year, professors have time to provide the kind of focused feedback that will support and help students as they take their first steps as practicing attorneys.

We hope the posts from students and professors we will feature over the next week will give you a better sense of how these courses actually work. There is little doubt that our students are doing their most complex and professionally-relevant work during their third year. However, as a result of our third year curricular reform, students now progress through their time at W&L Law in a truly linear way – moving from beginning law student to more advanced law student to lawyer to be over the course of their three years. For more about our curricular progression, please see our Make Each Year Count webpage.

For a listing (with descriptions) of the practicum courses offered in 2010-11, click here. For a listing of this year’s course offerings, please consult our online catalog (after jump, scroll down to the “Practicums” heading).

Be sure to check out the video below in which Professor Jim Moliterno discusses our practicum courses:

Click here to see all our blog coverage on the third year

Law-Related Service

Today, we continue our coverage of the third year, with a look at the Law-Related service requirement.

Here are the nuts and bolts of the Law-Related Service Program:

As we mentioned at the conclusion of yesterday’s post, all students are required to complete at least forty hours of uncompensated legal service to the public and/or service to the legal profession during their third year (ideally, students will do some combination of both). Students may receive a maximum of two course credits for Law-Related Service in their third year. A student wishing to receive two course credits for Law-Related service must complete, at a minimum, eighty hours of uncompensated service. Work done during the summer may not be counted towards a student’s service requirement, however, students may complete their requirement throughout the academic year. Students who complete more than one hundred hours of uncompensated service are awarded a certificate and their extraordinary service is noted at commencement.

There are several reasons for this requirement. First and foremost is the W&L Law community’s commitment to professionalism.  To us, professionalism calls upon us not only to approach the practice of law with honor, care, and diligence but also to serve our communities and our profession.  This duty to serve derives not only from the longstanding values of our institution (integrity, character, honesty) but also from the expectations of the greater legal community.  In Rule 6.1 of its Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the American Bar Association has called upon all lawyers to engage in direct pro bono representation of indigent clients.  There is also a general expectation within the profession that lawyers will be involved in the life of their legal community through participation in local bar association activities and committees. We believe it is important for students to begin cultivating these habits while they are in law school.

We are often asked by prospective students, “What satisfies the law-related service component of the third year?” The short answer is, “A lot of things.” For examples of some of the things our students have done to satisfy this requirement, please feel free to review our profiles of several students’ service projects. However, here is a longer list of some of the activities that count towards the service requirement:

Serving on the Editorial Board for a Journal – Click here to see a listing of our journals

Moot Court Executive Board – Click here to read more about our Moot Court program

Research Assistant for a Professor - Click here to see a complete list of research positions (after the jump, the listing is about halfway down the page).

Kirgis Fellows – Kirgis Fellows are second- and third-year law students who serve as formal mentors to first-year students. They provide information about law school life, University services, extracurricular options, and study skills. Click here to learn more about the program.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance – Each Spring, the School of Law sponsors a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site.  The VITA program provides free current year income tax preparation assistance for low-to-moderate income taxpayers in the Rockbridge county area.

Mock Trial Coaches – Assistant coaching positions are available for students interested in working with Professor Belmont and the undergraduate mock trial team. Assistant coaches work with the students as they develop case theories, prepare direct- and cross- examinations, formulate opening statements and closing arguments, and develop their objection colloquy.

Citizenship and Immigration Program Translators – Students may assist The Citizenship and Immigration Program as translators.  Students must be fluent in Spanish and willing to coordinate schedules with client interviews.

Southwest Virginia Innocence Project – The Southwest Virginia Innocence Project provides post-conviction legal assistance to criminal defendants seeking to prove their innocence. This organization allows students to participate in ongoing cases involving possible innocence, from reviewing cases to filing motions for DNA testing within the Virginia court system.

Project Horizon Advocates - Project Horizon is dedicated to reducing domestic, dating, and sexual violence in the Lexington, Buena Vista, and Rockbridge County area through crisis intervention services and prevention programs. Students volunteering with Project Horizon can assist clients through a number of the organization’s direct services and outreach programs, including a 24-hour hotline, emergency shelter, crisis intervention, counseling, applicable referrals, and court advocacy.

PEER Internship Program – Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national, nonprofit service organization dedicated to assisting federal, state and local resource professionals who fight to uphold environmental laws and ethics within their organizations. As an intern, students help support PEER’s legal program by assisting PEER’s General Counsel, Executive Director and staff attorneys in all aspects of litigation, primarily through legal research and writing. Interns also assist PEER with investigating and documenting potential environmental laws and ethics violations.

Documenting the Right to Counsel – Court Observation Project – The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) and the American Constitution Society (ACS) have partnered together to develop a pilot project to place highly skilled and trained law student volunteers in courtrooms in select jurisdictions across the country to observe and document how indigent defense services are provided in state and local trial courts. There are two primary goals of this endeavor: (1) to gather data on the delivery of right to counsel services in locations about which this valuable information has not been collected; and, (2) to educate law students about the Constitutional requirement that states provide a meaningful right to counsel for those accused of crime who cannot otherwise afford it and our nation’s ongoing, systemic failure to fulfill that requirement.

These are just a few examples of the advertised activities in which our students may participate. Click here to see a complete listing of the advertised activities. There is also some flexibility for students to propose their own project, however, students interested in this option must receive approval from our Assistant Dean for Clinical Education and Public Service, Mary Natkin.

For additional information about the Law-Related Service requirement, please be sure to check out this interview with Mary Natkin:

On Monday, we will turn our attention to the practicum component of our third year curriculum. Over the next week, we will feature posts from both students and faculty reflecting on these hands-on, problems-based courses.

Click here to see all our blog coverage on the third year

The Legal Profession Course

Today, we continue our coverage of our third year curriculum with a look at the Legal Profession course, the year-long lecture series devoted to the discussion of contemporary issues confronting lawyers and the practice of law. A quick note before we get started. At the conclusion of yesterday’s post, I referred to this as a semester-long course. Last year, it was a semester-long. This year, it is a full year in length.

Here are the nuts and bolts of the Legal Profession course:

Depending upon a student’s level of interest, the course can be worth one or two credits. There are twelve, two-hour sessions offered over the course of the year. One session is offered during each immersion (one in the fall, one in the spring) and all students are required to attend these sessions. After that, if the student wishes to earn only one credit for the course, he/she must attend four of the remaining ten sessions. If the students intends to earn two credits for the course, he/she must attend eight of the ten remaining sessions. In addition, students are required to submit a ten page paper on any topic that has a direct relationship to the legal profession. This course is graded pass-fail.

Here is the list of topics from this year’s course:

Alternative Business Systems for Law Firms (Required – Fall Immersion)
The Lawyer in a Global Market (Required – Spring Immersion)
The Electronic Lawyer
White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyers
Life As Legal Aid Lawyer
The Perfect (And Not-So-Perfect) Associate
Lawyers in the Criminal Justice System
The Lawyer Entrepreneur
Professional Identity
Social Science Skills for Lawyers
The Future of Law Practice
On Having Influence

We asked Jim Moliterno, the professor who leads/designs this component of the third year, a few questions about this course:

What is the purpose of the Legal Profession course?

There are critical topics regarding the legal profession that do not fit neatly anywhere else in the curriculum.  The Legal Profession course exists to expose the students to these topics.  Examples of the topics include the economic systems of the legal profession, its culture, its current events and trends and challenges.

What topics did/will you cover during this year’s program?

The topics include The Future of Large Law Firms, The Perfect Associate, Lives and Work of White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyers (same for Legal Aid Lawyers),  Lawyers as Entrepreneurs, Lawyers in the Global Legal Economy, On Having Influence, Women’s Issues in the Legal Profession, The Electronic Lawyer (Note: A full list of the topics can be found above).

 What do you hope students get out of these discussions?

I hope the sessions assist students in becoming “of the legal profession.” The 3L curriculum is in part designed as a transition year between the role of student and the role of lawyer. One piece of that is the sense of belonging to the legal profession. I hope students leave the Legal Profession sessions feeling more like they have a stake in the future of the legal profession, more like they will have some role in its future development, and more like they should care about the health of the profession beyond their own practice area.

How do you feel it fits within the larger context of the third year?

As the students experience the role of lawyer in the immersions, clinics, externships, and practicum courses, the Legal Profession course gives them a place in the 3L curriculum to pause and reflect on the context of their experiences.

Tomorrow, we will discuss the law-related service component of the third year. This component requires all students to complete at least forty hours (40) of legal service to the public and/or service to the legal profession during their third year.

Click here to see all our blog coverage on the third year

The Skills Immersions – Pt. 2

Yesterday, we discussed the litigation-oriented skills immersion that begins the first semester of our third year. Today, we continue our discussion of our third year curriculum and turn our attention to second semester’s transactionally-oriented skills immersion.

During the third year, each semester begins with a two week practice intensive, known as a skills immersion, in which students cultivate many of the practical skills they will likely need for their practicum and actual practice experiences. During this two week period, third year students are engaged in the skills immersion alone. In other words, no practicum courses. No actual practice experiences. The skills immersion is their only responsibility for these two weeks. By being separate from the beginning of the students’ other courses, professors have the students’ full attention for the two weeks of the immersion, and the students are able to apply a single-minded focus to their assignments and exercises.

At the beginning of the second semester, third-year students participate in a second skills immersion, this time focusing on transactional skills. In this skills immersion, the students move out of the courtroom and into the boardroom (so to speak). Each student represents either a buyer or a seller in a friendly, business transaction: the purchase of a small, family-owned manufacturing business (the “deal”).  Throughout the transactional immersion, instructors play the role of senior attorneys with law school staff members playing the role of clients. Pairs of student “lawyers” are assigned to represent a client, working with a pair of students representing the other side.

In the course, students first meet the person playing the role of their client. Then, in small steps, they work through various legal issues in the transaction including the employment of the seller in the new business, treatment of current employees, the nature of the transaction as a stock or asset transfer, indemnities, and others.  For each step, they negotiate, consult with their client, manage their client’s expectations, and draft the terms of an agreement.  In the end, the students compile the agreement and assess the steps needed to close the transaction.

We asked a few third-year students to describe their experiences in the transaction skills immersion (Note: They are currently completing the second week of this immersion):

Negin Farahmand, 3L:

“The two weeks of immersion are definitely unique to any other law school experience.  The Spring Immersion is focused on transactional work and is business related. At the beginning of the week, we were all assigned to represent either the President of a small furniture manufacturing business or the potential buyer of that business. My section represents Lee Sellers, the President and owner of the small business.  We were each divided into teams of two and each pair is responsible for negotiating and drafting the sale of the business and getting the best deal possible for their client.

Each day of Immersion is slightly different depending on where we are in the business deal.  In the first week, we met with our client several times and my partner and I met separately to discuss what issues we thought might arise in the sale of our client’s business. Following the first few meetings, we met with the team representing the buyer and began negotiating the purchase price, the employment contract and the structure of the sale.

I have found this immersion challenging because I am not necessarily a business minded person. I have not taken any classes in employment law or tax, but throughout the two weeks, we have mini-lessons to learn the important law necessary for a successful sale. Even though I’m not incredibly familiar with many of the subjects we are dealing with, I have gained the skills and hands-on experience necessary to draft legal documents and negotiate a deal. I would likely not have gained these skills outside of these two weeks.”

Liz Zamorski, 3L:

“I have just completed the first week of Spring Immersion and am excited to be starting the home stretch.  The Spring Immersion is structured much differently than the litigation exercise we completed in the Fall.  In this skills immersion, we are focused on the acquisition of a business, with some students working on the purchaser’s side, other students on the seller’s side. My section this semester has 16 people in it and is led by Professor Dan Evans, who also acts as our senior attorney.  We are each paired with another student in the small section who is our co-counsel, and we work on the deal as a team of three with our senior attorney.

My co-counsel and I are are responsible for meeting with our client as well as our senior attorney and providing our senior attorney with updated summary reports each afternoon.  The senior attorney gives us feedback from the client, but is also available to help us with questions or impasses we may have reached with opposing counsel.  This three person structure allows us to collaborate with another student and to have close interaction and guidance from a seasoned professional.

We all start with the same fact pattern, but each team’s approach to the problem and method of prioritizing drastically changes the course of the transaction.  After only one week of immersion, we are all now working on very different deals.  As part of the exercise, we conduct client interviews, work closely with senior counsel, negotiate the terms of the business sale, draft agreements, perform due diligence, and also attend lectures on a variety of topics.

This immersion has taught me that there are many moving parts to a corporate acquisition.  We must stay in constant contact with our co-counsel, opposing counsel, senior attorney, and client, in order to ensure that every part of the transaction is in line with our client’s wishes. I have found this especially helpful because my post-graduation job offer is for the corporate/commercial transactional department at an international law firm.  The two weeks I spent in the Fall Immersion and the week I have spent in Spring Immersion have taught me skills I know I will use when I am at my job.  I like knowing that I have the opportunity now to learn and ask questions before I am billing hours to a client.  Overall, the immersion exercises are intense, but their value is worth a lot more than two weeks of hard work.”

While the Immersions are certainly intense and represent only a small portion (literally, four weeks) of the third year curriculum, it’s clear students learn a great deal from the experiences, lessons they will carry with them beyond their time in law school. As Mary Katherine Vigness, one of our third year students comments:

“The Immersion program has been an invaluable experience, as it has pulled back the curtain on both transactional work and litigation in ways that traditional law classes cannot do for a student.  Although I gained insight into legal practice as a judicial intern and summer associate, the Immersion program furthered that education and gave me a sense of what it is like to litigate a civil case on my own and negotiate the sale of a company on behalf of a client.  The program mirrors real life and teaches us about the various steps of actual legal processes, such as how to draft a complaint in the course of litigation or ways to negotiate an employment agreement in the sale of a business.  The program has shown me how my work during law school will fit into legal practice, as we have been able to explore two major forms of practice.  This opportunity is unusual for law students and has been extremely helpful for us in either choosing a professional path or reaffirming a path already chosen.   Ultimately, the program will soften the transition between law school and the “real world,” as we can both experience the basics of legal practice and learn as students who are able to ask questions and make mistakes without jeopardizing a real case or the interests of a client.  I believe every third-year law student should have this experience.”

For more on the Skills Immersions, please feel free to check out the following video:

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Legal Profession, the semester-long lecture series devoted to the discussion of contemporary  issues confronting lawyers and the practice of law.

The Skills Immersions – Pt. 1

As I mentioned yesterday, over the next few weeks, we will feature a number of blog posts discussing the various aspects of our third year curriculum. Today, we will begin, as each semester does for our 3Ls, with our skills immersions.

During the third year, each semester begins with a two week practice intensive, known as a skills immersion, in which students cultivate many of the practical skills they will likely need for their practicum and actual practice experiences. During this two week period, third year students are engaged in the skills immersion alone. In other words, no practicum courses. No actual practice experiences. The skills immersion is their only responsibility for these two weeks. By being separate from the beginning of the students’ other courses, professors have the students’ full attention for the two weeks of the immersion, and the students are able to apply a single-minded focus to their assignments and exercises.

The students work with their professors and in their groups from 9 to 5 every weekday for the two week period, and they often have work at home. As you might imagine, students describe the experience as “intense,” and “like a job rather than school.” The first skills immersion is litigation focused while second semester’s immersion is transactionally focused. However, both immersions involve taking a single representation from beginning to end.

In the litigation immersion, each student represents either an employer or an employee in a simple, wrongful discharge matter. In a single, two week-period, students have the experience of taking a case from start to finish. Throughout the litigation immersion, students play the role of the “clients”, and also represent a client in a separate but similar case.  Students are told in advance that their experiences in the immersion program will be free-flowing, and somewhat more realistic and unpredictable than their prior law school experiences, with new issues arising and changes of course taking place as the litigation develops. Furthermore, because the experience tracks a single case from beginning to end, students experience the results of their work: for example, a poorly drafted complaint yields problematic results at a later motion hearing or trial. As a result, students learn not only about the activity at any given time, but they learn about the quality of their work in other aspects of the same representation.

We asked one of our third-year students, Ned Hillenbrand, to discuss his experience in last semester’s skills immersion:

“During last fall’s Immersion Program, I played both the role of attorney and client in two separate but concurrent litigation simulations. As an attorney, I defended a grocery store owner in a civil lawsuit initiated by a former, disgruntled employee. After a preliminary interview with my client and receipt of the initial complaint, I handled the case’s discovery, evidentiary motions, settlement negotiations, and eventual trial. During the trial, I delivered an opening statement, examined my client and presented evidence, cross-examined the plaintiff, and delivered a closing argument in front of a faculty member who adjudicated the proceedings.

As a client, I was represented by a student in a wrongful termination suit against my former employer. I presented to my attorney the facts of the case and my objectives during the litigation. I spoke with my attorney thereafter about key evidence, settlement negotiations, and eventually my testimony at trial. During the eventual trial, I was examined by my attorney and cross-examined by opposing counsel, again, in front of a faculty member who adjudicated the proceedings.

Overall, it was an often exhausting, but enjoyable experience. Most days were filled with presentations, meetings, negotiations, and assignments for the following day. By providing the program as a pass/fail credit, I was able to embrace the chaos freely without concerns about grades. I had the opportunity work with my peers and faculty in two highly organized, fact-intensive simulations that required me to think on my feet and adapt to the obstacles presented.”

Daniel Isaacs-Smith, 3L:

“The fall immersion consists of litigation practice, where we spent two weeks simulating an entire civil trial from start to finish, including drafting pleadings, answers, interrogatories, and motions; arguing before a judge during a motion hearing; practicing direct and cross examinations and opening and closing statements; and finally, using all of these skills to try our case against the opposing party before a judge (or, more specifically, a faculty member serving as a judge for the purposes of the proceedings).  In addition, each student acted both as counsel and as either the plaintiff or defendant, so we were all given the opportunity to experience the trial from different perspectives.

Unlike many students, fall immersion was certainly not in my comfort zone.  As someone who came to law school from the banking world, with the express intention of avoiding litigation at all costs, the thought of spending two weeks simulating a real trial sent shivers down my spine.  However, at the end of the two weeks, I realized that I learned skills that are immeasurably valuable to any attorney, regardless of their choice of practice.  If you are someone like me, who is committed to one side or the other (litigation vs. transactional) of the law, remember to keep an open mind about the other—you might just learn something you will use in the future.  Who knows, you might even change your mind about what kind of law you want to practice in the first place.”

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the second semester’s more transactionally focused skills immersion. In the meantime, feel free to check out the following video on the skills immersions:

For additional information about our third year, stay tuned (of course), but also be sure to check out our Third Year webpage:

http://law.wlu.edu/thirdyear

The Third Year – The Blog Series

While we feel very strongly about our three-year curricular progression, we also realize our third year is in many ways the year at W&L Law that differs most from what you will encounter at other law schools. At W&L Law, this year is entirely experiential and designed to provide you with a variety of practice experiences, both real and simulated, that will allow you to begin your transition to life as a lawyer a full year before joining the “real world.” Furthermore, you willl make this transition in law school, an educational environment in which feedback and instruction are not only possible, they are the norm.

Over the next two weeks, we will cover the many components of our third year in an effort to give you a better sense of just what students do during this year at W&L Law.  We will begin by discussing the skills immersions, the two-week practice intensives that begin each semester in which students are exposed to the very skills they will likely need for their practicum and actual practice experiences. After that, we will take a look at the Legal Profession, the semester-long investigation of topics relevant to the current state of legal practice, and the law-related service requirement.

We will then move on to the practicum courses, the simulated practice experiences in which students engage the law as they will as lawyers: through client problems. We will close with an in-depth look at the “actual practice” component of the third year and the many things students do to satisfy this requirement.

In the meantime, check out these materials about our third year:

W&L Law’s Third Year Webpage

W&L Law’s Make Each Year Count Webpage