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Law Practice Planning: Law as a Career and an Enterprise (Seminar)
Prof. R. Lisle Baker,
3 credits day; 3 credits evening. Please refer to the course description, but here is additional
information. The course is taught through the use of readings, instruments (not tests), exercises,
and simulations, including oral presentations; some explanatory lectures (but primarily
discussion); and research and analysis outside of class, including some interviews of practicing
attorneys. There is no examination but a series of smaller writings during the course which can
include journals, reports, short analytic papers, and the results of research. For example, students
prepare and present a legal career plan and a comprehensive law practice plan. Class
participation is not formally graded but is weighed in evaluating the overall work and
performance of the participating student. The course may differ from the usual offering in that
participating students are asked to reflect on their own skills, values, and interests in light of
what they learn about legal careers which they might undertake and the various issues involved
in their success, including those related to finance, marketing, and professional responsibility.
Some students are unclear about what role in the legal profession they would like to undertake
upon graduation. This course is designed to help students research both themselves and the legal
profession. More particularly, it is designed to help students clarify their interests, skills, and
values to develop criteria for evaluating their professional opportunities. The students use those
criteria to find a good fit in the legal profession by conducting both library and online research
on law practice as well as personal interviews of attorneys in their chosen fields. The students
then present the preliminary results of their work to the seminar both orally and in writing. The
students then build on that foundation to evaluate the feasibility of their preferred roles,
including preparing a pro-forma financial analysis as well as examining some of the non-
financial issues involved in conducting a successful law practice. The students also do further
research on how they might make their preferred role a reality, including planning specific next
steps to be undertaken while in law school or after graduation. The course concludes with an oral
presentation to a practicing attorney who has started a law firm. In lieu of an examination, the
students prepare a formal written law practice management plan incorporating the results of the
course research and analysis.
Enrollment is limited: 18
Elective Course
Meets Skills Menu Requirement
May Fulfill Legal Writing Requirement