Program Overview
The Lawyering Skills Program is a skills training center in the Law School. The Program offers courses that teach core lawyering skills in a learning-by-doing class format. The spring 11-week touchstone course, known as the Lawyering Skills Course, teaches law practice through simulations in which each student has ample opportunities to practice such fundamental lawyering skills as negotiation, oral advocacy, and communication, interviewing and counseling, drafting and problem solving. Other skills courses, Negotiation and Oral Communication are offered through the Lawyering Skills Program.
Professor
Ralph Cagle, Director
Professor
Gretchen Viney, Associate Director
Telephone (608) 262-7881
Fax (608) 263-6365
lawskills@law.wisc.edu
Courses Offered Through the Lawyering Skills Program
The Lawyering Skills Course
Overview
The Lawyering Skills Course teaches law practice
through simulations in which each student has opportunities to
practice such fundamental lawyering skills as negotiation, oral
advocacy and communication, interviewing and counseling, drafting
and problem solving. Students also examine how practicing lawyers
address difficult ethical and professional problems, manage their
practices, and balance their professional and personal lives.
Course
Description
In addition to nine substantive segments of the course and a
variety of workshops, the course includes a Skills Intensive
Training Week. Over thirty lawyers participate as faculty in a
two-day exercise in which students represent clients on both sides
of a comprehensive legal transaction. Skills Week allows students
to practice the skills they have learned throughout the course and
receive individualized feedback from different practitioners on
their performance. (For additional information, check out the
Lawyering
Skills Course Student Handbook.
Course
Schedule
Classes meet from 12:20 - 3:20 PM on designated days and students
complete two written assignments each week. The course is 7 credits
with an additional 1 credit for those students enrolled in the
Advanced Legal Writing component. It is offered only in the spring
semester, and is open to 2nd and 3rd year law students. Enrollment
is limited.
Faculty
A unique feature of the Lawyering Skills Course
is that it is taught by a faculty of approximately 80 practicing
lawyers and other professionals who are selected not only for their
professional reputation and accomplishment, but also to reflect the
diversity of the legal profession.
Teams of practitioners teach each of nine weekly segments in both large group and small group classes. The practitioners lead class discussions, demonstrate practice situations, share experiences and perspectives, evaluate student work, and serve as resources for student questions about the "nuts and bolts" of law practice and a legal career.
The course is led by two law school faculty members. Ralph Cagle, Course Director, and Gretchen Viney, Associate Director, develop the overall curriculum, recruit and train the faculty, coordinate instruction, teach individual skills workshops, and monitor the development of each student. Both professors have extensive law practice experience, are active in bar activities related to improving the legal profession, and frequently teach continuing education programs for lawyers and other professionals.
Fall and Spring Semester Lawyering Skills Program Course Offerings
The Lawyering Skills Program offers a variety of courses that teach core lawyering skills in a learning-by-doing class format, including:
Negotiation/Mediation
(Cagle, 3 cr. Fall Semester)
Get hands-on experience and individually critiqued training in
planning, executing and learning from deal-making and conflict
resolution negotiations. Learn to conduct and represent clients in
mediation.
Client Interviewing and Counseling
(Viney, 2 cr. Fall Semester)
Discover how lawyers interact with clients, accurately identify
their legal needs, and assist them in effective
decision-making.
Introduction to the Legal Profession
(Cagle, 3 cr. Fall Semester)
Learn the practical, structural and ethical dimensions of how the
legal profession operates including the professional and personal
choices lawyers regularly face. (Satisfies Professional
Responsibilities requirement.)
Lincoln
and the Law
(Cagle, 2 cr. Fall Semester)
Examine Abraham Lincoln's law practice, selected legal issues in
his political career and presidency and how his legal experience
affected his thinking, rhetoric and leadership style. Draw
insights into lawyering today from the experiences of Abraham
Lincoln and his legal and political contemporaries. (Satisfies
Legal Process requirement.)
Oral
Communications
(Cagle, Plum, 1 cr. Fall/Spring Semester)
Learn and practice the strategies and techniques of effective oral
communication in many settings in which you will be called on to
speak as a lawyer. The course is taught by experienced
lawyer-communicators and uses a learning-by-doing model. Each
student has the opportunity to hone his or her skills by making
increasingly complex oral presentations. First the in-class faculty
critiques the student presentation, with helpful suggestions for
improvement. Then the student goes to video review where he or she
works with a second faculty member in a one-on-one critique of the
in-class presentation. By this method of double instruction and
personal attention students improve their oral communication
skills, leaving the course equipped to communicate effectively,
confidently and persuasively with clients, colleagues, associates,
and judges.
Summer Work Experience Program
The Lawyering Skills Program sponsors a summer clerkship opportunity, placing up to five UW law students in summer clerkship positions with selected law firms in small-to-mid-sized Wisconsin communities. Through these placements, students gain practical skills and experience while living and working in typical but non-metropolitan Wisconsin communities.
This placement is open to all 2L's. Students selected for
placement must complete the 7-credit Lawyering Skills Course during
the Spring semester.