Experiential learning in legal education

There’s a big difference between learning something on paper and learning how to apply it in the real world. In general, the latter is most effective in preparing people for their future careers. When you find yourself in a high-pressure environment and need to make a snap decision, your mind is likely going to draw on lived experiences before book-based learning. Both elements are crucial in providing law students with a comprehensive education that will allow them to hit the ground running post-graduation, but the former offers a variety of educational and professional benefits.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits and practical implementation of experiential learning opportunities and the legal technology tools that bolster them. We’ll also look at how strategically integrating them into a curriculum is essential to building practical skills and digital literacy.

Experiential learning opportunities

What are experiential learning opportunities? Experiential learning opportunities help students acquire and practice knowledge in an applied context. For law students, this translates to students immersing themselves in courtroom dynamics. Students in experiential courses must solve problems in real-time, think on their feet and make high-pressure decisions based on ethical and practical considerations. They learn what to expect in court and develop critical thinking skills and confidence in their careers even before they graduate.

Examples of experiential learning opportunities designed for law students include internships and externships as well as simulations and, potentially, legal clinics in local communities. These offer students both long-term and short-term opportunities to expand their knowledge and develop the practical skills and digital literacy that are crucial to their future success. Perhaps most importantly, these opportunities also demonstrate the importance of legal technology tools in everyday practice and allow students to master their use before graduating.

Practical skills

Now that we have a grasp on the concept of experiential learning, let’s talk about how these opportunities help students build practical skills.

First and foremost, few experiences are as beneficial to law students as spending time in a courtroom. Learning based on live court helps students hone their advocacy skills, improve their persuasion skills and develop courtroom presence, all of which are otherwise left to new lawyers to master shortly after graduation. Experiential learning helps aspiring legal professionals get their feet under them before they are solely responsible for clients.

In addition to live court, simulations and internships/externships also build practical skills in legal students. While nothing is quite as effective as standing in a real courtroom, simulations can help introduce students to various circumstances they might face while arguing in court. This gives them a better chance of excelling in court post-graduation.

Digital literacy

Experiential learning hones practical skills in the courtroom, giving students the chance to work with legal technology tools in both real and simulated environments.

Legal technology is software that has been designed to streamline, enhance and support the operations that legal departments, law firms and individual lawyers carry out in the course of their work. Why does legal technology matter to modern lawyers? From automating document drafting to using AI for in-depth research, today’s legal technology helps attorneys do more in less time than they would be able to without the help of tools. Law firms are adopting comprehensive technology in growing numbers to help their lawyers provide clients with the best care possible.

The best part of legal tools is that they help attorneys and law students build digital literacy. This refers to the ability to use communication and information technologies to create, find, evaluate and communicate information and data. Ideally, all lawyers would be able to use a variety of tools to enhance their legal practice. This includes providing deeper analysis of case law and drafting the perfect documents for a wide variety of client needs as well as exploring what other attorneys have done in the past. Samuel L Bray, a law professor from the University of Notre Dame, is a great example of an attorney with digital technology knowledge to share with students. You can find a variety of his citations available on Google Scholar.

When legal technology tools are implemented into experiential learning, students can build the digital literacy skills they need before they are beset with clients and cases. As a result, they have more time to master the intricacies these tools have to offer and use them to their full potential.

From clinics to court internships and even simulated legal environments, experiential learning plays a crucial role in educating law students and preparing them for long and fruitful careers. If you’d like to know more about how legal education is changing in response to modern technology, keep the information we’ve provided above in mind and do some individual research! It’s a complex topic with lots to study.