Arizona’s 3L February Bar Experiment: A Mid-term Assessment
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The University of Arizona College of Law is implementing a February Bar Exam option for third-year law students to address challenges in legal education and improve graduates' readiness for practice. The initiative includes a newly developed curriculum focused on experiential learning and aims to better prepare students for the legal job market. The Arizona Supreme Court approved the 3L February Bar Exam starting in 2013, with specific criteria for participating students and a structured curriculum plan for 2014.
Arizona’s 3L February Bar Experiment: A Mid-term Assessment
- 1. Robert A. Williams, Jr. The University of Arizona Rogers College of Law E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law Faculty Co-Chair, FebBar Curriculum Working Group Arizona’s 3L February Bar Experiment A Mid-term Assessment with February 2014 Bar Exam Results
- 2. Timeline for Launch of 2014 Arizona 3L FebBar Summer of 2011 The University of Arizona College of Law investigates feasibility of allowing students to take the Arizona Bar Examination in February of their third year of law school as a way of addressing some of the greatest challenges facing law schools and law school graduates today: •The cost of legal education; •An increasingly complex and tight job market; •Criticism that law schools do not pay enough attention to producing graduates who are ready to practice law; •Doubts about the distinctive purpose and value of the third year of law school. Potential Benefits of 3L FebBar Option: • A Jump Start on Practice •Increased Employment Opportunities •Readiness for the full range of legal jobs •Transforming 3rd year curriculum
- 3. RETOOLING THE THIRD YEAR LAW SCHOOL CURRICULUM •The 3L FebBar presents the opportunity to develop a new curricular approach, focused on the transition from the classroom to practice, that would benefit February exam takers and other upper-level students as well; •February bar exam option provided advocates for expanded experiential learning opportunities for our students (like me) with a powerful lever to drive substantial educational reforms; •The challenge of retooling the traditional curriculum to emphasize experiential learning and facilitate the transition from law school to law practice became a major driver for many of those who supported the February exam rule change.
- 4. January 5, 2012 Petition filed on behalf of all three Arizona Law Schools with the Arizona Supreme Court, seeking to allow 3L students to take the February Bar Exam. Public comment period from January through May 2012. Summer of 2012 While working through the rule change process, UA College of Law: •Simultaneously planned for the development of a new theory-to- practice curriculum by convening an Advisory Committee that included faculty, recent graduates, practitioners (solo and large-firm, litigators, and transactional lawyers), a representative of the State Bar, judges, and students; •Charge of the Committee was to make recommendations on what a theory-to-practice curriculum should look like in order to help our graduates be more practice-ready upon graduation. Late Fall 2012 FebBar Curriculum Working Group established to take the materials that Advisory Committee had produced and outline a series of experientially-focused classes for consideration by the faculty.
- 5. December 10, 2012 Arizona Supreme Court issues an order “effective January 1, 2013 until December 31, 2015,” approving the 3L FebBar and requiring the law schools to file reports with the Court on the early examination process by November 1, 2015. Students wishing to take the early bar exam would have to demonstrate: •current enrollment and good standing at an ABA-approved law school; •expected graduation within 120 days of the administration of the bar exam; •enrollment in a maximum of two credit hours (or equivalent) during the month of the exam and the preceding month; •eight or fewer units needed to graduate at the time of administration of the exam, and •academic preparedness for early testing, as attested to by the school.
- 6. Spring 2013 Design of the 2014 Inaugural 3L FebBar Curriculum •The February bar exam is usually given during the last week of February; •2014 Spring semester broken down into two parts, the pre-bar time period (approximately 7 weeks) and the post-bar (approximately 8 weeks) time period; •Pursuant to the Supreme Court’s order, students taking the February Bar are limited to taking no more than 10 units total during their 3L spring semester and no more than 2 of these 10 units during the pre- Bar time period.
- 7. Fall 2013 FebBar Curriculum announced: •The 2 credit pre-FebBar “Professional Skills Study Course” •The 8 credit Post-FebBar Experiential Curriculum
- 8. Pre-FebBar “Professional Skills Study Course” Professional Skills/Tools of the Lawyer The UA/Kaplan Partnership Flipped Class Videos and Experiential Simulation and Problem-Based Workshops The Knowledge Set •Substantive Law (contracts/property/torts/criminal law) •Legal Reasoning/Writing and Analysis •Mindset (dynamic or static) •Strategic Self-Assessment (Hogan Personality Index) The Skill Set •Interviewing the Client •Counseling the Client •Advocating for the Client •Negotiating for the Client
- 9. Course Syllabus February Pre-Bar Professional Skills Study Course Law PRE-PRE-BAR, DECEMBER 5-16, 2013 Take on-line diagnostic assessment of core knowledge and skills (4.5 hour diagnostic test, available on-line at www.kaptest.com. WEEK 1: JANUARY 7, 2014 Pre-Work Assignments (to be completed by students prior to class) •Take the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) assessment test on-line; •Take the short “What’s Your Mindset?” test on-line; •View on-line video on the “The Power of Belief- Mindset and Success,” given by Eduardo Briceno at TEDX Manhattan Beach; •View the video “Lecture: Contracts – Formation” on www.kaptest.com; •View the short on line video on law client interviewing. In-class Workshops •“Developing a Growth Mindset” (60 min); •“Communicating with Clients (Critical Reading/Listening Skills); 1) Critical Listening in Client Interviews (60 min)(Kaplan problem set); 2) Best Practices - Memos-to-the-File (30 min)(Kaplan problem set).
- 11. January 8-10, 13-14 Schedule and conduct instructor/individual student interviews to review diagnostic assessment reports and student-prepared draft learning plans (course requirement). WEEK 2, JANUARY 14, 2014 Pre-Work Assignments (to be completed prior class). • View the on-line video “Family Law,” at www.kaptest.com; • View on-line video for “Mindfulness for Lawyers” Workshop. In-class Workshops Communicating Findings (applying statutes and case law to specific facts and communicating findings to clients). 1) “Mindfulness for Lawyers” Workshop; 2) Applying statute/caselaw to facts (Kaplan problem set); 3) Counseling Clients regarding legal options (Kaplan); 4) Activity: Can you say that in English? (Kaplan).
- 12. WEEK 3, JANUARY 21, 2014 Pre-Work Assignments •View on-line video for “Improv for Lawyers” Workshop, prior to class. In-class Workshops • Preparing for Trial: Anticipating and Responding to Objections (Kaplan problem set); •Justin Lukasewicz, TucsonImprovMovement, “Improv for Lawyers.” WEEK 4, JANUARY 28, 2014 Pre-Work Assignments • Portfolio Preparation (assignment/preparation guide provided at www.kaptest.com; • View on-line video for “Negotiation” Workshop, prior to class. In-class Workshops • Communicating with Opposing Counsel: Negotiation (Kaplan Problem set); •Portfolio Prep and Wrap-up.
- 13. The 8 credit Post-FebBar Experiential Curriculum For 2 of the 8 units, students are encouraged to take the “Advanced Professionalism and Law Practice Course” covering: -Bar Association Resources; -Attorney-Client Relationships; -Tracking Time and Time Management; -Economics of Law Practice; -Common Pitfalls and Ethical Issues; -Professionalism; -Methods of Communication; -Institutional Dynamics; -Role of the Lawyer in Society.
- 14. In addition, students can select from a menu of 2-unit experiential elective courses and/or enroll in a clinic or in an externship for 1-6 units . Students may also complete journal credits or a student-initiated substantial paper at this time. During the 2014 spring semester, the following post-Bar electives were offered: •Transactional Practice •Critical Race Practice •Advanced Family Law Practice •White Collar Crime: Ethics and Compliance •Intellectual Property Transactional Drafting •Corporate Governance •Trade Secrets Law •Basic Trial Advocacy •Negotiation and Mediation Advocacy •Externship opportunities in Government, Public Interest Corporate Law Offices (1 – 6 units) •Law Clinic opportunities (1 – 6 units)