Thus our faculty are on principle engaged in the active life of the law. Nearly all the full-time teachers continue as practitioners through our clinics and research organizations, public service, and private consulting. Many of their most striking accomplishments are made in courtrooms, boardrooms, legislative halls, and community organizations. Consequently, they bring fresh, realistic insight to your classes as well as opportunities for significant projects, externships, and contacts with other lawyers. The faculty also create ample opportunity to learn about prudent judgment, client relations, case management, risk analysis, ethical conflicts, and other essentials of our craft that cannot be learned passively in a lecture hall.
Many advanced courses simulate lawyers' actual work with scenarios drawn from law practice.
Just as lawyers frequently must collaborate, you will often be part of a team involved in finding the law, planning transactions and case strategy, drafting documents, negotiating agreements, or trying lawsuits. They are demanding more skills than most graduates have offered in the past. To acquire these skills you must actively engage in practical tasks with teachers who know and care about the lawyer's craft. Once you complete the traditional foundation courses, opportunities for tailoring your education to your own career objectives are diverse at the Law Center. Taking advantage of these opportunities, over 80 percent of our recent graduates already delivered real legal services before they gained their Juris Doctor degrees.