Better Preparing Graduates to Enter the Law Profession:
Curriculum revamped at UND School of Law
By Bradley Myers
On Aug. 16, the University of North Dakota (UND) School
of Law welcomed the Class of 2019 to orientation. Like the
students that preceded them, these new 1Ls can look forward
to many hours of reading long Supreme Court opinions,
answering questions when they do not quite know the answer,
and generally trying to figure out what it means to “think like
a lawyer.” But the Class of 2019 will also be the first class to
graduate under a revamped curriculum that will greatly impact
the progression and scope of their education.
In 2008, the American Bar Association (ABA) Section
on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar began a
comprehensive review of how it accredits law schools. After
six years of review, the Section’s Council adopted significant
changes to the Standards and Rules of Procedure for the
Approval of Law Schools. The changes can best be described as
requiring law schools to focus on what students have learned instead
of what they have been taught. The Section considered the scope of
the changes so significant that it gave the law schools a couple years
to complete the process of implementing them.
UND School of Law began the process of revisiting its program
of legal education at about the same time. After considerable
consideration of the mission of the UND School of Law and changes
that have occurred in legal practice, the UND School of Law adopted
a Curricular Mission Statement and Working Curricular Strategic
Plan in 2012. The Mission Statement makes specific mention of
the obligation to help students develop their professional identities
and skills, so they will have the proficiency expected of entry-level
lawyers. The Curricular Strategic Plan identifies five general Learning
Outcomes that form the foundation of legal education. It also lists
several specific learning objectives under each of those outcomes.
After identifying what each law student should be expected to
learn, the faculty began the process of modifying the curriculum to
achieve that end. This began by restructuring the first year, adding
a Professional Foundations course during the spring semester that
introduces students to the concept of professional identity. Most of
the UND School of Law’s faculty, and several practicing attorney
guest lecturers, take students through what it means to be an
attorney across numerous professional milieus in which they might
find themselves. In order to make room for the new course, faculty
restructured some of the other first-year courses and converted
Constitutional Law II into a required course during the fall of the
second year.
Faculty then moved to consideration of the second and third years,
completing the restructuring of those in spring 2016 so the new
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curriculum would be ready for this fall’s incoming class. While the
faculty kept the new ABA standards in mind, the primary goal of
the revised curriculum is to help all graduates achieve competency
in each of the identified Learning Outcomes. Traditionally, legal
education provided first-year students with a fixed curriculum.
After the first year, students had broad latitude to structure their
education any way they chose. The only ABA requirements for upper
division students were a course in Professional Responsibility and
an Intensive Writing Experience that could be part of a course or an
independent study.
Faculty determined the best way to accomplish its education
goals would be to move to a progressive curriculum that provides
students with more structure for the second and third years, while
still allowing students to design their course of study to coincide
with the professional careers they hope to have. In fact, the only
new specific course required for every student is Evidence, which
virtually every student took already. But faculty did decide they
wanted students to take some of the required courses during the
second year to prepare them more effectively for what they will do
during their third year. Students will now be expected to complete
Professional Responsibility and an Intensive Writing Experience,
which students used to be able to complete anytime during their
second or third years, prior to the end of the second year. They will
also be strongly encouraged to take Evidence during their second
year, as a foundation for their subsequent academic and employment
opportunities.
The new third year is designed to take the best advantage of the new
ABA Standard requiring all students to complete six credit hours of
experiential learning before graduation. Included in the definition
of experiential learning are simulation courses, field placements,