The State Bar Association of North Dakota Winter 2015 Gavel Magazine | Page 8

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN

LEGAL EDUCATION
and advocacy exercises − in fact, a course
comprised entirely of lectures, as some of
our older alumni undoubtedly experienced,
is increasingly rare in the School of Law’s
curriculum.

K AT H R Y N R . L . R A N D
Dean, University of North Dakota
School of Law
In August 2014, the American Bar
Association’s Section of Legal Education
and Admissions to the Bar added a
new mandatory component for legal
education: law schools now must require
students to complete at least six credits of
experiential courses. Experiential courses
are simulation courses (such as Trial
Advocacy), clinics (like the law school’s
Clinical Legal Education Program), and
field placements (i.e., externships).
Anticipating this new requirement, the
School of Law had already taken action
in three areas. First, we’ve encouraged
full-time and adjunct faculty to develop
simulation courses and to incorporate
simulation exercises into more traditional
lecture- or discussion-based courses.
In addition to Trial Advocacy, we offer
several simulation courses, including
Advanced Trial Advocacy, Criminal
Advocacy, Advanced Appellate Advocacy,
and Estate Planning. Numerous courses
integrate drafting, client counseling,
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THE GAVEL

Second, we’ve continued to support our
Clinical Legal Education Program. In the
Clinic, students represent clients under the
supervision of faculty. Under the Clinic’s
non-directive approach, students are “lead
counsel” on their cases, responsible for
determining strategy, drafting documents,
and engaging with clients. We recently
hired Professor Sabrina Balgamwalla to
teach in the program alongside Professor
Margaret Moore Jackson. Through Professor
Balgamwalla’s expertise, we’ve added
immigrant rights to the Clinic’s existing
focus on housing and employment law. Not
only do students gain knowledge in these
areas of law, but they learn litigation skills
that will serve them well in any area of
practice.

And third, we’ve expanded externship
opportunities for our students. Field
placements allow students to work directly
with practicing attorneys and sitting judges,
helping courts and public agencies deliver
services to North Dakotans while gaining
real-world experience. We’ve recently added
field placements with the North Dakota
Indigent Defense public defender offices and
the Federal Public Defender Office, as well
as with the Tribal Prosecutor’s Office on the
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation (through
the U.S. Attorney’s Office). We also
launched the Rural Justice Program, placing
students with state district court judges in
rural communities. In a typical year, 30 to
50 law students serve as externs in state
and federal courts and agencies throughout
North Dakota.
To meet the ABA’s six-credit requirement
for every student (which a student could
satisfy through a three-credit Trial Advocacy
course and a three-credit field placement