The
presenters are co-editors the forthcoming book, Building on Best Practices:
Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World, and are the
primary co-authors of sections on experiential education, clinics, and
externships. At the beginning and end of
a book editing retreat they shared their hopes and fears for the project. Both the hopes and the fears came to pass. As
editors and as co-authors, they struggled to define the essential
characteristics of law clinics, externships, and simulations, going through
many iterations of each section.
During
this process, they discovered that underlying their similar values were
differences in interpretation, definition, and categorization of key terms,
concepts, and perspectives. They were
called on to examine when they were being defensive and when they were being
realistic. These tensions stimulated
spirited conversations that challenged the editors to see other points of
view. Familiar tensions between clinics
and externships surfaced, as well as between simulation and real life
experiences, and in the way they conceptualized and “drew lines” between form
and content. Even in the midst of tears and fears, the editors were forced to
engage in frank and at the same time caring discussions about attitudes,
feelings, beliefs, values, and facts. This open approach allowed the four to
maintain an ongoing, respectful dialogue.
The
lessons the group learned are important ones for clinicians in the “new
normal.” In order to provide leadership
within their institutions during a time of uncertainty, clinicians must face
their fears – fear of definitions, fear of loss, fear of change, and fear of
the future. We hope to model one way of
accomplishing this feat.
View/download handout
View/download Table 1
View/download Table 2
View/download Table 3
View/download Table 4
View/download Table 5