Question of the Week

Did you do a clinic in law school? Was it a valuable experience?

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experiential learning concept

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In the latest Legal Rebels podcast, the ABA Journal talked to Rodney Smolla, who brought a greater emphasis on experiential learning to both Washington and Lee School of Law and Widener University Delaware Law School, where he is now dean.

The program Smolla started at Washington and Lee in 2009—optional when he instituted it, now mandatory—eliminates third-year coursework in exchange for experiential learning focused on professionalism, ethics, civility in practice, civic engagement and pro bono service.

But experiential learning in the form of law school clinics has been around for decades at law schools all over the country, Smolla acknowledges.

This week, we’d like to ask: Did you do a clinic in law school? Was it a valuable experience? What kind of clinic did you participate in, and what skills did you learn that you’ve taken into your career today?

Answer in the comments on our social media channels via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Check out last week’s question: What do you do with your cellphone while you’re in court?

And view some of last week’s answers from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Featured answer:

Posted by Russel Beers on LinkedIn:

“Keep mine on silent. It is still amazing the number of phones that go off while court is in session. I always hope that some judge takes the offending party’s device away. Most are more sympathetic.”

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