Webster Scholar program highlighted at conference on the Future of Legal Education
Returning from the International Conference on the Future of Legal Education that was recently held at the Georgia State University College of Law, Professor John Burwell Garvey took a few minutes last week to tell us about his presentaton to the conference on the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program.
Describing the the conference as an eye opener, Prof. Garvey said the participants represented over 10 law colleges from different countries. He said he was energized by seeing there is a great international movement taking place that will improve the quality of legal education, and ultimately, the quality of justice.
Prof. Garvey was asked to speak about the Webster Scholar Honors program as a specific example on transformation taking place in existing curriculum that represents the future now. Prof. Clark D. Cunningham, Director, Effective Lawyer-Client Communication at Georgia State University College of Law, described Pierce Law's program as “what people see as the step ahead.” Though the program is still at the pilot or the experimental stage, it is a concrete example of what can be done, Garvey said.
Other participants at the conference responded positively. Our Webster Scholars program was said to be a model that demonstrates what the future of legal education holds. As Prof. Cunningham puts it: “this is one of the most promising innovations in the legal education currently taking place in the United States. The curriculum being developed resembles published report of the Carnegie foundation for fundamental changes in American legal education.”
The Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program is much more intensive and interactive than typical law school curricula. Pierce Law emphasizes practical courses, of course, yet this program requires an even higher degree of commitment from both professor and student.
The hallmark of the program is its focus on making law students client-ready. "There is so much judgment involved in the legal practice -- interpersonal skills, understanding the client, negotiating skills, client representation, to be able to put yourself in the shoes of your client -- that the students must know how to lay more emphasis on the client," explained Garvey.
Students are recruited after completion of the first year of law school and undertake this course along with the normal subjects. Completion of program constitutes passage of the New Hampshire Bar. The program seeks students who want more than is normally taught in any law school, who want to work as a team, and are willing to work all-out to excel in the law.
Judging by the feedback obtained from the students, it seems worth the extra effort. Students in the program report that during their internships in law firms they felt more experienced than other interns, they were better equipped at understanding the contexts and the practical aspects and got better offers than students from other law schools. The lawyers and judges who worked with Webster Scholars felt that these students seemed well ahead of students from other law schools.
The first class of Webster Scholars will graduate in May. Professor Garvey will be following them to see how they perform after graduation, with the aim of tightening up the program and making it more accessible to all qualified students.
