Cultivating Grit in Law Students: Grit, Deliberate Practice, and the First-Year Law School Curriculum

• Author: Denitsa R. Mavrova Heinrich
• Position: Assistant Professor of Law and Director of Lawyering Skills and Trial Advocacy Programs, University of North Dakota School of Law
• Pages: 159-196

CULTIVATING GRIT IN LAW STUDENTS: GRIT, DELIBERATE

PRACTICE, AND THE FIRST-YEAR LAW SCHOOL

CURRICULUM

DENITSA R. MAVROVA HEINRICH*

ABSTRACT

What characteristics reliably predict success? Why is it that some

individuals accomplish more than others of equal intelligence? Why do

some make the most of their abilities while others barely tap into their

potential? In examining these questions, psychologist Angela Duckworth

discovered that grit was the one characteristic all highly successful

individuals had in common.

Grit, defined as “passion and perseve rance for the long-term goal,”

1

has proven to reliably predict success in a variety of domains. In the

educational setting, specifically, grit has emerged as a strong predictor for

student success at both the secondary and undergraduate levels. Yet,

despite the research showing a positive relationship between grit and

academic achievement, grit remains virtually unexamined in the context of

legal education.

This Article illustrates why grit is a concept worth examining in legal

education. In particular, the Article argues that cultivating grit in law

students is a pedagogical goal worth pursuing in legal education in order to

improve student learning and promote student success. After exploring

how grit can grow, the Article suggests that one effective way for nurturing

grit in law students is to help students develop the capacity to engage in

deliberate practice. Deliberate practice, described as “the most powerful

and effective way to improve one’s abilities” in every area studied, has

Copyright © 2019, Denitsa R. Mavrova Heinrich.

* Assistant Professor of Law and Director of Lawyering Skills and Trial Advocacy

Programs, University of North Dakota School of Law. For Mia. A heartfelt thank you to

Julia Ernst and Tammy Oltz for their unwavering encouragement, unconditional support,

and invaluable comments during the completion of this project. I am also grateful for the

research assistance of Anne Mostad-Jensen, Head of Faculty Services at Thormodsgard

Law Library, and the financial support provided through the University of North Dakota

School of Law’s Summer Research Grant Program.

1

Angela L. Duckworth et al., Deliberate Practice Spells Success: Why Grit tier

Competitors Tr iumph at the National Spelling Bee, 2 SOC. PSYCHOL. & PERSONALITY SCI.

174, 179 (2011) [hereinafter Duckworth et al., Deliberate Practice Spells Success].

342 CAPITAL UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [47:341

been shown to also help grit grow.

2

By incorporating the principles of

deliberate practice into the first-year law school curriculum, law schools

can therefore help cultivate grit in students, in the hope that the grittier our

students are, the more likely they will be to succeed in law school and

beyond.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................ 341

I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 343

II. GRIT: WHY DOES GRIT MATTER? ................................................... 344

III. GRIT: CAN GRIT BE CULTIVATED? .............................................. 348

A. Cultivating Grit from the Outside In ............................................ 348

B. Cultivating Grit from the Inside Out ............................................ 351

IV. GRIT: SHOULD GRIT BE CULTIVATED IN LAW STUDENTS? ......... 353

A. Grit and Academic Achievement: Critiques and Responses ........ 354

B. Grit, Performance, and Achievement in Law Practice ................ 358

V. GRIT: HOW TO CULTIVATE GRIT IN LAW STUDENTS? ..................... 362

A. Deliberate Practice: Definition, Requirements, and

Applications…… .................................................................................. 363

B. Cultivating Grit in Law Students: Incorporating Deliberate

Practice into the First-Year Law School Curriculum .......................... 368

1. Start Early: Orientation as an Opportunity to Teach Students

about Grit and Deliberate Practice ................................................. 368

2. Establish Specific, Skills-Centered Learning Objectives ......... 370

3. Increase Opportunities for Feedback and Repetition in the First-

Year Law School Curriculum ........................................................... 373

VI. CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 377

2

ANDERS ERICSSON & ROBERT POOL, PEAK: SECRETS FROM THE NEW SCIENCE ON

EXPERTISE 25 (2016) [hereinafter ERICSSON & POOL, PEAK].

2019] CULTIVATING GRIT IN LAW STUDENTS 343

I. INTRODUCTION

Over the last few years, grit has become somewhat of a national

obsession.

3

Angela L. Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of

Pennsylvania, shined a new spotlight on “grit” back in 2007.

4

Duckworth

defined grit as “perseverance and passion for long term goals.”

5

Grit

encompasses “working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort

and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in

progress.”

6

In other words, grit requires both a behavioral persistence in

the face of adversity and a sustained, passionate pursuit of goals.

7

Gritty

individuals, Duckworth argues, approach achievement as a marathon, fully

aware that endurance and stamina are the qualities that will ultimately lead

them to the finish line.

8

Gritty individuals stay on task even when

disappointment or loss of interest may lead others to move on to something

else.

9

As a result, grit is essential to high achievement, irrespective of the

domain.

10

In the educational setting, more specifically, grit has been

shown to be a reliable predictor for academic achievement at both the

3

See, e.g., David Denby, The Limits of “Grit”, THE NEW YORKER (June 21, 2016),

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-limits-of-grit [https://perma.cc/L6K9-

CJM6] (noting “Grit” has become a “pop-psych smash,” and explaining over eight million

people viewed Angela Duckworth’s TED talk on grit before the publication of her book);

Rachel M. Cohe n, Grit, Privilege, and American Education’s Obsession with Novelty, AM.

PROSPECT (Apr. 10, 2015), http://prospect.org/article/can-grit-save-american-education

[https://perma.cc/4TWF-EXWP] (stating educators, policy makers, and the media have all

embraced the concept of grit and its potential). See also Paul Tough, What if the Secret to

Success is Failure, THE N.Y. TIMES MAG. (Sept. 14, 2011), https://www.nytimes.com/2011

/09/18/magazine/what-if-the-secret-to-success-is-failure.html [https://perma.cc/B7VG-EKY

S]; PAUL TOUGH, HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED: GRIT, CURIOSITY, AND THE HIDDEN POWER OF

CHARACTER xv–xvi, 74–75 (2012); Judy Holland, Gr it: The True Ingredient to your Kids’

Success, THE WASH. POST (Mar. 9, 2015 ), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/

parenting/wp/2015/03/09/grit-the-key-ingredient-to-your-kids-success/?noredirect=on&utm

_term=.186c57efa4f8 [https://perma.cc/8ZRV-LCPD]; Daniel R. Portfie ld, Cultivati ng

‘Grit’ on a College Campus, FORBES (Apr. 11, 2017), https://www.forbes.com/sites/

dporterfield/2017/04/11/grit-and-persistence/#5e67f0751982 [https://perma.cc/CDL8-NGP

8].

4

See Angela L. Duckworth et al., Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long Term

Goals, 92 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 1087, 1087 (2007) [hereinafter Duckworth et

al., Grit].

5

Id.

6

Id. at 1087–88.

7

See id.

8

See id. at 1088. See also Duckworth et al., Deliberate Practice Spells Success, supra

note 1, at 175.

9

See Duckworth et al., Grit, supra note 4, at 1088.

10

Id.