Vol. 34, No. 4, 52. Law School News.

• Author: by Steve Easton, Dean University of Wyoming College of Law

Wyoming Bar Journal

2011.

Vol. 34, No. 4, 52.

Law School News

Wyoming LawyerIssue: August, 2011Law School Newsby Steve Easton, Dean University of Wyoming College of LawWhen I teach Evidence, I tell our students that Evidence is an area of the law that mostly changes at a glacial pace, i.e., very slowly, with the occasional earthquake-induced major shift. For much of their history, American law schools have followed the same pattern of relatively slow change, with the occasional substantial shift.

We seem to be in one of those major shifts at the moment. In particular, law schools seem to be realizing that they must do more than teach the "thinking like a lawyer" theory that has been their staple for a century and a half. Today there are increasing calls for law schools to teach the skills that future lawyers will use in their practices.

I chose the phrase "seem to be" in the previous paragraph intentionally. To be frank, it seems that many law schools are giving lip service to the concept of teaching skills, without putting forth much more than window dressing effort toward this important mission. Happily, this is not the case at the University of Wyoming College of Law. I am pleased and proud to report that your law school is a leader among the relatively few law schools that are providing practical educational opportunities that actually reach a substantial portion of our student body. While we continue to provide the solid theoretical education needed by all future lawyers, we are also continuing to build an already strong program of teaching the skills our graduates will use when they enter practice.

Part of our experiential learning program comes in simulation courses where students work on hypothetical legal problems. During the upcoming school year our simulation skills courses will include Legal Writing, Appellate Advocacy, Advanced Legal Research, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Business Planning, Civil Pretrial, International Business Transactions, Law Office Management, and Trial Practice.

Impressive as that list is, the list itself does not fully reflect the simulation educational opportunities at the law school. Several of those courses create unique opportunities for our students. For example, in Professor Harvey Gelb's Business Planning course, students will be taught not only by a professor with substantial practice...