Canadian Lawyer 4Students

C A N A D I A N L a w y e r 4 s t u d e n t s s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 15 comes in the door from other partners, you still need to understand how much you cost. How many resources do you con- sume? How much revenue do you gener- ate? Are you, in total, turning a profi t for your fi rm or for anybody else?'" Osgoode Hall Law School dean Lorne Sossin advocates more hands-on learning in legal education. " e word we use is praxicum," he says. Osgoode's praxicum courses are meant to convey the following elements: • they must include exposure to the rel- evant law and context for the fi eld; • they must include a substantial compo- nent where the student is actively en- gaged in problem-solving; • they must include an opportunity for stu- dents to refl ect on the problem-solving experience. "All three of those are, in general, going to produce better results than the single talented lecturer in a classroom with chalk or PowerPoint," says Sossin, adding the third component may be the most impor- tant. "If you're simply saying experiential learning is getting students to do things, well, that doesn't really expose them to the ideas, that doesn't get them to have that refl ective piece at the end. It's just as if all you're doing is talking about things in the classroom — that doesn't give them the re- alities of problem-solving." Regardless of the type of experiential learning, the barriers between classroom and community can be broken down to create more eff ective learning opportuni- ties, Sossin believes. "[We are] reposition- ing experiential education, not as a good idea because it helps train lawyers, but a good idea because it actually makes legal education better," he says. In 2006, Osgoode became the fi rst law school in Canada to implement a 40-hour requirement that forces students to do community legal work as part of their law degrees. Faculty recognized the need for a real-life component and the initiative has since been embraced by faculty and students, according to Sossin. Osgoode law students now have more than 15 experi- ential learning options. is includes an intellectual prop- erty law and technology in- tensive program and an anti- discrimination intensive program. Experiential education is o en the most memorable part of law school, says Sossin. "If I talk to alumni — and this includes a chat I had not long ago with Andromache Karakatsanis, who is an alumni of Osgoode on the Supreme Court [of Canada] — and you say, 'What part of the law school expe- rience do you remember the most?' Invari- ably — and she didn't miss a beat saying this — it was her stint at Parkdale. ere is something that resonates if those are the ex- periences that students remember the most and that had the most profoundly positive impact. So, why not ensure that it's part of every student's law school experience?" But putting focus on experiential edu- cation could churn out identical practice- ready lawyers, according to Arthurs. "I think it's the known preparation for a tur- bulent future," he says. Sossin says there is room for both a theoretical-based education model and a more practical-based model. "We still have a signifi cant amount of those traditional kinds of courses and if done well I think many of them become the foundations for a great legal education," says Sossin. Ferguson agrees with Sossin. " e basic question we need to ask ourselves here is what's the purpose of law school? Is it to produce people with law degrees or is it to produce lawyers?" he says. Ferguson says the profession will blame costs: "We can't bill articling students, we can't bill juniors who are just learning be- cause clients won't pay for it. en who?" Fred Headon, president of the Cana- dian Bar Association and assistant general counsel of labour and employment at Air Canada, says it's the costs that will be the impetus for change. "Clients expect law- yers today to be delivering services in the same kinds of ways that other professionals are delivering services to them," he says. infl uence of technology e growing number of cost-saving on- line legal resources has led to a decline in the demand for legal expertise in some ar- eas. Headon points to the Income Tax Act, which he says is one of the lengthiest Ca- nadian statutes and quite o en one of most complicated for law students to wrap their heads around. "Yet, there are a number of providers out there who let you fi le your income taxes online and have reduced it to that kind of so ware," he says " ose are the kinds of tools and processes that we see out of people's lives that are infl uencing how they want to interact with their lawyers." It's a trend that will be disruptive for many lawyers and a concept that has not traditionally been included in the training a typical lawyer would receive. "We need to help lawyers and students who are heading into practice understand that's the expecta- tion, why that's the expectation, and start to help them think about what's going on in their practice . . . that can be similarly adapted into that kind of a form," he says. Law schools have a responsibility to re- spond, according to Headon. "If technol- ogy allows us to replace tasks that used to be done by junior lawyers with a machine, how are we going to train those junior lawyers?" he says. "We're going to have to think very diff erently about where we gain the experience and the dexterity that we need to do our jobs. at, I think, is going to present a much bigger choice for lawyers and law fi rms." Technology has led some lawyers to spe- cialize in technology-heavy areas such as e- discovery — the identifi cation, collection, and production of electronically stored information related to a lawsuit or inves- tigation. ese documents can include e- mails, presentations, databases, voicemail, Regardless of the type of experiential learning, the barriers between classroom and community can be broken down to create more eff ective learning opportuni- ties, Sossin believes. "[We are] reposition- ing experiential education, not as a good idea because it helps train lawyers, but a good idea because it actually makes legal education better," he says. In 2006, Osgoode became the fi rst law school in Canada to implement a 40-hour requirement that forces students to do community legal work as part of their law degrees. Faculty recognized the need for a real-life component and the initiative has since been embraced by faculty and students, according to Sossin.

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