Preparing Students for the Profession: Clinical Education, Collaborative Pedagogy, and the Realities of Practice for the New Lawyer

Clinical Law Review, Vol. 4, p. 485, 1998

46 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2009

See all articles by Catherine Gage O'Grady

Catherine Gage O'Grady

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law

Date Written: 1998

Abstract

This Article begins with the suggestion that numerous opportunities for individual discretion and choice in lawyering exist for every lawyer, in any practice of law, and to find satisfaction in the profession, an individual lawyer must be given an opportunity to develop her own "style" of lawyering. If permitted to make thoughtful, autonomous lawyering choices that are true to a sense of self, an individual lawyer can maintain control over her own professional development and enjoy a comfortable understanding of herself as a professional. Yet, it is particularly difficult for new lawyers consciously to influence their own professional growth. Because institutional conformance pressures are an established part of the existing profession and because law school students typically graduate ready to view themselves as "employees," willing to be guided by established institutional norms, new lawyers can easily, often unknowingly, forfeit any autonomous control over their own professional growth. The result may be a lawyer who does not recognize herself in her professional role and is not sure how to explain or influence the process of her own professional growth. Next, this Article explores the collaborative opportunities presented in clinical legal education, which generally contrast sharply with the working collaborations commonly experienced by the new lawyer. The Article concludes with some approaches that clinical educators can use to introduce students to the concept of working within hierarchical collaborations and to encourage them to maintain their autonomy within such collaborations.

Keywords: Professional development, clinical education, collaboration

Suggested Citation

O'Grady, Catherine Gage, Preparing Students for the Profession: Clinical Education, Collaborative Pedagogy, and the Realities of Practice for the New Lawyer (1998). Clinical Law Review, Vol. 4, p. 485, 1998, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1434563

Catherine Gage O'Grady (Contact Author)

University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 210176
Tucson, AZ 85721-0176
United States
520-626-3135 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law2.arizona.edu/faculty/facultyprofile.cfm?facultyid=743

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