Students interested in law-related graduate degrees should consider UB’s Doctorate in Studies of Justice (DSJ), an academic doctorate designed for those pursuing research and scholarship. Our DSJ program at UB focuses on comparative law.
Student organizations offer an excellent way to complement classroom learning and expand your legal network. Joining a law review, for instance, is an ideal way to hone research and writing abilities.
Specializations
Law school students can specialize in any number of fields depending on their own unique interests, including criminal, family, environmental and international law.
Criminal law refers to cases involving crimes committed by individuals or corporations, so it is essential for students of criminal law to gain a solid grasp of both crime’s psychological impact and how the legal system operates to become successful attorneys.
Family law encompasses the rights and responsibilities of parents, children and spouses – an ideal field for anyone wishing to help families navigate difficult circumstances.
Environmental law specialization entails laws and regulations designed to safeguard the environment. Furthermore, environmental lawyers address matters like land disputes, natural resource management and more.
Students interested in construction law may wish to specialize in it, as this field encompasses laws and policies protecting workers in the construction industry. Construction Law specialization may prove advantageous for those with interests in ethics work regulations safety project administration as well as project administration. Besides law school coursework students may participate in extracurricular activities like moot court and law review journals.
Research and Writing Skills
Legal research and writing skills are invaluable assets for any profession, particularly lawyers. Law school curriculums teach future lawyers to conduct in-depth analyses of laws as well as write clearly across various formats – skills necessary for both courtroom practice as well as reviewing contracts.
Most students devote a great deal of time and energy to research and reading for classes. On top of the required course material, students typically prepare outlines and notes for every class; often reading up to 100 pages each week in each subject alone! Reviewing materials multiple times ensures complete comprehension.
Many schools now provide more than the standard introduction legal writing courses; many schools now also provide courses on criminal law, property law, mooting and related topics. Many of these specialized classes include opportunities for mooting – an excellent opportunity for students to hone their research and writing skills before judges or fellow students while giving future attorneys experience dealing with issues they will be encountering in practice.
Communication Skills
Law school programs often emphasize the communication skills that lawyers need in a courtroom setting, including being able to present arguments effectively, listen and understand clients’ concerns and present arguments persuasively. But law schools can also assist lawyers in developing other communications abilities outside the courtroom that may prove essential in their careers.
Law students often join student organizations focused on advocacy and diversity issues, providing an excellent opportunity to build communication skills through collaborative brief writing exercises and role-play situations. Furthermore, joining these student organizations allows law students to practice public speaking and debate skills as well as develop organizational and time management abilities.
Law schools can be intensely competitive environments and the pressure to perform can be immense, particularly during exams. Some students find studying law isn’t for them and decide to leave before finishing their degree; others struggle with its intensive studying methods and ultimately struggle with grades.
Critical Thinking Skills
Students often hear of critical and analytical thinking being mentioned, yet may not know exactly what this entails. Critical thinking entails evaluating situations objectively without bias or emotion while analytical reasoning involves gathering and analyzing information in order to solve problems and make decisions. Both forms of reasoning can be extremely valuable in law, especially where picking apart arguments can help build an objective case against another party.
Law school students spend many hours each day reading court cases, which requires them to examine judicial opinions that produce legal rules and judge whether the decision was just or wrong. Professors typically employ the case method of teaching which involves leading discussions using Socratic dialogue techniques with students. Furthermore, expect group projects, mock trial exercises, externships, moot courts and skills courses which provide valuable opportunities to expand critical thinking and analytical capabilities of law students.
Decision-Making Skills
An attorney degree can hone your ability to negotiate contracts and make agreements more effectively, while increasing confidence and professionalism – becoming a more capable advocate for yourself or clients.
Law school can be an intense environment, with students finding the first year especially daunting. Students delve into subjects related to all areas of legal study including criminal law, property law, civil procedure torts (wrongs other than crimes) and contracts – most courses end with exams consisting of multiple-choice, short answer and essay questions grading on a curve – making preparation an intimidating prospect for many students.
Law schools also offer extracurricular activities geared toward professional development. Participation in law review, moot court or student groups such as Law Review can help build professional networks; many students also join organizations focusing on social justice or certain practice areas of law.
Problem-Solving Skills
Law students must quickly master an overwhelming amount of course material and quickly apply it when answering hypothetical exam questions, making this task especially daunting for newcomers. Professors don’t offer much feedback between classes, while grades are determined through class assignments and end-of-semester or end-of-year exams. Students can prepare by creating case brief outlines and participating in study groups to better manage this academic rigor.
One innovative method of teaching law school students problem-solving skills is experiential learning. While traditional legal courses tend to focus on doctrine and legal writing, experiential learning aims to close the gap between academics and practice through practical experience, according to Professor Vinson.
Experienced courses provide students with an excellent way to develop soft skills like creativity, flexibility, good judgment and relationship building. Furthermore, experiential classes aim to encourage a growth mindset by helping students overcome any preconceptions about intelligence being something innate rather than something which can be developed over time.
Analytical Skills
Analytical skills are beneficial in numerous fields, including business, law, and research. Companies use them to develop training programs and evaluate employee abilities. Analytical abilities also appear frequently in legal proceedings such as criminal and civil trials.
Law school courses often involve extensive reading and require the ability to distill information in manageable formats for easier understanding and retention, necessitating an analytical mindset as an essential aspect of success.
Law schools also provide many opportunities for practicing writing for the Bar Exam’s written sections in various contexts and with valuable feedback from teaching assistants, helping students develop writing, research and analytical skills they’ll need for success on test day. Law practitioners must always have an analytical mindset – this means evaluating cases logically before making decisions that serve their clientele best interests.
Judgment and Decision-Making
Legal practice necessitates practical judgment, which emerges with repeated encounters of issues for which legal doctrine provides only limited or incomplete answers. Mastering this skill takes an amalgam of conceptual skill, personal discipline and sensitivity towards non-legal realities and experiences outside of law.
Law degrees represent an enormous investment of both time and money, so it’s wise to carefully consider their merits before making the leap to pursue higher degrees such as an LLM in North America or PhD in Europe/Australasia.
Law school education differs significantly from undergraduate studies, relying heavily on case study methods and Socratic teaching techniques to immerse students in the law. Law students learn to identify and understand legal issues while honing legal writing skills – becoming fluent with its language along the way. Depending on their law school of choice, students may have access to research facilities and libraries for research as well as student organizations providing them with professional and social activities with their peers.