Survey says law students want more opportunity to practice legal writing skills

This article from the National Jurist Magazine dates from March but I didn't find it until now.  Better late than never, as they say.

The article reports on the results of the 2008 Law School Survey on Student Engagement which found that nearly 50% of all law students wanted more opportunities to engage in legal writing during law school while nearly a third wanted more opportunities for "practice-based writing assignments" meaning "appellate briefs, motions and transactional documents."

Writing real, practice based documents such as briefs and motions is one of the best ways to learn to be a lawyer according to students who participated in a survey on ways to improve legal education.

. . . .

Legal writing was the big surprise in this year's survey. Nearly half of the responding survey participants said they did not have enough practice developing their legal writing skills in situations similar to those in real life.  And more than a third of students, or 37 percent, said they needed additional opportunities for these practice-based writing assignments.

Students reported gaining a lot from their legal writing experiences but want more of it according [survey project manager Lindsey] Watkins. 

You can read a pdf of the full National Jurist article, including survey results and individual student comments, right here.

(jbl).