videos on being a professional

Six really helpful videos that dramatize professionalism issues for law students are now available free online. Widener legal writing professors Mary Ann Robinson and Alison Kehner created the videos as teaching tools to share with all of us. All of the videos are brief – half are only about five minutes long. The videos and related teaching materials are available here.

The vignettes explore:

Preparedness: Learn from Kate, who struggles with being adequately prepared for a conference with her law school professor – and again years later at an important workplace meeting.

Social Networking: Law school students express frustration at sitting through a presentation about the appropriate use of social networking sites. Years later, one of them learns the hard way how Facebook photos can create problems in his professional life.

Misuse of Technology: John uses his laptop during class to check email and surf the internet, and despite being embarrassed when he’s caught by the professor, he doesn’t learn his lesson. Years later John exhibits similarly distracted behavior in a client meeting.

Anticipating Consequences: Managing Client Expectations: A client who seeks immediate turnaround on a revised will poses multiple challenges for a new attorney. Different approaches to the situation are explored with video rewinds taking the viewer back in time, to explore the ramifications of the attorney’s different choices.

Handling Mistakes: Video rewinds are used again with junior associate Alice to show two differing approaches to handling an error she made with an important firm client.

Self-Direction (& Law School Study Skills): Go for burritos with friends or go to study group?  Poor choices in law school and on the job illustrate how critical it is to become self-directed learners, who take responsibility for mastering law school material and, later, the client’s file.  Teaching materials include discussion questions and handouts from academic success professionals on effective law school study skills.

(spl)