Business Law Curriculum Coordination at Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) For last several (~10) years

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1 Univesity of Califonia, a, Bekeley eley The Bekeley Tansactional Pactice Poject Pof. Eic L. Talley UC Bekeley Competencies / Skills Suvey;

2 Backgound Business Law Cuiculum Coodination at Bekeley Law (Boalt Hall) Fo last seveal (~10) yeas Advised/lobbied by judges, attoneys, alumni and students to incease couse offeings that enhance business competencies fo students headed fo tansactional wok E.g.: Financial Statement Analysis / Accounting / Financial Valuation / Stategy & Og. Behavio / Speadsheet skills Many law fims / vendos have stated boot camps to teach these competencies to new attoneys, often at substantial cost Fequent Quey: Why can t they get this stuff in Law School? 2

3 Polifeation of pivate-secto pogams in business skills in ecent yeas 3 pemission of autho

4 Backgound Heeding this advice, Bekeley Law has substantially enhanced its couse coveage in the above competency aeas Mixtue of lectue / poblem-based based instuction But: Task Foce s (and ABA s) poposals don t explicitly list these aeas as example couses that would fulfill new equiements Reasons ae unclea, at least to us. Pupose of suvey: to gauge what tansactional lawyes view as impotant competencies / skills fo a new lawye 4

5 Why doesn t this language take cae of the poblem? Task foce competencies ecommendations (June 2013) 5 pemission of autho

6 Theshold Issue: What constitutes a competency / skill? Not explicitly defined in task foce epots (no in those of many othe national / state task foces) Ou suvey opeates unde the following 3-pat definition as it petains to tansactional law: 1. Not a taditional doctinal couse (o a stict subset of one) 2. Enhances students capacities to confont pactical poblems acoss many doctinal aeas of pactice 3. Recognized by the pofession to be citical to the successful tansition into the pactice of law Note: This definition not tied to modality of delivey (e.g., expeiential) as pe-condition fo inclusion/exclusion Delibeate: suvey allows us to evaluate that dimension sepaately 6

7 The Bekeley Tansactional Pactice Poject Suvey Web based instument diected at specialists in tansactional law (though othe could fill it out too) N=329 esponses in all, collected between Feb. 14 and Mach 6. Specific ovetues made to law fims, geneal counsel, ABA committees on Business Law and M&A; seveal national legal pactice blogs 7

8 Respondents ae, on the whole, expeienced attoneys 45.0% 42.6% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 26.4% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% 15.2% 13.4% 2.4% Not Applicable < 5 ys Between 5 & 10 ys Between 10 & 20 ys > 20 ys 8

9 They ae admitted to pactice in a vaiety of juisdictions (esp. CA and NY) Othe, 33.98% New Yok, 35.90% Delawae, 3.00% Kentucky, 3.30% Texas, 4.30% N/A (not a licensed attoney), 5.20% Massachusetts, 6.40% Illinois, 7.30% Ohio, 7.90% DC, 14.00% Califonia, 29.20% 9

10 Respondents pactice in a lage aay of aeas; most ae tansactional lawyes Pactice Aea / Specialization* 63.2% 55.0% Moe than 90%, 42.9% Less than 10%, 13.4% 10% to 25%, 7.3% 25% to 50%, 10.6% 38.0% 11.9% 9.4% 18.8% 10.0% 12.5% 10.0% 0% 16.4% 17.9% 19.5% 50% to 90%, 25.8% Pecentage of Wok that is Tansactional * Respondents wee allowed to list multiple pactice aeas.; thus categoies sum to moe than 100% 10

11 Respondents pincipally wok in law fims Academia, 15.5% 5% Othe, 3.3% Non Govenmental Oganization, 0.6% Govenment / Regulato, 1.5% Pivate/Public Company; Outside of GC Office, 2.7% Pivate/Public Company; Inside GC Office, 9.4% Law Fim, 70.2% 11

12 Thee is substantial heteogeneity in the size of thei establishment Moe than 500 pofessionals 21.0% pofessionals 8.5% pofessionals 38.0% pofessionals 18.2% 1-10 pofessionals 14.3% 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% 12

13 Respondents Gende Composition Female, 23.7% Male, 76.3% 13 pemission of autho

14 Q12: What is you degee of suppot fo effots undeway to mandate minimum skills / competencies taining fo law students? 40.00% 37.41% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 24.46% 27.45% 25.54% 54% 25.49% 20.00% 15.69% 15.69% 15.69% 15.00% 10.00% 7.19% 5.40% 5.00% 0.00% Stongly Positive Mildly Positive Indiffeent / Not Enough Infomation Non Academics Academics Mildly Negative Stongly Negative 14

15 Q13: Assessing impotance of vaious candidate skills competencies 15 pemission of autho

16 Q13: In light of you aea of expetise, please evaluate the following list of skills/competencies fo new lawyes. Specifically, how impotant is it fo a lawye to have achieved coe competency in each skill in his/he fist 2-3 yeas 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Citically Impotant Somewhat Impotant Maginally Impotant Lagely Ielevant 16

17 Q13: In light of you aea of expetise, please evaluate the following list of skills/competencies fo new lawyes. Specifically, how impotant is it fo a lawye to have achieved coe competency in each skill in his/he fist 2-3 yeas 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Citically Impotant Somewhat Impotant Maginally Impotant Lagely Ielevant 17

18 Q14: Mode of delivey Fo the same list of skills/competencies evaluated above, please chaacteize the setting in which you think each is most effectively taught. Hypothetical Example: Highest 1/3 Middle 1/3 Lowest 1/3 Paticipatoy i t Simulation Lectue Mixtue On The Job (extenships; clinics; post-ls) 18

19 Highly-Ranked competencies (Q13) vesus pefeed modality of delivey (Q14) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Citically Impotant Somewhat Impotant Maginally Impotant Lagely Ielevant See appendix A1 fo specific numeical summaies of each categoy 19

20 Fo those who wok in Law Fims: Does you fim offe fomal taining pogams (eithe though a thid-paty vendo o intenal staffing) in skills/competencies simila to those descibed above? Descibe Unsue, 6.4% No, 24.4% Yes, 69.2% 20

21 Take Aways (Set #1) Many of the topics aleady identified by TF as competencies unde cuent poposal have the suppot of tansactional attoneys E.g., Document dafting; negotiation; client counseling, many othes Respondents suggest (somewhat stongly) that thee is no one size fits all modality fo delivey Lectue; Simulation; Live-Client Expeiences; Mixtue Best mode does not appea unifom acoss topic (no, one might sumise, acoss schools) This is consistent (in cetain ways) with the Taskfoce s suggestion that many couses may deseve factional cedit towads poposed competencies equiement 21

22 Take-Aways (#2) But an impotant goup of business skills not explicitly identified by task foce also wins suppot E.g., Accounting, Valuation, Stategy, Speadsheet Skills Note: Results of ecent Havad Law School study consistent This makes sense: it is pecisely these aeas whee tansactional business law has been evolving and whee fims ae moving aggessively to augment new lawyes skill sets (often at substantial cost) Two implications: 1. Implies that link between (a) competencies and (b) expeiential delivey may not be as stong as pesumed; 2. Implies that the list of example couses could be tuned up to eflect this emeging eality in tansactional pactice 22

23 A modest poposal fo slight altenation of language of task foce epot Fo those who elect to satisfy this equiement duing law school, 15 units of cousewok would be equied fom among the following subject aeas: Oal pesentation and advocacy Advanced legal eseach and witing (excluding fist yea legal eseach and witing) Negotiation and altenative dispute esolution (i.e. mediation, abitation) Client counseling, effective client communication, and poblem solving fo clients in pactice settings Witness inteviewing and othe investigation and fact-gatheing techniques Law pactice management and the use of technology in law pactice Poject management, budgeting and financial epoting Financial Analysis (e.g., accounting, budgeting, poject management, and valuation) Business Stategy and Behavio Pactical witing g( e.g. dafting of contacts and othe legal instuments, dafting of pleadings) Pepaation of cases fo tial duing the pe-tial phase, including (e.g., e-discovey, assessing evidence, utilizing expets) Tial pactice Basics of the justice system, including how couts in Califonia ae oganized and administeed, and what esponsibilities lawyes have as offices of the cout 23 Pofessional civility and applied ethics (i.e. ethics in pactice settings)

24 Questions / Comments All aw data (as well as this pesentation and a subsequent witten epot) will be made available on the website of the Bekeley Cente fo Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) at: l /b lb 24

25 A1: Best Delivey Modality Response Numeical Responses by cell Accounting / Financial Statement Analysis 18.2% 29.7% 48.2% 3.8% Business Stategy 27.2% 34.7% 10.9% 27.2% Collaboation 24.0% 28.6% 0.7% 46.6% Inteviewing (e.g., clients, employees, witnesses) 23.3% 45.3% 1.4% 30.1% Negotiation 21.6% 49.2% 0.7% 28.5% Oal Advocacy 34.4% 48.6% 1.8% 15.2% Compute Pogamming / Achitectue t (e.g., Ped. Coding) 20.2% 18.4% Oganizational Behavio 9.9% 39.9% 54.6% 6.7% 19.7% 30.5% Conflict Resolution 26.9% 45.2% 1.4% 26.5% Management of Legal Wok 9.6% 32.6% 6.4% 51.4% Client Counseling 18.4% 39.7% 0.7% 41.3% Pofessional Ethics 14.1% 50.0% 32.6% 3.3% Cultual Competency 15.7% 41.0% 5.7% 37.6% Document Dafting 18.3% 49.2% 4.7% 27.8% Fact Development and Analysis 20.5% 48.8% 7.4% 23.3% Financial / Valuation Techniques (e.g., PDV, IRR, CAPM) 13.8% 26.5% 53.4% 6.3% Self Evaluation 14.3% 45.1% 8.4% 32.1% Speadsheet Skills (e.g., Excel) 22.8% 25.4% 44.1% 7.7% Statistics / Pobability 11.1% 18.0% 67.2% 3.7% Tial Pactice 25.1% 49.3% 1.9% 23.7% 25