Communications Skills Lab

This skills lab, previously titled Professional Responsibility Skills Lab, deals with communication and organizational skills for advocacy, negotiation, and client retention. Much of communication is an art. Organization is a skill. The course breaks communication and organization into components. The course is taught by lecture and instructor demonstration followed by student practice sessions and videotaped student performances which are critiqued. The course is client, fact, and witness oriented rather than law oriented. The course requires ongoing analysis of a developing fact pattern in a complex hypothetical case. The course develops skills in client relations, file organization, witness handling, questioning techniques, and case analysis. The course culminates with a mock hearing. To facilitate the performance aspects of the lab it meets for two hours every second week.