Introducing transnational practice skills across a two-year LRW Curriculum

Commencing this semester, Pacific McGeorge has a new two-year required program, called Global Lawyering Skills, which incorporates international and transnational legal practice into its lawyering skills curriculum. The first year curriculum focuses on case analysis, objective and persuasive legal writing, client counseling skills, contract drafting, and legal research in both national and international law. The students will research and write at least one major assignment that includes a transnational legal issue. We also are collaborating with our international L.L.M. program to have the international LL.M. students give a presentation to our first year students on foreign legal systems. The second year curriculum focuses on persuasive written and oral advocacy, including trial briefs and arguments, appellate level briefs and arguments, and mediation and client counseling. The second year curriculum includes further instruction in international legal research and our year-long simulated client problem includes a transnational legal issue. I propose an individual presentation for the Global Legal Skills conference that would detail our experience to date with our efforts to globalize our lawyering skills curriculum. I will provide information about the process we undertook in drafting, reforming, implementing, and gaining approval for this new program and I hope to generate ideas for improving the program further. Biography of Presenter: Stephanie Thompson has been with the Pacific McGeorge faculty for six years in the J.D. and L.L.M. legal research and writing programs and currently is the Assistant Director of Global Lawyering Skills. Professor Thompson, along with Mary-Beth Moylan, the Director of Global Lawyering Skills, recently were named the recipients of the Manolakas Extraordinary Contribution Award for their work on the new Global Lawyering Skills program.