Summary
A lifelong learner is someone who seeks opportunities to allow for continual growth and development. Attorneys must use lifelong learning skills to adapt to change in trials, such as witness changes and unexpected arguments, and reflect after rounds to improve future performance. At A&M I have been encouraged to pursue experiences that encouraged these skills. Specifically, my experience through graduate school and mock trial has allowed me to develop these skills, including adjusting to change and reflection.
Why must prosecutors adjust to change?
Prosecutors must be ready to adjust to changes in the trial process because witnesses can answer questions during examinations in unpredictable ways, and defense attorneys do not have to reveal their witness call order ahead of time. Adjusting to change involves addressing the challenges that accompany unexpected events and learning how to function within a new environment or protocol, which I encountered during my transition from undergraduate to graduate school. Since I enrolled in a dual-degree program, I only had completed only two years of undergraduate classes before I started my graduate classes. The biggest challenge was learning how to handle the heavy reading requirement loads, which were much higher and more difficult in graduate courses. In my first few weeks, I participated in time-management workshops and worked on my reading habits. I started reading more purposefully and taking comprehensive notes to help me adjust to the change. I believe that my ability to adapt helped me succeed in my graduate courses.
Why is reflecting important for attorneys?
Attorneys should debrief and reflect after trials on what they did well and what they can do better, to improve their performance in future trials. Lifelong learners must reflect to learn from their own or other’s mistakes or failures. In Mock Trial we debrief after each round. As a team, we read comments written from the judge and then offered something each person did well and something they can improve upon. These debriefs helped me improve my skills by pointing out distracting gestures, which I worked to fix, and my strong voice inflection, which I have learned to capitalize on. I believe these reflections helped me earn my outstanding attorney awards and contributed to our team’s improvement throughout the year.
Life-long learning skills will serve me well in the legal field
Through my experience, I have learned valuable life-long skills, including adjusting to change and diplomacy. These skills will help my future career as an attorney as I adapt to changes in trial and improve my trial techniques.