Recently, my son traveled with a group of fellow college freshmen to Detroit for a four-day field study of urban entrepreneurship. The students met with several recent college graduates to learn about the challenges of translating their passions into functioning enterprises. The most common question the students asked, my son told me, was how the young professionals鈥� college degrees related to what they are doing now.
For law students, the answer to that question may seem obvious. For three years, you study a unique way of thinking, analyzing, researching, writing; and then, law degree in hand, you go and do it, right? Of course, it鈥檚 not so simple. Any lawyer will tell you that the first several years of practice feel more like an extended apprenticeship than a profession. But inexperience is not the only reason study doesn鈥檛 always easily translate to practice. There is also the need to hone skills that can only be learned through doing.
We often hear about the challenges posed by our changing economy. Aside from the threat of displacement by artificial intelligence, there is a trend away from degree-based jobs to skills- and competency-based jobs. Colorado Law has been ahead of this trend for some time. I, like many of you, was encouraged to develop skills and competencies outside the classroom through clinics and internships during my years at Colorado Law. I was lucky to have the opportunity to try out my advocacy skills in Jim Dieters鈥� criminal law clinic and in mock appellate arguments with experienced professors/practitioners like Emily Calhoun and Patrick Furman. Also, with the help of professors and practitioners alike, I sought out internships with local law firms and鈥攂est of all鈥攚ith distinguished jurists like the Honorable John L. Kane.
These experiences were not just r茅sum茅 builders. They provided context for the material I was learning in the classroom. It鈥檚 one thing to study trial procedure. It鈥檚 another to see a judge react to a trial brief or to meet with a client in an overcrowded hearing room and argue for a bond reduction 20 minutes later.
Perhaps more important, though, these experiences prepared me for the actual practice of law. A lawyer needs not only strong research and writing skills, but also business acumen, counseling skills, and a host of 鈥渟oft skills鈥� such as active listening, collaboration, and crisis management, which enable you to handle clients and courtrooms alike. Put another way, learning outside the classroom allowed me to be nimble and apply the intellectual skills I learned in law school to a constantly shifting professional landscape.
Which brings me back to Detroit. Many of the entrepreneurs my son met reported that their current endeavors had little or nothing to do with their college majors. But the more perceptive among them recognized that they apply their studies every day. Rather than bemoan the impracticality of a philosophy or political science degree, these young professionals recognized that a disciplined area of study provided them with a foundation upon which experience builds a career. A law degree is no different. As the practice of law changes with technological advances, practitioners will need to apply their skills in new environments. The degree you earn today will serve as your cornerstone. The learning you do outside the classroom will allow you to transfer those skills to a host of different contexts.