When he advocated on behalf of a group of noncitizen janitors seeking to recover unpaid wages, Jack Thomas ’26 gained something else for his efforts — confidence.
The employment case was a simulation, and the clients were actors, but that made no difference to Thomas, who was a 1L in Minnesota Law’s signature Law in Practice (LiP) program. That’s because he was honing real legal skills through client interviews, depositions, a chambers conference, and mediation, ultimately settling the case in his client’s favor.
“The whole class made me feel like a lawyer,” says Thomas, now a 2L and a LiP student instructor. “It’s the number one reason I have confidence in my abilities as a lawyer.”
The LiP course exemplifies the Law School’s commitment to experiential education as a key to bridging classroom theory and professional practice. Bloomberg Law named LiP one of 12 finalists in its Law School Innovation Program last year for the second consecutive year. Minnesota Law, with its broad range of clinics, simulation courses, and field placements, has ranked among the country’s top ten law schools for practical training in the National Jurist’s preLaw magazine for the past several years.
The Law School will host the Minnesota Law Workshop on Experiential Education this summer. In this first-of-its-kind event, experiential education leaders and instructors from close to 40 law schools and other organizations will gather to build community and share best practices in practical legal education.
The advent of the NextGen bar exam adds urgency to the emphasis on experiential education. Beginning as early as next year in some states, students who take that exam must demonstrate proficiency in professional skills like legal writing, research, and negotiating, according to Mitchell Zamoff, assistant dean of experiential education and J. Stewart and Mario McClendon Professor in Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Minnesota Law is also preparing for the possibility that the ABA may increase the minimum number of experiential education credits required to qualify for graduation. It currently requires six credits. Fortunately, the Law School’s curriculum offers ample opportunities.
Experiential Offerings
Law clinics are the most widely known form of experiential legal education. Clinics operate like small law firms, with students under faculty supervision, representing clients in actual cases. With 28 clinics, Minnesota Law has “one of the largest and most robust clinical programs in the country,” Zamoff says. Clinics cover subjects ranging from federal immigration litigation to consumer protection, business law, and intellectual property law.
Another experiential learning opportunity, Minnesota Law’s supervised field placement program, has grown exponentially in recent years. That’s partly due to the Law School’s decision to allow field placement students to be paid while earning academic credit. Field placements, sometimes called externships, can be in corporate legal departments, public interest organizations, law firms, or government agencies.
Simulation courses, like LiP, are the other major component of practical legal training. In these small, seminar-style courses, students spend significant time simulating skills and activities that real lawyers use — and receive actionable performance feedback.
The Law School’s moot court and mock trial competition teams are among the oldest simulation courses. Minnesota Law recently won three national championships in moot court competitions. It advanced to the national quarterfinals in two of the country’s most prestigious moot court and mock trial competitions. Additional simulation courses include Trial Practice, Contract Drafting, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Zamoff says newly renovated teaching courtrooms with state-of-the-art technology will enhance Minnesota Law’s experiential learning curriculum. Students can develop their skills in courtrooms that look and feel like the ones where they will practice. The courtrooms will also host state and federal court hearings, allowing students to experience judicial proceedings without leaving the building.
Ensemble Actors Add Realism
A distinctive element of Minnesota Law’s practical legal skills training program is the Experiential Learning Ensemble. According to Diana Witt, experiential education administrator, these non-student actors portray clients, witnesses, and other roles in simulation classes. Witt recruits real actors and others from the community, so students in skill-building simulations aren’t just interacting with other students.
“It’s unique to the Law School, and we’re really proud of it and put a lot of work and time into it,” Witt says. “It adds that extra element of realism that gives the students a better environment to work on their skills.”
Savannah Klein ’25, a 3L and LiP student instructor, says she especially appreciated the course as a first-generation college student with no connection to the legal profession.
“Learning what it means to do a client interview or to do a deposition or go to a judge’s chambers and argue a motion, all of that was particularly helpful in preparing me for my summer after that,” when she worked in the economic justice unit at Southern Minnesota Legal Services, Klein says.
Thomas agreed, saying the benefits of LiP carried over to the following summer, when he was given the opportunity to observe a settlement conference while externing for U.S. District Judge Jerry W. Blackwell in St. Paul.
“Seeing the incoming work product from lawyers coming in as cases develop, knowing what client interviews are like, and how client relationships develop really helps you read the briefs better,” Thomas says.
Zamoff says the Law School’s experiential learning curriculum relies heavily on the involvement of alumni and other legal professionals in the Twin Cities who teach students and offer feedback. Experiential legal education “taps into the parts of being a lawyer that you can’t necessarily get out of a textbook,” Zamoff says. “We think rigorous intellectual development and robust skills development are complementary and should both be a meaningful part of a legal education.”