Legal Skills Academy
The Utrecht University School of Law established a Legal Skills Academy (LSA) in 2019. The goal of the LSA is to strengthen legal skills in the bachelor’s programme as well as all of our legal master’s programmes.
The activities of the Legal Skills Academy fall into two categories:
- Building a knowledge and expertise center
- Contributing to reforms in education and the curricula of the bachelor program and legal master’s programs based on our three focus areas: writing, presenting and collaboration
Writing
In a lawyer’s professional life, writing is an extremely important part of the job. Accurate, clear and concise writing is essential to convince, to advise and to explain. Writing also plays a major role in the academic training of lawyers. An essential part of legal science is the systematization, analysis and interpretation of legal sources and literature. Law students learn how to discuss legal sources and literature in writing and how to formulate arguments and conclusions.
Presenting
Oral presentation is an essential skill in many of the professions our students enter after graduating. One obvious environment for the lawyer is the courtroom, but in many other fields, it is incumbent upon the lawyer to make convincing arguments in order to acquire and advise clients and organizations.
Collaboration
A lawyer almost always works at least partially in a team; this means that collaboration, joint reflection on the work and giving and receiving feedback are essential parts of the job. This collaboration skill includes not only direct collaboration with colleagues, but also other prerequisites for teamwork, such as self-reflection and awareness, planning and time management, cultural awareness, problem solving and communication.
Contact
Feel free to contact us.