Watching third and fourth year law students explain why they chose law restored my hope for the profession.
I recently had the privilege of beginning a skills development programme I created called Intro to Legal Practice: Bridging the Gap Between Law School and Legal Practice. The group is made up of third and fourth year law students, and from the very first session, they have exceeded every expectation.
The programme exists because there is a well-known gap between what law school teaches and what legal practice actually demands. I came across a description recently that captured it perfectly: university is studying recipes without ever cooking. You learn the ingredients, the method, the theory. But you never stand at the stove.
Law school teaches the recipe. Legal practice is baking the cake, under pressure, with real consequences, and a responsibility not to burn the kitchen down. That is the gap this programme is designed to address.
To mark the occasion, we ate cupcakes, a small, deliberate symbol of what the programme promises to be: a taste of what is to come.
Why they chose law
When students introduced themselves and spoke about why they chose law, I was moved. Many shared personal experiences of witnessing or living through injustice or violence. They spoke not only about wanting to address injustice, but about repairing harm and addressing root causes. They did not come to law for the prestige or the prospect of a corner office. They came because something in their lives made them believe the law could be a force for good.
That kind of motivation is rare and it is precious. It is also exactly the kind of motivation the profession needs.
The questions that followed
What encouraged me most were the discussions that emerged naturally from those introductions. Students began asking thoughtful questions about ADR, mediation, and restorative justice. They wanted to know whether justice must always be pursued through an adversarial, winner-and-loser model. Whether there were better ways to address harm and repair relationships rather than simply determine liability.
These are not questions that typically emerge in first-year law lectures. They are the questions of people who are already thinking beyond the textbook, who are approaching the law not as a set of rules to master but as a tool for building a more just world.
If this group is anything to go by, the future of our profession and how we choose to practise it is in very good hands.
Interested in skills development training for law students or candidate attorneys? Our Intro to Legal Practice programme is designed to bridge the gap between law school and real-world practice. Get in touch to find out how we can bring this programme to your institution or firm.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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