As the legal industry changes with the times, so must its students. Queen’s Law is adding new material to its curriculum to ensure this happens, with two new courses intended to address a potential “skills gap” between law graduates and the industry they work in.
“Queen’s Law already has among the highest placement rates of any law school in Canada,” Dean Flanagan says. “Listening to our alumni, however, there’s a clear and identified need for students who have not only received a strong knowledge of the law, but also a practical grounding on how it is practiced in the 21st century.”
Two courses under development at the law school will address this need. “We’ve created two courses intended not only for JD students, but also for legal professionals,” says course developer and program designer Shai Dubey. “Our intent is to prepare Queen’s Law students with not only the legal knowledge they need to lead in the Canadian legal sector, but to accelerate their success with the kinds of skills that will let them hit the ground running in practice.”
The first of the two courses, Financial Literacy for Lawyers, will address an important need. “We want to make sure that our graduates have the financial acumen they need to thrive in a rapidly changing legal environment,” Dubey explains.
Preparing students for the law as it is at present is only half of the puzzle. The second new course coming to Queen’s Law, the Future of Legal Practice, has its eye on what’s to come. “How will technology and artificial intelligence affect the delivery of legal services?” Dean Flanagan asks. “We’re already seeing new and different business structures forming in law. Innovation is becoming more and more a core skill for legal practitioners. We need to encourage students who see themselves as future entrepreneurs, and arm them for coming technologies and changing client demands that will have a profound impact on the delivery of legal services.”
These new courses will be a strong complement to faculty’s traditional core strengths. “We are as dedicated as ever to our core curriculum, with its emphasis on legal reasoning and legal knowledge,” Dean Flanagan says. “These new courses will expand our toolkit and help ensure our students are ready for practice in a rapidly changing profession.”