Cain, P J --- "A First Step Toward Introducing Emotional Intelligence into the Law School Curriculum: The 'Emotional Intelligence and the Clinic Student' Class" [2004] LegEdDig 35; (2004) 13(1) Legal Education Digest 4

A First Step Toward Introducing Emotional Intelligence into the Law School Curriculum: The ‘Emotional Intelligence and the Clinic Student’ Class

P J Cain

[1993] LegEdDig 28; (2004) 13(1) Legal Education Digest 4

[2003] LegEdRev 2; 14 Legal Educ Rev 1, 2003-4, pp 1–17

Law schools are in the business of training ‘lawyers’, that is, people who will practise law. Law schools are not in the business of training students to only be able to regurgitate what they have learned in a bar exam. This paper briefly gives an overview of what is meant by ‘emotional intelligence’ and why it is important to the law school curriculum. The primary focus of the paper is relating the author’s experience in offering a class on emotional intelligence in the internship program at the University of Denver College of Law, USA.

One definition of emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, connection and influence. Students have problems dealing with the emotional aspects of practising law.

As lawyers we have to deal with this in many respects. We deal with it in the context of our relationship with clients, other attorneys, judges, witnesses, and staff. We also deal with it on an organisational level, not just a personal, one-on-one level. It does not matter whether the organisation is a large or small law firm, or a government agency. As clinical teachers we have all faced similar scenarios, whether we teach in an ‘in-house’ clinic, a ‘hybrid’ clinic or an ‘externship’ program. Helping students to handle the emotional side of practising law is at least as demanding, and perhaps more demanding, than helping students to properly analyse and prepare their cases. Why is this so? First, the law school curriculum is designed to provide students with the fundamental legal principles and concepts to analyse cases. Second, students matriculate at different social and psychological stages of their lives. Many students may not be mature enough or have enough life experience to deal with difficult emotional issues. The American law school academy is just beginning to realise the importance of emotional intelligence to the law school curriculum and advocate its incorporation into the curriculum.

An internship program, called ‘externships’ by most American law schools, is a field placement program in which law students work for academic credit in a law firm, government agency or similar setting while being supervised by an attorney. The class was offered as part of the internship program. There were eleven students in the class, all in their second or third year of law school. They were placed in a variety of internship placements. The placements included public defender offices, prosecutor offices, a private law firm, a non-profit agency, and a bar association.

A primary goal of the class was to introduce law students to the concept of emotional intelligence. An additional goal was to have students think about and apply the concepts of emotional intelligence to their internship placements. Another goal was to have students consider how emotional intelligence might be applied to their law practices after they graduate and become licensed attorneys.

The class met one hour each week for ten weeks. It was divided so that the first half of the course focused on ‘personal’ emotional intelligence and the second half focused on ‘institutional’ emotional intelligence. The class was taught to some degree in a multi-disciplinary manner. Guest speakers were engaged to talk about emotional intelligence in the hiring process. In addition to small group discussion, videotapes were used, as well as small group exercises. For example, one exercise focused on the concept of ‘constructive discontent’. For the final class, the students were asked to complete an emotional intelligence measuring instrument. The instrument has 21 scales measuring different emotional intelligence competencies with ranges from ‘optimal’ at the high end to ‘caution’ at the low end.

The students’ reactions to the class were noted and recorded in a number of ways, including the journals they wrote, a ‘one minute’ evaluation approximately halfway through the course, an end of the semester evaluation form and the author’s own observations of the students in class. Generally speaking, the students were more engaged and interested in the topic than had been anticipated.

What has been learnt from this first time experience? What modifications or changes might be made to the course before teaching it again in the internship program? One lesson learned is that the time limitations of the class impose severe restrictions on the amount of material that can be covered. It may be better to focus on a limited topic and cover it in more depth rather than try to cover too much. A second lesson from this experience is that it is important to more closely relate the concepts of emotional intelligence to the students’ internships. There are two concepts which are interrelated with emotional intelligence which should be incorporated into the curriculum. First, how emotional intelligence and cultural differences are related. Second, the concepts of ‘transference’ and ‘countertransference’ are well known in the psychological literature. Ideally, this class should be taught in a much more interdisciplinary manner.

This class was only a ‘first step’ toward introducing the concept of emotional intelligence into the law school curriculum. Because the class was part of a clinical program and graded on a pass/fail basis, it was unnecessary for the author to assess and evaluate students’ performance in the class. As with any course, this one will undergo continual modification and assessment. Overall, the teaching experience was successful and rewarding.