Iselin Gambert, Director of the Fundamentals of Lawyering Program, talks all things Fundamentals of Lawyering. In addition to being the director of the program, Professor Gambert is a Professor of Fundamentals of Lawyering and a Co-Director of the Animal Legal Initiative.
Check out the video or read the conversation below to learn all about the Fundamentals of Lawyering Program at GW Law.
What is Fundamentals of Lawyering?
The vision of the Fundamentals of Lawyering program at GW Law is to equip students with everything they need to know, not only to think like a lawyer, but really to be a lawyer. We teach all the skills associated with a traditional legal research and writing program that you're going to find a law schools all around the country. In addition to that, we have innovated our curriculum and expanded it to include a wide range of skills related to client centered problem solving and experiential learning and self reflection. Students in the class can really experience what it's like, in a three-dimensional way, to be a lawyer, to have a client, and to think through a problem from the client's perspective.
What should prospective students about the program?
One of the things I want prospective students to know about the Fundamentals of Lawyering program is that we are different in a lot of ways from other legal writing programs around the country.
One of the things that sets us apart is that we have this really robust community feeling in the classroom. Our FL faculty get to know each of the students individually. The classes are small; they're less than 20 students. They're also served by two upper level students called Dean's Fellows, who serve as mentors and really help usher first year students through the entire 1L experience.In addition to our really innovative and quasi-experiential curriculum, that homeroom feel that you get in a fundamentals classroom really sets us apart. In a large law school like GW and a big city like DC, having that small community space where you know everyone and everyone is there to support you and help you thrive really sets us apart.
How does the program teach client-centered problem solving?
Fundamentals of Lawyering teaches students client-centered problem solving in a variety of different ways. One of the things that sets our program apart from a lot of other programs around the country is that we create a really holistic and a very real experience within a fictional setting. So we create a very realistic client. Our clients have websites and social media presences. Our clients have names and backgrounds and family members and colleagues and we really get to know our clients almost as if they're real. It makes our students have a lot of buy-in and emotional attachment to their client.
How does the program help students develop a professional identity?
I think GW Law is such an amazing place to be a student in terms of developing your professional identity. In the first year, we have two really amazing programs that work hand in hand with each other. The Fundamentals of Lawyering Program works closely with the Inns of Court Program on really synergistic programming that helps students develop their professional identities.
In the context of Fundamentals of Lawyering, students are constantly going through a period of self-reflection and thinking about who they are, what brought them to law school, what are their values ... what's most important to them, what kind of lawyer they want to be, but also what kind of person they want to be and how will that manifest in their legal career. Through a variety of self-reflection exercises and other experiential opportunities the students at GW Law are given a lot of support in thinking through their professional identity development through the 1L year and beyond.
Learn More about the Fundamentals of Lawyering Program