Building Bar Skills Initiative

Led by our Center for Legal Education Excellence^®, this initiative represents a significant research and development investment into future methods of bar preparation.  

Through its broader Building Bar Skills Initiative, AccessLex Institute is expanding its existing bar preparation offerings by actively working to bridge the gap between standard methods of legal education and future approaches to legal training.

A series of easily adapted modules for use by faculty in an associated doctrinal course are being developed by Module Building Teams. Equipped with professor’s notes, rubrics, and a referable online interface, adopting faculty will utilize formative assessment exercises that introduce their students to the skills assessed on the NextGen Bar Exam.

A unique aspect of AccessLex Institute’s Building Bar Skills modules is that each team is utilizing their modules in a classroom this fall. Based on this initial use, all modules will be revised and informed by student feedback and performance. This approach demonstrates AccessLex Institute’s commitment to the development of evidence-based interventions to improve first-time bar passage across the nation’s law schools.
 

Building Foundational Skills¹ with Bar Skills Modules

The Building Bar Skills Modules are drafted in response to and preparation for the Foundational Skills outlined for the NextGen Bar Exam. Module Building Teams are crafting and testing exercises that introduce law students to these four groups of Foundational Skills.

The four Foundational Skills and the corresponding Building Bar Skills Modules developing those skills are detailed here.

Foundational Skills

Group A: Issue Spotting and Analysis, Investigation and Evaluation

• Building Bar Skills Modules: Civil Procedure, Contracts², Criminal Law and Procedure, Legal Ethics, Torts

Group B: Client Counseling and Advising, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, Client Relationship and Management

• Building Bar Skills Modules: Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Procedure, Contracts, Legal Ethics, Torts

Group C: Legal Research

• Building Bar Skills Modules: Civil Procedure, Contracts, Legal Ethics

Group D: Legal Writing and Drafting

• Building Bar Skills Modules: Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Procedure, Legal Ethics, Torts

¹ Foundational Skills Groups are drawn from the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ Content Scope Outlines for the NextGen Bar Exam. Content Scope – NextGen Bar Exam (ncbex.org)
² Developed by AccessLex Institute’s Center for Legal Education Excellence^®.

Central to this initiative is the work of the Building Bar Skills Initiative’s Module Building Teams. Drawn from five different law schools and comprised of doctrinal and skills faculty, these teams are developing and testing innovative curriculum units for use in doctrinal courses that are designed to cultivate the skills tested on the NextGen Bar Exam.

We will discuss the new bar exam, present the Bar Skills Modules, and provide law schools with tools to begin preparing students for NextGen during the AccessLex Building Bar Skills Conference on April 15-17, 2024 at the Loews Philadelphia. Registration will open in January. By invitation only.