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The Whittier Experience

Institutional Goals

and Student Learning Outcomes

1. Graduates will demonstrate knowledge of law and its role in society.

• In all courses, students will demonstrate an understanding of the terms, rules, and principles of law.

• In doctrinal courses, students will read authority, identify the rules within the authority, and synthesize those rules into a logical framework for analysis.

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of legal rules on society and its various sub-groups.

2. Graduates will demonstrate analytical and problem-solving skills.

Students will:

• Identify the controlling legal principles that apply to case-based or hypothetical fact scenarios.

• Apply rules to determine and explain how case-based or hypothetical fact scenarios will likely be resolved under existing legal principles.

• Use analogical reasoning to determine and explain how case-based or hypothetical fact scenarios will likely be resolved under existing legal principles.

• Use legal, policy, and practical considerations to determine and explain how case-based or hypothetical fact scenarios will likely be resolved.

• Analyze all sides of an issue raised by case-based or hypothetical fact scenarios to determine and explain how the issue would likely be resolved.

3. Graduates will communicate effectively.

Students will:

• Write in a clear, concise, well-organized, professional manner that is appropriate to the audience and the circumstances.

• Speak in a clear, concise, well-organized, professional manner that is appropriate to the audience and the circumstances.

• Demonstrate active listening in communications with others, including legal professionals and lay persons.

4. Graduates will demonstrate competency in legal practice skills.

Students will:

• Demonstrate the ability to conduct legal research.

• Demonstrate the ability to conduct a factual investigation.

• Demonstrate the ability to interview, counsel, and negotiate on behalf of a client.

• Demonstrate the ability to draft documents used in legal practice.

5. Graduates will possess the requisite skills to recognize and resolve dilemmas in an ethical manner.

• Students will articulate the sources, structure, and substance of law governing the ethics of the legal profession.

• When presented with a dilemma drawn from case-based or hypothetical facts, students will articulate the relevant and applicable ethical standards, apply those ethical standards, and propose one or more resolutions that result in an ethical outcome.

6. Graduates will demonstrate professionalism.

Students will:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the rules and canons of professional conduct.

• Conduct themselves in a professional manner.

• Participate in opportunities to increase their professional knowledge and skills.

7. Graduates will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of service to the profession and to the community at large.

Students will:

• Demonstrate a willingness to contribute to the profession’s responsibility to ensure that legal services are provided to those who cannot afford to pay for them.

• Demonstrate a willingness to contribute to serving the underserved and traditionally marginalized communities.

• Demonstrate an awareness of the importance of providing legal and other services to all members of society, regardless of their ability to pay.