Video Feedback on Student Work

Recently, for the first time, I used video and audio technology to provide feedback on student papers in my first-year legal writing class. From my perspective, it was a terrific success.  Giving live, oral feedback over video of each student’s paper allowed me to explain my questions, comments, and corrections more naturally and precisely, and also more quickly.  I think that most students found the oral feedback useful as well.

The technology I used is TechSmith’s Jing.  There may well be other free software products that offer something similar, but Jing is the one that was brought to my attention (by a student, actually–thanks, Priya Barnes).  After viewing another educator’s blog post and video demonstrating his use of the product to give feedback, I thought I’d try it.

Here is how the video/audio method of commenting works:

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Where Do Wisconsin Lawyers Obtain Their Legal Educations?

To no one’s surprise, the vast majority of current Wisconsin lawyers received their legal education in the Badger State.  According to official figures, 12,357 of 20,841 (59.3%) of the current active members of the Wisconsin State Bar are graduates of the law schools at Marquette and the University of Wisconsin.   Slightly more than a third of all lawyers (7249, or 34.8%) attended Wisconsin while just under one quarter (5108, or 24.5%) are graduates of Marquette.

After Wisconsin, the states whose law schools currently contribute the largest number of alumni to the Wisconsin bar are Minnesota and Illinois, whose 1,824 and 1301 graduates account for 8.8% and 6.2% of the lawyers in the state, respectively.

Other than Wisconsin, the top 10 states supplying lawyers to Wisconsin are:

Minnesota        1824

Illinois               1301

Michigan           518

Iowa                   442

Indiana              411

Massachusetts  332

California          299

New York         240

Dist. Columbia   237

Ohio                    214

The only other states with at least 100 alumni currently practicing law in Wisconsin are Nebraska (142) and  Virginia (121), although Florida just misses at 99.  The dominance of Midwestern states on the list is not surprising, as the national pattern is that most lawyers go to law school in the region in which they eventually practice.  (Note that in spite of the recent influx of Yale Law School graduates on to the Marquette Law School faculty, Connecticut does not make the list.)

If we focus on individual law schools instead of states, the Top 10 contributors to the Wisconsin bar, after Wisconsin and Marquette are listed below.  Minnesota schools dominate the top of the list:

Hamline               655

Wm Mitchell      638

U. Minnesota     506

John Marshall    294

U Iowa                 235

U Michigan         235

Drake                    207

Harvard               200

DePaul                  197

Cooley                  180

The next ten are:

Chicago-Kent     176

Valparaiso          174

Northwestern    159

Illinois                  123

Georgetown        114

Notre Dame        113

Loyola-Chi          112

No. Illinois          101

Creighton            101

U Chicago             97

Again, the Midwestern dominance is apparent.  Counting the Wisconsin schools, 20 of the 22 “feeder” schools are from the Midwest, with Harvard and Georgetown the only exceptions.  The afore-mentioned Yale clocks in at 26th overall, tied with St. Louis University with 58 graduates practicing in the state.

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Why Twitter Shouldn’t Scare Lawyers

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Black-necked stilt, AKA "lawyer bird"*

It’s fair to say Twitter has taken the social media world by storm. In less than five years, Twitter has become one of the go-to media outlets for bloggers, newspapers, companies, and the everyday Internet user. I won’t go into a long discourse on what Twitter is, what it can do, or how it works. Other people have done a much better job at describing it than I could have.  (Consider checking out About.com’s “What is Twitter” article or viewing Common Craft’s “Twitter in Plain English” video. Also, Twitter has its own about page.)

I’ve discovered through casual conversations (with law school classmates, lawyers, businesspeople, and family and friends) that there are three basic reactions to Twitter. A) “I don’t get it. What’s the point?”, B) “That would never work for me,” or C) “Awesome. Sign me up.” The links in the previous paragraph address the first reaction, and the third reaction needs no additional encouragement, so my message today is directed at the second: don’t be afraid of Twitter. As law students, lawyers, or professors, Twitter offers something for each of us.

The basic benefit of Twitter as a lawyer (either as a solo practitioner or a member of a law firm) is in providing information to current or potential clients and to other lawyers. But it’s about more than just “tweet”ing firm news releases or updates. Indeed, as an individual lawyer, any specific updates you could provide would likely breach attorney-client confidentiality or violate state ethics codes. Twitter is, instead, a useful tool in keeping your followers up-to-date about legal news. That news could be about important decisions in courts around the country, news about legislation, or a story about how the law operates in practice.

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