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Article
Emotional Intelligence and Legal Education
Am. Psychol. Ass'n
  • Marjorie A Silver, Touro Law Center
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-1999
Abstract

The traditional knowledge-based law school curriculum is slowly giving way to one that increasingly exposes students to various lawyering skills. Nonetheless, legal educators are generally averse — or at best ill equipped — to support that training with the empathic and psychological skills good lawyering demands. The author discusses how emotional intelligence is essential to good lawyering and argues that it can and should be cultivated in law school. The article draws upon three examples of popular culture to explore both the absence and possibilities of interpersonal intelligence in the practice of law. The author also describes her own law school's current project of re-imagining legal education and explains how the development of emotional skills might be incorporated into that vision.

Citation Information
54(4) Psychol., Pub. Pol'y, & L. 1173