“The Legal Competency Missing from Legal Education: Law School Curricula and E-Discovery”

Kudos to Kilpatrick for its post  The Legal Competency Missing from Legal Education: Law School Curricula and E-Discovery | Kilpatrick – JDSupra (May 22, 2024).  The article states that only a “handful” of law schools offer ESI classes and that is “[b]ased on a review of law school course catalogs for the 2024 spring and fall semesters that showed only five of the top twenty ranked law schools offer courses focused on e-discovery.”

The article also states: “The concept of E-Discovery was, at least, mentioned in my first year Civil Procedure class, but it certainly was not covered by a standalone course….”

I have been teaching or co-teaching a standalone course at the University of Baltimore School of Law for over a decade.  See  Berman is Co-Developer of Law School ESI Seminar (Apr. 10, 2011).  From the beginning, we have focused on practical solutions.  See Patrick Burke Demonstrates EnCase Portable (Apr. 17, 2011); Kate Paslin Demonstrates Access Data CaseVantage 6 and Summation iBlaze (Apr. 18, 2011).  I also co-teach a class at the Community College of Baltimore County focused primarily on paralegals.

Craig Ball has taught an ESI-centric class for years at the University of Texas.  Kelly Twigger teaches one in Colorado.  Bill Hamilton teaches in Florida.  Jason Baron teaches at the iSchool of the University of Maryland.  I’m sure that there are many others who I have missed or don’t know.

The Hon. Paul W. Grimm wrote of the need for more education about discovery.  Judge Grimm wrote that law schools share some of the blame for discovery abuses “for not spending sufficient time teaching students about discovery obligations in civil procedure classes.”  P. Grimm, “Good Faith in Discovery,” 46 Litigation 23 (ABA 2020); see The Need for Law School Classes in Discovery Procedures (Nov. 27, 2021).