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Critical Soft Skills to Learn During Law School

By George Khoury, Esq. on February 13, 2019 | Last updated on February 15, 2023

Last updated: February 15, 2023 Regardless of what you plan on doing with your law degree, law school provides opportunities to develop "soft-skills" you can hone that will help in any career. Generally, soft skills are measured by personal attributes such as work ethic, empathy, time management, creativity, and interpersonal communication. During law school, you can deepen your soft skills considerably. Below, you can read about three soft skills to focus on while working towards your JD.

1. Time Management

Perhaps the most important soft skill you can pick up in law school is time management. Sure, you may have had to balance a hectic life before law school, but as law students quickly learn, their work is never done. The same is true for lawyers; we can put in as many hours as we physically have on just about any project, as there is almost always more that can be done. If you don't learn to manage your time to include self-care and socializing now, you'll regret it later.

2. Interpersonal Communications

Networking and communicating are not just challenging for law students; it is hard for almost everyone. But while you're still in school, you can practice, feel a little bit freer to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Learning to communicate effectively, both professionally and socially, with your peers, professors, and the legal community can take you pretty far. Law schools tend to offer a variety of events to help law students learn to network with practicing attorneys and their peers.

3. Problem-Solving

As a law student, one of the things you don't really learn in school (unless you get some clinic hours in) is how to solve real-world problems that involve more than one area of law at a time. Sure, you'll learn about what legal actions you can take and what the various legal consequences may be, but not all problems require legal action to be solved, and often taking legal action can create a whole host of other problems.

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