 Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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Spring Training
Bernard Hibbitts at 9:02 AM
It might be a bit early for the Grapefruit League, but 22 of JURIST's Pittsburgh-based staffers - veterans and new recruits - convened over the holiday weekend at the University of Pittsburgh law school for a semi-annual review of our production procedures. Editors and senior law student staff members discussed the challenges of headlining, writing and researching stories in real time, sharing tips and insights from their own experiences.
Of course I said a few things, but I also got a chance to watch students and former students explain JURIST in their own words. It's clear that in JURIST's third year as a largely student-powered website, our law students have a pretty good idea of what's involved in reporting important national and international legal news stories online. They know what it is to write accurate, short news stories under pressure, finding and incorporating primary sources and background links to help readers gain perspective on events. And they realize that what they're doing is unique, both in terms of how JURIST's online anchors and senior editors work together simultaneously to craft a finished product and in terms of the non-commercial public service they provide.
In the process of working on JURIST, of course, our students are honing critical legal skills. They learn how to analyze and evaluate new information quickly. Frequent and repeated story-production improves the fluidity, style and succinctness of their writing. Real time feedback from online editors continually looking over their virtual shoulders as they work accelerates and reinforces this learning process, which in the short term translates into more comfort with immediate time-limited writing challenges like exams, and in the long run will help them produce quality briefs and other legal papers on deadline. Researching JURIST stories teaches our staffers what's online where (reminding them that WestLaw and Lexis are only the tips of the vast information iceberg of the Internet) and familiarizes them with a wide range of finding tools that may come in handy for clients down the line. And then of course there's the general sense of connection and engagement that JURIST's law student staffers get from a better appreciation of what's happening in the legal world around them, in the US and abroad. They may be in the Ivory Tower, but they're looking out.
Sounds like an education, doesn't it?
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