The faculty of Temple University Beasley School of Law is dedicated to preparing students to enter and succeed in the legal profession with the highest level of skill possible, with a firm commitment to principles of professional responsibility and to the goal of equal justice under the law, and with a sense of personal obligation to lead and to serve the communities in which they live and practice.
To achieve these objectives, the faculty of Temple University Beasley School of Law has adopted the following Student Learning Outcomes and Performance Criteria.
Key Competencies
Knowledge of the law and its role in society
Learning Outcome 1:
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the law and its role in society.
Performance Criterion 1.1:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental terms, rules, and principles of law, including significant alternative formulations and interpretations, in all required courses and in a variety of elective courses.
Performance Criterion 1.2:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of legal rules and principles on society and its various sub-groups.
Performance Criterion 1.3:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of how legal rules develop and their connection to historical, social or political context.
Legal analysis and reasoning
Learning Outcome 2:
Students will demonstrate competency in legal analysis and reasoning.
Performance Criterion 2.1:
Students will demonstrate the ability to read legal authority critically to comprehend and synthesize controlling rules and principles, to discern policy justifications and to identify possible alternative formulations, interpretations and justifications.
Performance Criterion 2.2:
Students will demonstrate the ability to identify and state rules, principles and policy justifications clearly and accurately.
Performance Criterion 2.3:
Students will demonstrate the ability to identify those facts in an actual or hypothetical scenario which are legally significant to the application of each potentially relevant legal rule, principle, and policy justification.
Performance Criterion 2.4:
Students will demonstrate the ability to think analogically and critically in applying relevant rules, principles and policy justifications, and possible alternative formulations and interpretations, to an actual or hypothetical fact scenario.
Written and oral communication
Learning Outcome 3:
Students will demonstrate competency in written and oral communication.
Performance Criterion 3.1:
Students will demonstrate the ability to write in a clear, concise, well-organized, professional manner that is appropriate in varied legal contexts.
Performance Criterion 3.2:
Students will demonstrate the ability to speak in a clear, concise, well-organized, professional manner that is appropriate in varied legal contexts.
Performance Criterion 3.3:
Students will demonstrate the ability to actively listen to legal professionals, clients and others.
Professional and problem-solving skills
Learning Outcome 4:
Students will demonstrate competency in the professional and problem-solving skills required of law school graduates entering the legal profession.
Performance Criterion 4.1
Students will demonstrate the ability to select and employ legal research tools, strategies, and methods to identify legal authority that is relevant to actual or hypothetical fact scenarios.
Performance Criterion 4.2
Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively utilize basic professional skills employed by lawyers, in actual or hypothetical fact scenarios, such as interviewing, counseling, analyzing data, negotiating, or drafting formal or technical legal documents, legislation, or policy positions.
Performance Criterion 4.3
Students will demonstrate the ability to construct arguments, and counter-arguments, designed to achieve a client’s objectives or otherwise solve a problem in a legal context or advance a legal position.
Performance Criterion 4.4
Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate persuasively to achieve a client’s objectives or otherwise solve a problem in a legal context or advance a legal position in actual or hypothetical fact scenarios.
Performance Criterion 4.5:
Students will demonstrate the ability to identify practical considerations and potential effects on clients and society when formulating a course of action to achieve a client’s objectives or otherwise solve a problem in a legal context or advance a legal position in actual or hypothetical fact scenarios.
Performance Criterion 4.6:
Students will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively with others in a variety of legal settings.
Professionalism and professional responsibility
Learning Outcome 5:
Students will demonstrate professionalism and a commitment to the principles of professional responsibility.
Performance Criterion 5.1
Students, through their undertakings, such as choosing to take the pledge during orientation and other actions, will demonstrate a commitment to uphold the honor and integrity of the legal profession, to conduct themselves with honesty, dignity, and care, honoring the values and standards that are expressed in the rules governing Temple Law School and that are shared by the legal profession, and to treat others with civility, fairness and respect, even in disagreement.
Performance Criterion 5.2
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the rules, laws and other authority that govern the practice of law and an appreciation of the values shared by members of the legal profession.
Performance Criterion 5.3
Students will demonstrate the ability to recognize and identify professional and ethical dilemmas when presented in actual or hypothetical fact scenarios.
Performance Criterion 5.4
When presented with a professional or ethical dilemma in an actual or hypothetical fact scenario, students will demonstrate the ability to formulate and articulate one or more possible resolutions that will result in an appropriate outcome.
Importance of service
Learning Outcome 6:
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of service to the profession and to the community at large, including the legally underserved.
Performance Criterion 6.1
Students, through their actions, will demonstrate a commitment to public service and to achieving justice, including through pro bono service or other means of serving the community at large and the legal profession.
Performance Criterion 6.2
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of understanding and appreciating people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
Operation of law in a global context
Learning Outcome 7:
Students will demonstrate an awareness of the operation of law in a global context.
Performance Criterion 7.1
Students, through their coursework, travels, and extracurricular activities, will demonstrate the ability to recognize and identify comparative approaches to common legal problems, legal issues raised when activities concern actors in more than one nation, or when more than one legal system is potentially applicable in actual or hypothetical scenarios.
Bias in the Law
Learning Outcome 8:
Students will understand the historical and current role biases play in the U.S. legal system; learn cultural competency skills; and identify strategies to eliminate racism in the legal profession.
Performance Criterion 8.1
Students will develop an understanding of the law’s current relationship to systemic inequality based on biases such as those based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion, national origin, dis/ability, age, immigration status and/or socioeconomic status, the intersections of these traits, and the differences they may entail.
Performance Criterion 8.2
Students will be exposed to the historical role of U.S. law in both reflecting and shaping social hierarchy.
Performance Criterion 8.3
Students will identify and develop an understanding of the various strategies that can be employed to eliminate racism in the legal system as well as the elimination of biases based other group identifications such as color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion, national origin, dis/ability, age, immigration status and/or socioeconomic status.
Performance Criterion 8.4
Students will develop an understanding of and be able to exhibit cultural competencies, including an understanding of the various issues confronted by individuals and institutions that exist in a multi-racial, multi-cultural world.