While the popular television series “How to Get Away with Murder” depicts law school with drama enriched scandals, the true reality of law is the extreme grit and work that students and professors alike experience on a daily basis. As law schools are being called to change the way in which students are prepared for the work force, the schools and the profession must anticipate the various problems the next generation of lawyers may encounter and this is exactly what the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System is striving to do.

Located on DU’s campus, the institute performs research and creates innovative models in making progress towards a better legal system. Among the issues that this program tackles is the challenge of educating tomorrow’s lawyers.

“The legal market is changing, and legal employers and members of the profession are increasingly calling on law schools to change the way they educate lawyers,” says the institute’s website.

From Sept. 22 to 24, the institute held their fifth annual conference called Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers. This event brought in law educators and legal professionals alike from universities around the country to engage in discussions, panels and workshops. By focusing on how to achieve learning outcome for students, educators and professionals discovered new and innovative ways to meet the challenges of educating lawyers for the future.

“Everyone is aware of the problems,” said Senior Legal Editor Marsi Buckmelter. “The fun of these conferences is to see how other people are addressing these problems.”

The itinerary included a panel with Colorado Public Defender Ann Roan and the Managing Director of Professional Development at Goodwin Karen Febeo. This panel spoke about evaluating tomorrow’s lawyers by focusing on lessons from legal employers.

Today, employers are looking for students who have an openness to learning, a strong work ethic and the ability to listen and learn from feedback. Alli Gerkman, the director of Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, explained how knowing personal strengths has the potential to be a huge advantage when entering the legal profession.

“Many of the skills that lawyers need are not learned in law school,” Gerkman said.

During the conference, the institute named former dean of the Sturm College of Law, Martin J. Katz, as the recipient of the 2016 Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Award.