Law Center News
Southern University Law Center, Penn State Law win prestigious educational innovation award

With a mission of producing lawyer-leaders, the Southern University Law Center continuously provides students with educational opportunities that prepare them for their future in the legal industry. Recently, the Law Center, in partnership with Penn State Law in University Park, have been chosen as a winner in the second annual Leading Edge Prize for Educational Innovation, which rewards teams with $10,000 for the best educational and professional solutions for law students and new legal professionals.
“We are honored to help law students and other members of the legal ecosystem gain critical skills for success in a rapidly changing legal marketplace,” said John Pierre, chancellor of the Southern University Law Center. “This award will allow us to build on a concept initially developed by NetApp, Inc., in partnership with the Southern University Law Center and enhanced by the efforts of Penn State Law, which led to the creation of an innovative summer webinar certification program.”
The title of the project is How Can We Educate 2L and 3L Students to be Better Equipped for Practice?, which aims to educate, empower, and equip law students about the impact of artificial intelligence, legal process automation, data analytics, e-discovery, design thinking, and other technological innovations on the delivery of legal services. Led by Pierre and Hari Osofsky, dean of Penn State Law in University Park, the team will develop a webinar series, “Tipping the Scales,” to equip law students for a future in legal practice that is increasingly shaped by technology and innovation. This training will also help future lawyers address the access to justice gap and support diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.
“This opportunity will allow us to serve law students and advance critical diversity and inclusion and access to justice goals,” said Osofsky. “Both Penn State Law and Southern University Law Center are committed to working collaboratively with deans, tech leaders, corporations, law firms and other legal practitioners to prepare law graduates with the skills and knowledge to be successful in their careers.”
The competition is through Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory, which is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the healthcare; tax and accounting; governance, risk and compliance; and legal and regulatory sectors. Designed to drive legal industry innovation, the prestigious Leading Edge Prize unites law schools, companies and agencies from across the legal industry to collaborate on projects to benefit today’s law school students. Through this process, teams deliver proposals to address a challenge facing legal education, such as access to justice, diversity in law schools, cost of law school, practice readiness, student wellness, and bar passage rates.
For more information about the Leading Edge Conference and Prize, visit: www.WKLegaledu.com/leading-edge.
RSS News Feed