LAW 0160 :
Villanova Law Inn of Court

Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law J. Willard O'Brien American Inn of Court is a nationally recognized, award-winning, chartered member of the American Inns of Court (AIC) - the oldest, largest, and fastest growing legal mentoring organization in the country. Each year, the Villanova Inn accepts up to 15 Villanova Law students as members at the pupil level. Because the experience captures the essence of the capstone Professional Development curriculum, membership in the Inn satisfies most requirements of the Professional Development III course . (Students must fulfill certain Professional Development requirements, including meeting their CSO advisors and faculty advisors; attending class sessions on (i) Character and Fitness, and (ii) Planning Your (Bar Study) Summer; and participating in the Giving Voice to Values programming.) AIC and its member Inns are devoted to developing practice skills, civility, and professionalism in the practice of law. (For more information on the AIC click "https://home.innsofcourt.org". Members of the Villanova Inn come from every corner of the practice (judges, prosecutors, personal injury and products liability lawyers both plaintiffs and defense, complex litigation specialists, criminal defense lawyers, in-house counsel, academics, etc.) and every type of organization (federal and state government, big firms, small firms, solo practice, and corporations). Our members also stretch from very experienced lawyers (e.g., Judge Rendell) to lawyers at the height of their careers (e.g., Gordon Cooney and Mike Barrett) to lawyers who just graduated from VLS. Student members must commit to attend seven monthly meetings and a dinner in May; you must commit to remain active for the entire academic year. In addition, each student will be assigned to a pupillage team and makes the additional commitment to work with the pupillage team of judges and lawyers to prepart and conduct one of the monthly programs. The Inn meets on the second Tuesday in September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and Mary, 8:00 p.m. at the Law School or in Center City Philadelphia. Programs usually run from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Law School, or 5:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in the City. To be a student member, you must plan your schedule to permit you to attend these meetings both fall and spring semesters. Credit is awarded through the PDIII course; the Faculty Liaison to the Inn certifies that each student has completed the requirements for the award of credit. For a more detailed description of expectations, see the fall and spring Professional Development Inn of Court Option Assignment Checklists posted on Blackboard. In addition to the required Professional Development III assignments, members of the Inn are required to do the following: Attend the opening dinner in September. This event offers the first networking opportunity of the year. For the past two years, students participated in speed networking with practitioners in the Inn. In addition, students met with their assigned pupillage groups. (2 hours) Attend the Inn meeting in October. The October meeting is often a joint meeting with other Philadelphia area Inns of Court, offering the opportunity to network with members from those Inns. Whether it is joint or not, the October meeting features a program of interest to members of the bar, such as this year's lecture on Global Warming and Climate Change. Practitioners attending earn one hour of CLE credit. (2 hours) Attend the five substantive Inn meetings held in November, January, February, March, and April. Each program offers approximately an hour of networking followed by an hour-long program presented by one of the pupillage groups; each program earns the practitioners attending one hour of the CLE credit. (5 programs @ 2 hours each = 10 hours) Participate in the assigned pupillage group's preparation for and presentation of its program. Each pupillage group presents at one of the five substantive Inn meetings. Preparation for the presentation includes team meetings, research, identification and preparation of materials for distribution , drafting the script for the presentation, and rehearsing the presentation. Team captains would be encouraged to pair students with practitioners on the team and assign students approximately 12-14 hours of work on the presentation. (12-14 hours) Participate in an Inn pro bono event, such as a Saturday at the Face to Face Clinic. (5 hours) Participate in two informational lunches with Inn members. Past lunches have focused on handling law school debt, finding the first job in the law, and developing a career. (3 hours) Attend the end of the year dinner in May. The dinner offers the final networking event of the year. (2 hours) Exam Info: No Exam