Law School Expands Diversity Skills Training

Today’s lawyers need to learn awareness and inclusivity when working with a diverse array of clients, courts, and colleagues. Toward that end, Scalia Law first-year students have just completed a three-part course on Civil Dialogue and Inclusive Lawyering.

This mandatory program consisted of the following components:

• An introductory module during fall orientation;
• Perspectives, an eight-module tool that equips students with research–backed strategies to help them communicate more effectively; and
• A live session with tools for engaging in civil debate and active listening on a current topic, in this case, affirmative action in higher education.

This year the school partnered with the Constructive Dialogue Institute, a nonprofit organization that uses psychology and research to encourage people with different perspectives to understand each other — without giving up their own beliefs — in order to work together. (Perspectives is one of their learning tools.) Scalia Law is the first law school in the nation to partner with the Constructive Dialogue Institute on diversity training.

Profs. Christopher Newman, Rachelle Holmes Perkins, and Todd Zywicki organized and taught this year’s program. Initial feedback from students has been positive, and their comments will help inform the next sessions in the fall of 2023.