Sarah Fishel, Kellie Wiltsie & David DeMatteo, “Certainly Uncertain: Facilitating Law Student Professional Growth and Well-Being through Supervision in Light of COVID-19”

This article sets out a series of strategies that can be implemented in clinical supervision, focusing on well-being as part of professional development. Supervision models frequently contend that students should be active participants in their legal education. Generally speaking, supervision models advance methods that empower students to learn that effective action comes from thought and judgment (Aiken & Shalleck, 2014), ensure students are able to demonstrate skills in real-world contexts (Katz, 2006), and provide an opportunity to offer feedback to students in a manner that acknowledges the potentially problematic power dynamics inherent in supervisory relationships (Maurer & Seibel, 2010). The development of these core competencies is necessary for professional identity development and effective lawyering. Notwithstanding these pedagogical benefits, effective clinical supervision models require consideration of good supervision and great supervision; two types of supervision which are differentiated by way of how students are made to feel. To do this, supervisors must provide substantive law training, review legal work and attend to the issues regarding students’ emotional experiences engendered by and reactions to their legal work.

Furthermore, legal clinic supervisors play an essential role in the professional development of law students, as legal clinics are often their first opportunity to interact with a client. Supervisors are positioned to teach students how to represent clients and to learn from that representation for the benefit of future clients.

In light of clinical supervision models in psychology and the unprecedented legal climate during Covid-19, legal clinic supervisors should apply four principles derived from the psychology training field. First, balance, supervisors should balance all competing interests of all stakeholders within clinics. Second, there should be a developmentally sensitive trainee focus that recognizes the student’s base level of competency under normal circumstances and in uncertain times brought on by Covid-19. Third, supervisors should use flexible and creative thinking to meet the needs of the students and clients. Lastly, supervisors should act in a socially responsive manner, considering the needs of students and clients and understanding the inherent power differential in the supervisor/supervisee relationship.

Sarah Fishel, Kellie Wiltsie & David DeMatteo, “Certainly Uncertain: Facilitating Law Student Professional Growth and Well-Being through Supervision in Light of COVID-19” (2021) 70:2 & 3 J Legal Educ 331.