Legal Skills Research Group

The Legal Skills Research Group (LSRG) was formed in 1989 as a collective enterprise by some of the country's leading researchers into the skills needed for the study and practice of the law. The Group intended that it should act as a resource for professional legal and judicial bodies, users of legal services and institutions providing legal education at all levels, by: doing original research on legal skills; monitoring and evaluating current and completed research in the field; developing and evaluating curricula for the teaching of legal skills and providing information and consultancy services. The Group was housed at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) from 1989-1997 and funded by the Higher Education Funding Council. It comprises teachers from law schools throughout the country. It has held annual symposia and regular lunchtime seminars, commencing in July 1990, on various subjects. Most symposia papers have been published in IALS working papers. Subjects have included teaching of ethics, incompetence at the Bar, teaching alternative dispute resolution and evaluation of the Bar Vocational Course. The Group has also undertaken various special research projects, including a 5 year study commencing in 1989 to develop a general methodology for assessing legal skills. Later projects included developing methods for applying the theoretical findings of year 1 of the legal skills project and the development of training videos.