Legal Workforce Preparation Course

LAW 287, Legal Workforce Preparation, is a five week online course created to assist students enrolled in the Legal Education Program at Kapi‘olani Community College with transitioning from the academic classroom to the legal workforce. While many of the required courses in the Legal Education Program focus on teaching technical skills, research suggests that in order to be successful in the workforce, students need additional hands-on practical experience, such as drafting legal documents, conducting legal research, interviewing clients, and learning how to be professional in the workplace (Klein, 2019). This course would be a prerequisite to LAW 293, the capstone internship course in the Legal Education Program. Students enrolled in this course will receive hands-on experience in a classroom environment that will better prepare them for their legal internships. This course is divided into five different modules, and consists of both synchronous and asynchronous components. The course topics include cover letters, resumes and professionalism, client interviews and interactions, civil litigation pleadings, estate planning documents, and legal research. Laulima was used as the learning management system (LMS) due to the students’ familiarity with the platform. A variety of digital content and tools were also utilized in accordance with the Universal Design for Learning principles, including web page readings, videos, and infographics. To provide students with practical and real-world experience, their learning is assessed through simulated workplace assignments, projects, quizzes, and discussion board/forums.

Kimberly Iwao
Learning Design and Technology
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Kimberly Koide Iwao is an Instructor in the Legal Education Program at Kapiolani Community College, and is also a Lecturer in Law at the University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law. She received her law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, and her Bachelor of Education in Secondary Education and English from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Ms. Iwao was formerly a partner at the law firm of Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, and served as in-house counsel at two for-profit corporations in Hawaii. She currently runs her own law practice in which she specializes in employment law, estate planning and civil litigation. She is also a doctoral student in the Learning Design & Technology department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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