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Get ready with the LEGO pieces. One group will build a whatchamacallit; another will describe how it was built; and a third will replicate a whatchamacallit identical to the first -- without looking at the first. Now get set -- and go.

Designed to provide much more than fun, that exercise was part of the Second Annual Lawyer as Problem Solver Conference, an all-day forum that is mandatory for first-year students at Northwestern Law.

The conference took place Monday, Jan. 27, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago and was sponsored by Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon; Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw; Baker & McKenzie; Latham & Watkins; LexisNexis; M.R. Bauer Foundation; Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal; and Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz.

Students stepped off campus and outside the traditional curriculum for a day to see the wider roles for lawyers in the professional world they will be entering.

"The program has been a great success and it has become a key aspect of our efforts to train students to think on their feet and collaborate," said David E. Van Zandt, dean of the School of Law. “Using fun and creative activities, the conference highlights the importance of fine-tuning problem solving and communication skills.”

Students moved through two tracks of classes that stress communication, creativity and collaboration -- skills critical to success in the changing worlds of law and business.

Northwestern Law faculty led the two tracks of classes. Track One of the curriculum covered conflict management, team building, negotiation and creative problem solving. Track Two covered interviewing, counseling, ethics and written communication skills.

"The LEGO experiment is one of a number of exercises that test the first years' creativity as they collaborate and negotiate with each other to solve problems," said Lynn Cohn, director of the Program on Negotiation and Mediation and conference organizer who will lead Track One. "All of our activities stress that creativity is central to being a great lawyer."

A noon-time panel discussion led by Chicago area legal profession also gave students a glimpse of the real-world problems lawyers face -- and solve -- in vastly different professions. Panelists included Colleen Connell, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union Chapter of Illinois; Christine Edwards, vice president, Bank One; Rita Fry, public defender, Law Office of Cook County; Rod Heard, partner, Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon; Marc Kadish, director of pro bono activities, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw.

"Law school emphasizes analysis and persuasion -- critical skills, of course, for any lawyer," said Cohn. "The conference emphasized, as our law school does, listening and collaborating to solve problems in a number of contexts."

Among the exercises, for example, students wrote a comic strip about a certain subject in order to understand how differently people process the same information; they will see how differently "buyers" and "sellers" negotiate over a candy bar; they will learned how they deal with unexpected confrontation; and they discovered their particular negotiating types.

"Lawyers must possess excellent communication and teamwork skills in order to serve clients and work effectively in a range of contexts, such as government, private business and non-profits," said Dean Van Zandt.

The day ended with a reception hosted by the program sponsors: Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon; Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw; Baker & McKenzie; Latham & Watkins; LexisNexis; M.R. Bauer Foundation; Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal; and Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz. The conference's main organizers were Cohn; Judith Rosenbaum, Clifford Zimmerman and Cheryl Graves, clinical associate professors; and Cynthia Wilson, senior lecturer and public interest advisor in the Center for Career Strategy and Advancement.

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