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Think for yourself

08 September 2011 / Bryan Greetham
Issue: 7480 / Categories: Features , Training & education , Profession
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Bryan Greetham emphasises the importance of encouraging original thought through legal training

The most valuable assets in any law firm are its intellectual assets: the imagination and thinking skills of its employees. For this reason successful firms work hard to recruit graduates who can think for themselves; who can generate original ideas, challenge received opinions, analyse complex arguments, think conceptually and play devil’s advocate. But over recent years finding these graduates has become increasingly difficult.

Critical thinking

Beneath the superficial gloss of every university’s proud boast that it prepares law students to be innovative, creative thinkers, the picture appears quite different. Recently, a young law teacher at a UK university was told by his course leader to change his teaching style. His students had complained. Apparently, he had been asking them “to think too hard”, rather than “simply giving them the answers”.

Competition for students

As more universities compete for students, each one knows that to attract applicants it must be able to show that its graduates achieve consistently higher grades

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

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In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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