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19 Conn. Pub. Int. L.J. 1 (2019-2020)

handle is hein.journals/cpilj19 and id is 1 raw text is: CONNECTICUT PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL VOLUME 19 FALL -WINTER 2019 NUMBER 1 What Law Must Lawyers Know? JOAN W. HOWARTHt What constitutes the body of legal knowledge that every lawyer must possess? I used to know, or think I did, but no longer. I suspect no one else knows either. This difficult question is not just an intriguing theoretical matter but also an urgent, practical problem. Licensing regulators assume that minimal competence in any profession requires certain fundamental knowledge, skills, and abilities.' Bar examiners must determine what knowledge, skills, and abilities are necessary for minimum competence as an attorney and then design tests and other requirements to attempt to align licensure with minimum competence. Today's tangled attorney licensing puzzle cannot be solved without better answers to this foundational question: what law must every lawyer know? I. AN INITIAL CATEGORICAL QUANDARY: CAN WE SEPARATE KNOWLEDGE FROM SKILLS AND ABILITY? Of the knowledge, skills, and abilities triad, my focus is knowledge. I Distinguished Visiting Professor, Boyd School of Law, UNLV; Dean Emerita, Michigan State University College of Law. I thank the Boyd School of Law for generous research support and Claudia Angelos, Sara Berman, Mary Lu Bilek, Carol Chomsky, Andi Curcio, Davida Finger, Alli Gerkman, Catherine Grosso, Eileen Kaufman, Debby Merritt, Patty Salkin, Elaine Shoben, Judith Wegner, Robin West, and participants in the West Coast Rhetoric Workshop for helpful comments and ideas. [T]ests used for credentialing are designed to verify that candidates have mastered the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) deemed necessary for work in a profession. Mark B. Raymond, Job Analysis, Practice Analysis and the Content of Credentialing Examinations, in HANDBOOK OF TEST DEVELOPMENT 144 (Suzanne Lane, Mark R. Raymond & Thomas M. Haladyna eds., 2016); citing to AM. EDUC. RES. ASS'N., AM. PSYCHOL. ASS'N., & NAT'L COUNCIL ON MEAS. IN EDUC., STANDARDS FOR EDUC. AND PSYCHOL. TESTING 174, 174-75 (2014) [hereinafter 2014 STANDARDS]. Tests used in credentialing are designed to determine whether the essential knowledge and skills have been mastered by the candidate. Id. at 175.

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