5.3 Foundational Skills for Crafting Good Supervision
Gemma Smyth; Sarah Buhler; and Graham Black
Foundational Skills for Crafting Good Supervision
Most students begin their placement knowing very little about the workplace, the areas of law practiced, or how to work with issues impacting real people. Supervisors understand this, although they may have different approaches to teaching and supervision. Below are some foundational skills for successfully working with a supervisor, identified by former students: asking for help, boundary and expectation setting, soliciting and receiving feedback, taking initiative, addressing problems as they arise, ask questions, and consider the lawyer’s context.
1) Asking for Help
Students will inevitably need to ask for help in their placement. This is expected and necessary, and sometimes scary. The pressure not to ask for help – to be independent and self-sufficient – is a powerful barrier to seeking necessary support. Some students report spending many hours on a problem only to be told there is no answer. Knowing when to problem-solve independently and when to seek help is a fine balance. Former students advise:
“You should try to do all you can with a file before asking for help. That doesn’t mean that you should just do it alone all the time. Sometimes that can be inefficient, but there’s always that fine line between doing it yourself and then trying to just get the supervisor to sort of bail you out on it.” (1)
“I think sometimes it’s really hard when you get a legal problem that you’ve never dealt with before and you don’t even know where to start researching. It might be tempting to go to the supervisor and say, “Hey, can you please just give me one case to start out with?” But I think it actually is a really good skill to try and figure out yourself because researching is obviously a big part of the legal profession. So I think learning how to start from scratch is actually a really good skill.” (16)
“[W]hen you have questions, try to figure them out on your own but not for too long. And then go to your supervisor to ask questions to build that relationship where they see that, yeah, you’re trying hard to figure things out and do things on your own, but that you also know when to ask for help because that will build confidence in you and they’ll give you more work and more – I think even better supervision in a way.” (23)
“Always try to figure out something first. It can be really hard if you get a novel legal issue that you haven’t dealt with before and you don’t even know where to start researching and just making sure that you’ve at least tried a little bit before you go and talk to them. I mean, the supervisors always seem a lot more happy to talk to you if you could say, “Hey, this is the sort of work I’ve done so far, but I’ve hit this roadblock.” (16)
2) Boundary & Expectation Setting
Many students begin a supervisory relationship in ways that are unsustainable. Perhaps there is pressure to impress, to seem competent and skilled, or to be highly efficient. Supervisors understand that students need support adapting to a new legal environment; however, most supervisors will also expect students to know their limits and express them throughout the placement. Former students advise setting boundaries and expectations from the beginning of the relationship:
“I would say establishing boundaries from the very beginning. A lot of students are understandably very nervous and you just want to agree and be agreeable… if you set out the boundaries and you have a more open dialogue with your mentor and you’re able to feel comfortable saying, “this is where I need more assistance, where I need more help.” (8)
“There’s importance in guarding your time and learning how to say no. And not unnecessarily because of course it’s a legal environment, it’s going to be super busy and you’re going to have to do a lot of things at once and that’s fine. But there’s a certain time where if you take too much on, everything else you’re working on is going to suffer… [Learn] how to be upfront with yourself and supervisors about… honestly whether or not you can do [the work]. And that’s a part of legal competence. You shouldn’t let yourself be retained by people if you know that it’s not something that you are able to do correctly.” (12)
“For students… say yes to as many opportunities as you can, but say yes within your boundaries.” (19)
“I think being honest is my number one… they’re not going to know how you’re doing and if you need more support or the same amount of support if you’re not being honest with them. So I think just being realistic with yourself and being transparent is definitely the number one thing.” (9)
3) Soliciting & Receiving Feedback
One of the foundations of a supervision relationship is giving and receiving feedback. During a placement, students will solicit feedback from a supervisor in formal ways (learning agreements, for example). Unlike most classroom contexts, a placement often involves ad hoc, context-dependent, concentrated, and unscheduled feedback. The goal of good feedback is not to intimidate or humiliate, but to encourage positive, relevant change that will help the recipient improve over time. Unfortunately, feedback is sometimes given in ways that are challenging for students to receive. In other cases, feedback is only given when it is solicited by the student. Surprising numbers of articling students or new lawyers report that they get almost no meaningful feedback from their supervisors. This section gives perspectives on both soliciting and receiving feedback.
a) Receiving Feedback
Although feedback is an essential part of learning, it can also be challenging to give and receive. In a work-informed learning environment, feedback comes in many forms. Creating an environment where students feel safe receiving feedback, and where supervisors feel comfortable giving authentic feedback, positively impacts the learning experience. Students report a range of methods to ensure they receive both thorough and in-depth feedback. One recommends:
“Get all your thoughts together. Get everything written down that you can ahead of time, know what you’re going to go in there and ask for… really being clear on what you need to know when you’re going in for that supervision. And then always asking for feedback. I feel like I asked for feedback, everything I sent to a lawyer, open to feedback, any and all feedback.. [A]lso schedul[e] an appointment with a lawyer midterm and end of term where you can get more feedback… So that way you can have some dedicated time and let them know I am asking for this so that I can improve. And then being open to the criticism. I mean really taking it in that you’re trying to improve. So, you don’t want all A plusses, you want some Cs so you know where you can improve.” (20)
Openness to both positive and negative feedback was mentioned by many former law students as a core component of good learning.
“I think certainly openness to feedback, openness to constructive feedback in particular, recognizing that some will be positive and some will be negative…” (11)
“If you’re getting feedback, same kind of feedback over and over and over again, don’t just dismiss it. Critically evaluate why am I getting this feedback? How can I change? How can I adapt my approach to contemplate what’s in this feedback so that I can make my experience or so that I can make the experience of the next batch of students better? And then in terms of students, the biggest thing I would say is you have these resources available to you. Use them. That’s what they’re there for. Because when you don’t have those resources anymore, you’re going to be kicking yourself that you didn’t use them while you had them.”
Sometimes, students would like more feedback than they are getting in a placement. Again, this often requires a shift from a passive to an active approach to learning. This is explored further in the next section.
b) Taking Initiative & Soliciting Feedback
One of the major themes coming from Professors Buhler and Smyth’s study was the importance of being proactive in seeking out supervision and feedback. Students are typically placed for a short period of time, sometimes with other students in a busy work environment. Supervisors often have competing priorities, and a quiet student can sometimes get overlooked. One former student noted:
“I think if you want to get the most out of your supervision, you have to be able to approach them yourselves. They’re so busy, they have so much marking to do and they’re overseeing more students, so you need to be able to take that initiative.” (9)
Other former students recommended actively asking for feedback rather than waiting for it to come to you.
“Asking for the feedback, asking for the guidance, asking for the mentorship, for guidance on a particular file, for strategy suggestions, things like that. Because many lawyers don’t see themselves as mentors until you put them in a position to be. It doesn’t always come naturally, but many are very receptive once asked, but will not go out of their way or just guess that you’re looking for feedback, or work, or things like that.” (11)
“And ask for feedback yourself. I wouldn’t wait, I wouldn’t sit around to receive feedback. I do think there should be formal, like a structure where they are supposed to give you feedback, but if it doesn’t exist, feel free to ask them for feedback. Like, “Oh, what did you think? How did I conduct the hearing? What could I have done better?”” (23)
“[I]f someone was to say, “I don’t think the supervision was adequate,” I’d say, “You’re not talking to your review counsel enough.” They’re always available. If you don’t think that you’re getting enough support or feedback or anything, I’m like – I mean, you could say it’s on them, but I’d argue it’s on the student for not – what if you’re having a problem in class? You’d probably go up after class to talk to your professor. So go talk to review counsel. If you have a question. If you’re concerned, they’ll take it. They’ll take the file and give it to someone else if you don’t want it. Don’t be afraid of them. They’re accessible, they’re available to you, use them. But I think that that’s fundamentally – the student needs to bear some of the responsibility.”
c) Ask Questions
Relatedly, former clinic students recommend speaking up and asking questions as they arise. Below are examples of questions that allow for deeper engagement:
“Ask more questions than you think you need to be asking. Remember that you are in a training setting, so you’re there to assist people or assist on their files, but also you’re there to learn as well. So don’t be afraid to keep asking questions, ask. Feel free to ask, “Why are we doing this? Why are we taking this step? Why are we not taking a different kind of step? Why is this most effective?”. A question that I would tell people to ask is, “What are common mistakes that someone will make when working on this kind of file?”. I feel like if I had asked that a number of times… I would’ve avoided some mistakes and then it would’ve ended up being better for everyone involved.”
“Be very clear and explicit about what is and isn’t working for you. I found things were working better and helpful to me when I was just asking those questions and trying to be direct about it, even though sometimes it was frustrating.” (10)
4) Consider the Supervising Lawyer’s Context
Many lawyers have stressful moments in their day, week, or month. Often, negative feedback is not always personal. One former student recommended reframing stressful moments and negative feedback.
“Hopefully… students [can] look at it in the big picture and be like, “Okay, she’s stressed out. She not only has to manage me but has to manage all these other students too.” So her workload is a million and she probably has things outside of work too that stress her out too. And so we have to learn to just not take things personally is anything.. you just have to take it without internalizing it basically.
5) Addressing Problems as they Arise
From time to time, issues will arise in a placement context. Issues may or may not be within the student and supervisor’s control. Regardless, staying quiet about learning needs, or failing to ask questions defeats the purpose of a learning-focused placement. Former students noted:
“I feel like that’s the best way to get good quality supervision is to not keep things to yourself – if you’re not asking, if you’re stuck and not asking a question, no one knows.” (14)
“I think that just addressing things from the beginning about what you need and what’s working and not working is useful… If something’s working, that’s great, acknowledge it, and if something’s not working, address it.”
Managing “Relaxed” Models of Supervision
In this excerpt, one law student describes their experiences with a more relaxed type of supervision – both the benefits and drawbacks.
“In my experience, it was abundantly clear that my supervisors would not be looking over my shoulder. I was provided with very loose guidelines on what was expected, which was beneficial and harmful to a certain degree.
First, the benefits of relaxed supervision permitted flexibility in my schedule, which was incredibly valuable. I was invited to practically everything, and it was up to me whether or not I was to attend. Amazingly, I was able to attend a large number of events that I felt welcomed and appreciated. This contributed to real-life experience and helped me build a larger picture of entrepreneurial law in practice. A relaxed supervision model permitted me to take my time when completing my work, which was necessary due to the somewhat ambiguous nature of the work I was expected to complete. In addition, I approached multiple individuals and asked for work I found exciting and intellectually stimulating. If I had been under a microscope and had not been permitted the flexibility I was given, I would have had a far less enjoyable experience in this program.
However, the negative aspects of loose supervision relates to a significant issue I experienced: how to complete your work when you have been given instructions and still need help with how to proceed. To a certain degree, I feel responsible for this outcome because it was my job as a student to clarify with my supervisors; however, I had anxiety asking questions, mostly because I was afraid of appearing incompetent and wasting my mentor’s time. My strategy for overcoming this was to 1) attempt to clarify, 2) take another shot at the work delegated to me, 3) speak to my lawyer supervisor, 4) take another shot at it, and 5) not allow my anxiety to take over. After clarification and alternative mentor advice, I felt incompetent and needed improvement. However, upon reflection, it is reasonable that I was confused during these moments. The anxiety was mostly a derivative of spending copious amounts of time researching what it was I was precisely expected to do (mostly unsuccessfully) and handing in work that was inadequate because I misinterpreted the instructions.
If I were to have another opportunity to do this externship again, I would be less anxious to approach my mentors because they were incredibly accommodating and warm. My anxiety mainly contributed to failing my mentors because of the respect I have for both of them. I knew how busy my supervisors were, and by asking questions about expected assignments, I thought it would demonstrate my inability to contribute effectively. Knowing who they are as people and mentors now, I wish I had taken more advantage of the opportunities to discuss with them. I also recognized that my timid nature when approaching them when I had issues resulted in lost opportunities for me to clear up the anxiety I was feeling, and I am now more than confident they would have gladly helped.
Reflecting on this, I realize that as a student, it is my job to be the bridge between my supervisors. I developed skills that will equip me to handle uncertainty in a professional environment post-law school, which will likely transfer to a law firm environment where uncertainty is the name of the game. Although part of me hated anxiety and uncertainty, it was mostly momentarily and fleeting, and a student in an externship must be prepared to embrace uncertainty and use it as an opportunity to grow.”
