Hotshot: 21st Century Training for New Lawyers and Law Students

From early on, host Ralph Baxter knew co-founders Ian Nelson and Chris Wedgeworth were onto something when they developed a legal training model with proven educational techniques pioneered by Coursera, Khan Academy, and Duolingo.

In this episode, Baxter talks to Nelson about the development of Hotshot and its practical uses by law schools and law firms. Since its early pilots more than eight years ago, Hotshot has developed a library of 200 topics in corporate practice and business acumen.

Hotshot hires experienced lawyers to develop the substantive content for training and hires professional actors for the video presentations, which are generally delivered in short, easily digestible segments.

Guest Sara Dana shares the perspective of Harvard Law, which gave early feedback about the product and has used Hotshot to provide students added learning resources since 2017.

Morrison Foerster partner Rick Jenney shows how his firm has used Hotshot to train new lawyers and boost training resources for junior attorneys. Especially valuable is the ability to use the on-demand library to flip the classroom. Before a firm-led training, lawyers get video homework so everyone is on the same page. Jenney says this approach has improved in-firm training.

Similarly, Dana notes that the students using Hotshot are familiar with video tutorials and have embraced the product because, like so much of what makes on-demand culture popular, “It’s really well done; it’s exactly what they need; they can access it when they need it.”

Ian Nelson is co-founder of Hotshot.

Sara Dana is the communication director for career services at Harvard Law School.

Rick Jenney is a partner at Morrison and Foerster.

Special thanks to our sponsors, Logikcull and Acumass.