Education Commons^™

Revised Aba Standard 303: Curricular, Pedagogical, And Substantive Questions, Steven W. Bender

Seattle University Law Review Online

ABA accreditation standards now require law schools to provide education and training on racism, bias, and cross-cultural competence. This seemingly straightforward mandate raises numerous questions as schools plan for and implement compliance. Here, I articulate and approach these compliance questions using insights drawn from critical theory—which supplies helpful guidance for responses and ultimately antiracism legal education that is more than minimalist. Armed with critical insights, lawyers are better equipped to contribute to the struggle to eradicate systemic social ills in law and society.

The Futures Of Law, Lawyers, And Law Schools: A Dialogue, Sameer M. Ashar, Benjamin H. Barton, Michael J. Madison, Rachel F. Moran

Articles

On April 19 and 20, 2023, Professors Bernard Hibbitts and Richard Weisberg convened a conference at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law titled “Disarmed, Distracted, Disconnected, and Distressed: Modern Legal Education and the Unmaking of American Lawyers.” Four speakers concluded the event with a spirited conversation about themes expressed during the proceedings. Distilling a lively two days, they asked: what are the most critical challenges now facing US legal education and, by extension, lawyers and the communities they serve? Their agreements and disagreements were striking, so much so that Professors Hibbitts and Weisberg invited those four to extend their …

Listening To Our Students: Fostering Resilience And Engagement To Promote Culture Change In Legal Education, Ann N. Sinsheimer, Omid Fotuhi

Articles

In this Article, we describe a dynamic program of research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law that uses mindset to promote resilience and engagement in law students. For the last three years, we have used tailored, well-timed, psychological interventions to help students bring adaptive mindsets to the challenges they face in law school. The act of listening to our students has been the first step in designing interventions to improve their experience, and it has become a kind of intervention in itself. Through this work, we have learned that simply asking our law students about their experiences and …

The Future Of Law Schools: Covid-19, Technology, And Social Justice, Christian Sundquist

Articles

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare not only the social and racial inequities in society, but also the pedagogical and access to justice inequities embedded in the traditional legal curriculum. The need to re-envision the future of legal education existed well before the current pandemic, spurred by the shifting nature of legal practice as well as demographic and technological change. This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on legal education, and posits that the combined forces of the pandemic, social justice awareness and technological disruption will forever transform the future of both legal education and practice.

An Invitation Regarding Law And Legal Education, And Imagining The Future, Michael J. Madison

Articles

This Essay consists of an invitation to participate in conversations about the future of legal education in ways that integrate rather than distinguish several threads of concern and revision that have emerged over the last decade. Conversations about the future of legal education necessarily include conversations about the future of law practice, legal services, and law itself. Some of those start with the somewhat stale questions: What are US law professors doing, what should they be doing, and why? Those questions are still relevant and important, but they are no longer the only relevant questions, and they are not the …

Unh School Of Law Ip Library: 20th Anniversary Reflection On The Only Academic Ip Library In The United States, Jon R. Cavicchi

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] The UNH School of Law Intellectual Property Library celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. It is a fortuitous time for this look back and for strategic considerations for the future. This anniversary comes at a time in the history of legal education when conditions over the past few years have intensified the analysis of mission and resources for law school libraries. This article is a retrospective review of the history and dynamics surrounding the founding and first twenty years of growth. It is also an analysis of the future growth and mission of the IP Library during times that …

Podia And Pens: Dismantling The Two-Track System For Legal Research And Writing Faculty, Kristen K. Tiscione, Amy Vorenberg

Law Faculty Scholarship

At the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting, a panel was convened under this title to discuss whether separate tracks and lower status for legal research and writing (“LRW”) faculty make sense given the current demand for legal educators to better train students for practice. The participants included law professors, an associate dean, and a federal judge.2 Each panelist was asked to respond to questions about the “two-track” system—a shorthand phrase for the two tracks of employment at many law schools whereby full-time LRW faculty are treated differently than tenured and tenure-track faculty. The panelists represented differing views on the topic. This …

Preparing For Service: A Template For 21st Century Legal Education, Michael J. Madison

Articles

Legal educators today grapple with the changing dynamics of legal employment markets; the evolution of technologies and business models driving changes to the legal profession; and the economics of operating – and attending – a law school. Accrediting organizations and practitioners pressure law schools to prepare new lawyers both to be ready to practice and to be ready for an ever-fluid career path. From the standpoint of law schools in general and any one law school in particular, constraints and limitations surround us. Adaptation through innovation is the order of the day.

How, when, and in what direction should innovation …

Experiential Education As Critical Pedagogy: Enhancing The Law School Experience, Spearit, Stephanie Ledesma

Articles

This article examines the shift to greater experiential education in law school through the lens of critical pedagogy. At its base, critical pedagogy is about devising more equitable methods of teaching, helping students develop consciousness of freedom, and helping them connect knowledge to power. The insights of critical pedagogy are valuable for a fuller understanding of experiential education and its potential to affect students in profound ways, particularly as a means of empowerment. Although this is an understudied area of pedagogical scholarship, power relations are at the heart of legal education. Critical pedagogy offers a frame for considering how experiential …

Visions Of The Future Of (Legal) Education, Michael J. Madison

Articles

One law professor takes a stab at imagining an ideal law school of the future and describing how to get there. The Essay spells out a specific possible vision, taking into account changes to the demand for legal services and changes to the economics and composition of the legal profession. That thought experiment leads to a series of observations about values and vision in legal education in general and about what it might take to move any vision forward.

Library Services For The Self-Interested Law School: Enhancing The Visibility Of Faculty Scholarship, Simon Canick

Faculty Scholarship

This article suggests a new set of filters through which to evaluate law library services, in particular those that support faculty scholarship. These filters include recent profound changes in legal education and the motivators of today’s law professors. By understanding the needs of self-interested deans and professors, libraries can fill new roles that are consistent with our core values. Libraries can also focus on dissemination and promotion of faculty work, especially through innovative open access projects.

Computer-Supported Peer Review In A Law School Context, Kevin D. Ashley, Ilya Goldin

Articles

Legal instructors have been urged to incorporate peer reviewing into law school courses as a way to provide students much needed feedback. Peer review can benefit legal education, but only if law school instructors adopt peer review on a large scale, and for that, computer-supported peer review systems are crucial. These web-based systems orchestrate the mechanics of students submitting written assignments on-line and distributing them to other students for anonymous review, making it considerably easier for instructors to manage.

Beyond the problem of orchestrating mechanics, however, a deeper obstacle to widespread acceptance of peer review in legal education is the …

Oral History Interview With Howard Hunter: Conceptualising Smu, Howard Hunter

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with SMU, roles and responsibilities, tuition fees, autonomous university, law school, Juris Doctor program, undergraduate education, marketing, SMU pedagogy, curriculum, university library,

Biography:

Professor of Law, SMU, 2004–present
President, SMU, 2004–2010

Described as a passionate educator who truly believes in multidisciplinary education, Professor Howard Hunter served as SMU’s third president from September 2004 to August 2010. During the course of his presidency the university continued its rapid growth—moving to the city campus, opening the law school, expanding postgraduate programmes, building the endowment, and doubling the number of students and faculty. While at SMU he emphasized …

Oral History Interview With Tan Chin Tiong: Conceptualising Smu, Chin Tiong Tan

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with SMU, changes to concept plan, research, private university, faculty recruitment, challenges, marketing, advertising campaign, autonomous universities, collaboration with Wharton School, schools in SMU, change agent for education landscape, differentiating SMU, SMU students.

Biography:

Provost, SMU, 1999–2008, and Deputy President, SMU, 2007–2009

Member of SMU start-up team

In 1998 Professor Tan Chin Tiong was one of the first three faculty members who joined the start-up team to create what would become Singapore’s third university, SMU. Among his many responsibilities during the planning phase of SMU, he oversaw faculty recruitment, public relations and marketing, and the …

Oral History Interview With Low Kee Yang: Conceptualising Smu, Kee Yang Low

Oral History Collection

The interview covered: first involvement with SMU, university education in Singapore, curriculum, CIRCLE values, private university, logo, teaching pedagogy, interview students for admissions, legal aspects, incorporation of SMU, first day of class, law school, challenges, student recruitment, law internships, Juris Doctor programme, challenges.

Biography:

Associate Professor of Law, SMU, 2000–present

Member of SMU start-up team

Professor Low Kee Yang joined the start-up team for SMU in 1998; one of his responsibilities was supervising legal matters. He served as deputy dean of the business school from 1999 to 2002 and chaired the organising committee for the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business …

Oral History Interview With Janice Bellace: Conceptualising Smu, Janice Bellace

Oral History Collection

The interview with Janet Bellace covered: first involvement with SMU, collaboration with Wharton School, roles and responsibilities, first building, risks and opportunities, founding team, faculty recruitment, board of trustees, government relationship, groundbreaking for city campus, convocation, student interaction, student feedback, graduate placement, milestones, future of SMU.

Biography:

Board of Trustees, SMU, 2001–present
Founding President, SMU, 1999–2001

“Thank you, Janice!” read the front page tribute article of the October 2001 smuhub newsletter. It went on to describe some of Professor Janice Bellace’s contributions as consultant and then founding president of SMU. The article noted that when Janice arrived as president, “…there …

Practicing Civility In The Legal Writing Course: Helping Law Students Learn Professionalism, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article suggests some concrete ways to teach civility— one component of professionalism—to law students. Professionalism certainly includes much more than civility, incorporating the concepts of ethics, morals, public service, life-long learning, personal integrity, professional identity, and a commitment to selfdevelopment. This Article begins with a brief overview of civility in Part I. Part II provides a few of the many arguments for why we should teach law students to be civil. Part III explores some concrete ways in which we can teach civility within individual classes, using the dynamics of student engagement in the classroom as an opportunity to …