Law Commons^™

Exploring Diversity With A "Culture Box" In First-Year Legal Writing, Ann N. Sinsheimer

Articles

Studying law is in many ways like studying another culture. Students often feel as though they are learning a new language with unfamiliar vocabulary and different styles of communication. Throughout their legal education, students are also exposed to a profession comprised of unique traditions and expectations. As a result, learning law takes time and energy. It can be both engaging and frustrating and may even challenge some of students’ values and belief systems. To ease her students’ transition to law school, the author starts her course each year with a “culture box” exercise, which encourages students to examine who they …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Law School Coursework And Bar Exam Outcomes, Robert R. Kuehn

Scholarship@WashULaw

The recent decline in bar exam passage rates has triggered speculation that the decline is being driven by law students taking more experiential courses and fewer bar-subject courses. These concerns arose in the absence of any empirical study linking certain coursework to bar exam failure.

This article addresses speculation about the relationship between law school coursework and bar exam outcomes. It reports the results of a large-scale study of the courses of over 3800 graduates from two law schools and the relationship between their experiential and bar-subject coursework and bar exam outcomes over a ten-year period. At both schools, the …

Celebrating 30 Years Of The Indigenous Blacks & Mi’Kmaq Initiative: How The Creation Of A Critical Mass Of Black And Aboriginal Lawyers Is Making A Difference In Nova Scotia, Naiomi Metallic

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Drawing on my own experience as alumni of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University—one of the only dedicated access program in a Canadian law school for Black and Aboriginal students—I argue that such programs create optimal conditions for fostering greater awareness of critical race issues within the legal profession. The reason for this is that such programs create a critical mass of Black and Aboriginal law students and alumni, who support and encourage each other and, as a result, acquire confidence and skill in raising, and educating others about, critical race …

Advising 2.0: Helping Students Achieve Academic Success Through Meaningful Academic Advising, Alicia Jackson

Journal Publications

It is becoming increasingly clear that current law students are seeking more wraparound support than previously provided by legal education, which begs the question, why? The answer is simple - modern law students are different and come to law school with very different expectations and experiences than students from previous years. To aid our students in achieving academic success, it is essential that we understand the complex needs of our students by first examining their previous educational experiences.

Academic advising is commonplace at institutions that serve undergraduate students. In fact, some would argue that academic advising is the cornerstone of …

Best Practices For Teaching Advanced Legal Research Asynchronously Online, Khelani Clay, Shannon M. Roddy

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Meaning Of Experiential Deaning, Robert Dinerstein, Margaret Martin Barry

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article explores the position of associate dean of experiential education in law schools across the country and the central role associate deans play in the changing landscape of legal education. Experiential deans have broad responsibility for overseeing law schools’ experiential education programs. Additional responsibilities differ between institutions, but range from leading efforts to comply with new ABA standards to overseeing the integration of experiential education into the broader curriculum. Analyzing survey data collected from associate experiential deans across the country, the authors find the structure, content, and authority of the position is under-developed. The authors make recommendations on how …

Practice And Fitness Making Writing Perfection More Nearly Attainable, Heather Ridenour, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Innocence Movement And Misdemeanors, Jenny M. Roberts

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In recent years, the Innocent Movement has begun to focus its attention on wrongful misdemeanor convictions as a systemic problem. This Article analyzes eighty-five documented misdemeanor exonerations and concludes that innocence has been demonstrated primarily in two ways: laboratory tests of alleged unlawful drugs that reveal “no controlled substance” despite the individual having pled guilty to misdemeanor drug possession; and police body camera or citizen videos that surface after a misdemeanor conviction to contradict the factual basis for that conviction. Strategic use of these relatively definitive methods of revealing wrongful misdemeanor convictions can call attention to the flaws in misdemeanor …

Reflecting On The Past, Preparing For The Future: A Q&A With Aals President Paul Marcus, Jim Greif, Paul Marcus

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Borrowing From Bob Dylan, "The Times They Are A-Changin' ", Paul Marcus

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

92nd Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition Final Round, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

Program for the final round of the 92nd Moot Court Competition.

Not For Free: Exploring The Collateral Costs Of Diversity In Legal Education, Spearit

Articles

This essay examines some of the institutional costs of achieving a more diverse law student body. In recent decades, there has been growing support for diversity initiatives in education, and the legal academy is no exception. Yet for most law schools, diversity remains an elusive goal, some of which is the result of problems with anticipating the needs of diverse students and being able to deliver. These are some of the unseen or hidden costs associated with achieving greater diversity. Both law schools and the legal profession remain relatively stratified by race, which is an ongoing legacy of legal education’s …

Contemporary Teaching Strategies: Effectively Engaging Millennials Across The Curriculum, Renee N. Allen, Alicia Jackson

Journal Publications

American Bar Association ("ABA") Standard 314, Assessment of Student Learning, requires law schools to "utilize both formative and summative assessment methods in its curriculum to measure and improve student learning and provide meaningful feedback to students."' This article will connect multiple formative assessments to Bloom's taxonomy to demonstrate how law teachers can transform and enhance student learning, while promoting key steps in the self-regulated learning cycle. First, it is imperative law teachers understand the education background and social landscape that our students, mostly Millennials, bring to law school. We can acknowledge that our Millennial students are different, but what does …

The Big Bad Wolf: Helping Students Conquer Their Fear Of The Bar Exam Through P.A.S.S.- Preparation, Assessment, Self-Regulated Reflection, And Support, Alicia Jackson

Journal Publications

In light of the national decline in bar pass rates, coping with and addressing a law school’s bar passage rate is viewed by some as an insurmountable undertaking. However, I see it as an invaluable opportunity to redefine who are as law professors. Most importantly this challenge provides an opportunity for us as educators to train future attorneys to become self-aware, confident, and component to handle the challenges presented by the legal profession.

tion (“ABA”) has made it quite clear to accredited law schools and those seeking accreditation that bar passage is now a paramount factor in retaining and obtaining …

Paying It Forward To Build The Perfect Lawyer, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Get Real: Why And How Clinicians Should Record, Transcribe And Study Actual Client Consultations, Linda F. Smith

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This article will argue that the legal academy has much to learn by recording, transcribing and systematically studying student-client and attorney-client consultations. Clinical faculty can utilize conversation analysis and other social science techniques to do this. Social scientists and medical providers have studied doctor-patient conversations in this way over many years. Through this systematic study researchers have reached conclusions about effective doctor-patient consultations that form the basis for teaching these skills in medical school. This article will highlight some of these studies and their findings. Some have contended that attorney-client conversations simply cannot be recorded and studied in the same …

International Legal Education And Specialist Certification [Year In Review], Marissa Moran, Diane Edelman, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Publications and Research

The American Bar Association (ABA) promulgates rules and regulations that apply to all United States law schools with ABA-accreditation and approval. Those rules apply specifically to schools offering programs leading to a J.D. degree. In August 2016, the ABA Council approved certain changes to the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, which became effective on August 9, 2016. The changes affected not only J.D. programs, but also study abroad programs offered by ABA member schools.

Risks And Rewards Of Externships: Exploring Goals And Methods, Linda F. Smith, Jeff Giddings, Leah Wortham

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This article explored the risks and rewards of designing and teaching in an externship program, the goals one might have, and the methods one might use. We have argued that it is important to pay attention to the principles of intentional design when developing an externship program. In particular, we have identified and challenged the assumption that skills development must be the predominant goal for externships. This is a common assumption on the part of legal education regulators in our respective home countries, the USA and Australia, as well as in England and Wales. Skills development can, but does not …

Dean's Desk: A Troubling Focus By The Aba On The Bar Exam, Austen Parrish

Austen Parrish (2014-2022)

No abstract provided.

Virginia Bar Exam, July 2016, Section 2

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.

Virginia Bar Exam, July 2016, Section 1

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.

Virginia Bar Exam, February 2016, Section 1

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.

Virginia Bar Exam, February 2016, Section 2

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.

Think M, University Of Michigan Law School

Miscellaneous Law School History & Publications

Informational pamphlet for prospective students.

Equality Lost In Time And Space: Examining The Race/Class Quandary With Personal Pedagogical Lessons From A Course, A Film, A Case, And An Unfinished Movement, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

This essay is both personal and pedagogical. My hope is that it issues a clarion call to legal educators and administrators to choose the pursuit of racial and class equality. I believe that, as law faculty and administrators, we must first address our personal quandaries with race and class before we can effectively address the racial and class implications in our pedagogical or administrative roles in legal education. This essay focuses on race and class and is a clarion call for legal academics and administrators to address ongoing structural racism and classism in our institutions, by starting with our own …

#Lawyeringpeace: The Role Of Lawyers In Peacebuilding, Paul Williams, Christin Coster

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Based on the Public International Law & Policy Group’s (“PILPG”) two decades of experience assisting countries and clients in conflict situations, it is clear there are a number of ways for lawyers and international law to promote peacebuilding. This article condenses information shared during the International Law Weekend panel, “International Law and States in Emergency: Responses and Challenges.” The focus of the presentation was how lawyers can and should make a difference in peacebuilding and post-conflict constitution drafting. The world needs more lawyers to “lawyer peace” by assisting countries and clients involved in ongoing conflicts or in peace negotiations. In …

The High Cost Of Transferring The Dream, Kim Brooks

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper is part of a larger project where I use the facts in tax decisions to reveal something about who we are. It looks through a small window into the lives of the people who find themselves caught between our collective and their individual expenditure aspirations. More specifically, it explores the circumstances in which individuals find that their outstanding tax debts pose a threat to their ability to maintain ownership of their home.

In this paper I use the facts of tax cases for two ends. First, I am interested in disrupting legal knowledge hierarchies. We choose cases to …

Lawyers At Work: A Study Of The Reading, Writing, And Communication Practices Of Legal Professionals, Ann N. Sinsheimer, David J. Herring

Articles

This paper reports the results of a three-year ethnographic study of attorneys in the workplace. The authors applied ethnographic methods to identify how junior associates in law firm settings engaged in reading and writing tasks in their daily practice. The authors were able to identify the types of texts junior associates encountered in the workplace and to isolate the strategies these attorneys used to read and compose texts.

The findings suggest that lawyering is fundamentally about reading. The attorneys observed for this study read constantly, encountering a large variety of texts and engaging in many styles of reading, including close …

Meeting The Experiential Challenge: A Fee-Generating Law Clinic (With Harold J. Krent), Gary S. Laser

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Virginia Bar Exam, July 2015, Section 2

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.