Law Commons^™

Book Review: Academic Law Library Director Perspectives: Case Studies And Insights, Adeen Postar

Adeen Postar

No abstract provided.

And Now A Crisis In Legal Education, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

The current crisis in legal education coincides with a crisis in the practice of law. Law practice has changed as a result of technology, globalization, and economic pressures. The market for legal education's product, law graduates, have diminished. Law schools cannot remain the same in this environment. Except for a very small number of elite schools, those that do not adjust are at serious risk of failing.

An economic change has taken place against a system in which mostly corporate clients willingly paid for the training of beginners at major law firms. Law firms could absorb those costs if partners …

Supporting First Generation Professionals, Alison F. Lintal

Alison Lintal

As the number of first-generation college and graduate school students continues to rise, law schools have a responsibility to provide programming and support for first generation professionals. Academic, financial and psycho-social barriers play a role in the success of a first-generation student’s law school and subsequent legal career experience. By first identifying common barriers to success in the legal profession, schools can move to developing strategies to address these barriers. Depending upon the type of law school and its culture, there are multiple ways that schools can provide such services and tools to its students including through targeted professional development …

How Cosmopolitan Are International Law Professors?, Ryan Scoville, Milan Markovic

Milan Markovic

This Article offers an empirical answer to a question of interest among scholars of comparative international law: why do American views about international law appear at times to differ from those of other countries? The authors contend that part of the answer lies in legal education. Conducting a survey of the educational and professional backgrounds of nearly 150 legal academics, the authors reveal evidence that professors of international law in the United States often lack significant foreign legal experience, particularly outside of the West. Sociological research suggests that this tendency leads professors to teach international law from predominantly nationalistic and …

Inclusive Teaching Methods Across The Curriculum: Academic ·Resource And Law Teachers Tie A Knot At The Aals, David Dominguez, Laurie Zimet, Fran Ansley, Charles Daye, Rodney O. Fong

Rodney Fong

This article describes an educational journey of seven diverse law teachers, located in different parts of the country, at various stages of our careers, who, in the course of preparing a simple panel, found that we had created a truly rewarding experience of our own. We write with the conviction that we need to share what we learned from those four months of "schoolwork" and from the AALS program we eventually presented in January, 1997. As we reconstruct our collaboration on inclusive teaching methods and ponder where it is taking us, we find we worked through the following stages of …

Law School Based Incubators And Access To Justice, Patricia Salkin, Ellen Suni, Niels Schaumann, Mary Lu Bilek

Niels Schaumann

At the end of February 2015, law professors, law deans, incubator staff and attorneys, and self-selected others gathered at California Western School of Law for the Second Annual Conference on Law School Incubators and Residency Programs. The incubators that are the subject of this article tend to focus on transition to law practice and access to justice, and some are also working to incorporate technology for the practice of law as a means of enhancing access to justice. As more law schools decide to host, sponsor or offer an incubator, and following our panel discussion at the February 2015 incubator …

Educating Main Street Lawyers, Luz E. Herrera

Luz Herrera

Discussion about the value of a law degree has focused on the financial success of lawyers. Both defenders and critics of the existing legal education model largely ignore the implications that the cost of legal education and high lawyer fees have on access to justice. While a lawyer’s ability to make a decent living must be addressed when determining the value of a legal education, we fail to take into account the fact that there are millions of individuals in the U.S. who cannot find a lawyer to represent them when they need one. For advocates who believe that our …

What Is Legal Education? And Should We Permit It To Continue In Its Present Form?, Herma Hill Kay

Herma Hill Kay

No abstract provided.

Law School Based Incubators And Access To Justice – Perspectives From Deans, Patricia E. Salkin, Ellen Suni, Niels Schaumann, Mary Lu Bilek

Patricia E. Salkin

At the end of February 2015, law professors, law deans, incubator staff and attorneys, and self-selected others gathered at California Western School of Law for the Second Annual Conference on Law School Incubators and Residency Programs. The incubators that are the subject of this article tend to focus on transition to law practice and access to justice, and some are also working to incorporate technology for the practice of law as a means of enhancing access to justice. As more law schools decide to host, sponsor or offer an incubator, and following our panel discussion at the February 2015 incubator …

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Find Me The Perfect (Decanal) Match, William B.T. Mock

William B.T. Mock

I have been asked to address the question, “How do you know which deanship is the right one?” Since I am the only panel member never to have served as the dean of a law school, this naturally involves some speculation on my part. I have interviewed for some decanal positions, and have even had my name forwarded to university presidents more than once, but I have never found the right fit premised by the panel's topic. As a result, a little further into this essay, speculation even ventures into fiction or, as law professors like to call it, a …

Female Law Students, Gendered Self-Evaluation, And The Promise Of Positive Psychology, Dara Purvis

Dara Purvis

For the last several decades, studies and surveys have shown that female law students perform worse and feel worse about their experiences in law school than do male students. Hidden in average figures, however, is a subgroup of female students who thrive. Positive psychology, focusing on what traits make people happy rather than how to alleviate depression, provides novel ideas of how to improve legal education for women without making accommodations specifically targeting gender.

A Tale Of Three “Professions”: Search Engine Optimization, Lawyering & Law Teaching, Ray Campbell

Ray W Campbell

The question has been posed: is legal practice today a profession? This leads, naturally enough, to another question: should society treat it as one? Using the concept of ‘profession’ in different ways, some argue that one thing modern legal practice needs is a good dose of 'professionalism;' others argue that, whatever once might have been true, treating law practice as a ‘profession’ is a rum game best abandoned.

These questions matter. Law enjoys special regulatory privileges and market protections that make little sense if law has become just another form of business – a specialized form of consulting, perhaps. At …

Roll Over Langdell, Tell Llewellyn The News: A Brief History Of American Legal Education, Stephen R. Alton

Stephen Alton

The origin of this essay is a presentation the author made at the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Texas on December 10, 2008. This essay is derived from the author's presentation, which originally was entitled "A Brief and Highly Selective History of American Legal Education and Jurisprudence. " In this essay, the author provides an overview of the history and development of legal education in America, emphasizing the establishment and evolution of the case method of instruction in American law schools and focusing on the influence of American jurisprudence on the development of legal education in …

Tyranny Of The Meritocracy?: A Disputation Over Testing With Professor Lani Guinier, Dan Subotnik

Dan Subotnik

No abstract provided.

Portals To Practice: A Multidimensional Approach To Integrating Experiential Education Into The Traditional Law School Curriculum, Myra Berman

Myra Berman

No abstract provided.

Law Schools And Technology: Where We Are And Where We Are Heading, Michele R. Pistone

Michele R. Pistone

1. For many years, the question of how to use technology to teach the law has been a minor concern of the legal academy. That era of general indifference to developments in learning technologies is now coming to an end. There are many reasons for the change. Law schools are facing such a host of difficulties— declining enrollments, declining job prospects for graduates, reduced public funding, and understandable concerns about cost and debt—that sometimes it seems the only debate is over whether the situation is best described as a “tsunami” or “a perfect storm.” Against this backdrop, technology offers the …

A Brief Exploration Of Space: Some Observations On Law School Architecture, Robert H. Jerry Ii

Robert H. Jerry II

The nature of the space in which we work, teach, and study is important. The design of our surroundings affects our attitudes, moods, self-esteem, efficiency, and sense of community. For our students, space makes a difference in the quality of the learning experience. It is possible to teach and learn in deficient space, but it is easier to teach and learn when both faculty and students are comfortable, happy, and not distracted by the inconveniences and annoyances of a poorly designed environment. Inadequate space prevents us from achieving all of which we are capable, thereby diminishing our productivity, creativity, and …

Your Brain And Law School, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

Building on the latest scientific research, Professor Marybeth Herald's practical yet entertaining book, "Your Brain and Law School" (Carolina Academic Press, 2014), offers law students a formula for success in law school, on the bar exam, and as practicing attorneys. Mastering the law, either as a law student or in practice, becomes much easier if one has a working knowledge of the brain’s basic habits. Before you can learn to think like a lawyer, you have to have some idea about how the brain thinks.

The first part of this book (the Introduction to which is available for free download …

Does Testing = Race Discrimination?: Ricci, The Bar Exam, The Lsat, And The Challenge To Learning, Dan Subotnik

Dan Subotnik

Aptitude and achievement tests have been under heavy attack in the courts and in academic literature for at least forty years. Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) and Ricci v. DeStefano (2009) are the most important judicial battle sites. In those cases, the Supreme Court decided the circumstances under which a test could be used by an employer to screen employees for promotion when the test had a negative racial impact on test takers.The related battles over testing for entry into the legal academy and from the academy into the legal profession have been no less fierce. The assault on testing …

Taking Back The Legal Profession, Lee T. Nutini

Lee T Nutini

A reaction piece addressing the current economic and market crisis related to failing law school education and the lawyer bubble.

Twu Law: A Reply To Proponents Of Approval, Elaine Craig

Elaine Craig

Why Does The Church Have Law Schools?, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.

Four Issues In The Accreditation Of Law Schools, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.

The Catholic Tradition, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.

The Bar Exam Essay Maze: A Roadmap Through The Tangle, Bevery Mcqueary Smith

Beverly McQueary Smith

No abstract provided.

No Path But One: Law School Survival In An Age Of Disruptive Technology, Michele R. Pistone, John J. Hoeffner

Michele R. Pistone

In the absence of a dramatic shift in their approach to legal education, law schools are approaching the last days of Rome, a time when decline cannot be reversed and only the precise date of the final fall is to be determined. The role of marauding Germanic tribes will be played by new legal education competition whose emergence is enabled by recent technological developments. The new competition will be highly flexible, unencumbered by expensive legacy costs and, because it will reside mainly online, so scalable that no traditional, place-based law school will be immune from its impact. There will be …

Symposium Introduction: Humanism Goes To Law School, Marjorie A. Silver

Marjorie A. Silver

By now, the knowledge that law students experience more than their fair share of distress is old news. The studies about law student (and lawyer) unhappiness have been widely discussed in both academic literature and trade publications. Less well known, however, are the increasing number of programs that law schools, and individuals within those schools, have implemented to counter that distress,and to help students develop a positive professional identity,both as students and as the lawyers they are about to become.

Time For A Top-Tier Law School In Arkansas, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Richard J. Peltz-Steele

A simple change in state law could improve the quality of legal education in Arkansas and the quality of legal services available to our consumers - and save significant amounts of taxpayers' money. With an Afterword on academic freedom. Also available from Advance Arkansas Institute website.

The Future Of The American Law School Or, How The “Crits” Led Brian Tamanaha Astray And His Failing Law Schools Fails, Stephen Diamond

Stephen F. Diamond

Debate over the impact of the economic crisis on the future of the American law school has reached an exceptional level of intensity. Brian Tamanaha’s short book, Failing Law Schools, serves as the manifesto for those who believe the law school must undergo radical restructuring and cost cutting. While there is room for disagreement with almost all aspects of the reform argument no critic of Tamanaha has attempted to place his critique in the context of his pre-existing scholarly work on the rule of law. This review essay argues that only an appreciation for the dual nature of the modern …

The Future Of Food Law & Policy: The Responsibility Of Lawyers In The Academy And Beyond, Susan A. Schneider, Baylen J. Linnekin, Emily M. Broad Leib, Margaret Sova Mccabe, Michael T. Roberts Esq.

Susan Schneider