Law Commons^™

The De-Evolution Of American Legal Ethics, Jennifer Schultz Reed

Jennifer Schultz Reed

That since Legal Ethics became a mandatory course in all ABA accredited law schools in 1974, there has been little, if any, perceptible change in the ethics of the legal profession. The absence of significant discernable impact is due to several factors: the failure to define what the profession means and intends by the concept of legal ethics; the inability of law schools to find coherent and successful ways to teach this subject; and the fact that the public generally continues to regard lawyers with little respect and to equate the misdeeds of some with the conduct of most. In …

Bridging The Gaps: How Cross-Disciplinary Training With Mbas Can Improve Professional Education, Prepare Students For Private Practice, And Enhance University Life, Seth Freeman

Seth Freeman

What can law schools do to address the criticisms in the Carnegie Foundation’s January 2007 report on legal education? That report found that law schools are not teaching students how to be competent lawyers. One particularly promising answer is cross-disciplinary training with MBAs, which leading law schools such as NYU, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard have embraced in recent years. In this article, I explore the value of such courses, and discuss a cross-disciplinary course that I successfully debuted in the Fall of 2006 at NYU entitled, “Negotiating Complex Transactions with Executives and Lawyers.” More generally, I argue …

Unlocking The Secrets Of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students, Anne Enquist

Anne M Enquist

Abstract Unlocking the Secrets of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students Anne M. Enquist Seattle University School of Law Why are some law students successful in their legal writing classes and others are not? To identify the secrets to success, I did a case study of six second-year law students as they wrote a motion brief and an appellate brief for their 2L legal writing course. Based on their 1L legal writing course, two of these students were predicted to be highly successful, two were predicted to be moderately successfully, and two were predicted to be only marginally successful. Through daily …

Did Harvard Get It Right?, Laurel Currie Oates

Laurel Currie Oates

Abstract: Q: Did Harvard get it right when it adopted the casebook method over 150 years ago? A: Maybe. Many first-year law students struggle to understand why law professors force them to divine legal principles from judicial decisions, some of which were decided before their grandparents were born and others which seem to be written in a foreign language. Wouldn’t it much be easier, and better, if law schools used the same pedagogy that is used in many other disciplines: reading assignments, lectures, and exams that test whether students have learned the information set out in those textbooks and lectures? …

To Make Or To Buy: In-House Lawyering And Value Creation, Steven L. Schwarcz

Steven L Schwarcz

In recent years, companies have been shifting much of their transactional legal work from outside law firms to in-house lawyers, and some large companies now staff transactions almost exclusively in-house. Although this transformation redefines the very nature of the business lawyer, scholars have largely ignored it. This article seeks to remedy that omission, using empirical evidence as well as economic theory to help explain why in-house lawyers are taking over, and whether they are likely to continue to take over, these functions and roles of outside lawyers. The findings are surprising, suggesting that in-house lawyers may now be performing as …

Virginia Bar Exam, February 2007, Section 1

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.

Virginia Bar Exam, February 2007, Section 2

Virginia Bar Exam Archive

No abstract provided.

Student Body Diversity: A View From The Trenches, Gail S. Stephenson

Gail S. Stephenson

Although educators have stressed the value of classroom diversity for 150 years, American law schools are becoming less diverse. Total minority enrollment in ABA-approved law schools was down for the academic year 2005-2006, and the number of African Americans enrolled has reached its lowest point since 1990-1991. The ABA revised Standard 211 (renumbered 212) to require law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action” their commitment to diversity. This revision has been quite controversial, drawing opposition from those who do not believe that diversity is important.

The author, who teaches at a historically black law school with a fairly even mix …

A Primer For New Civil Law Clinic Students, Steve Berenson

Steve Berenson

Abstract Many law students’ initial experiences in live-client clinics are likely to be unfamiliar and unsettling. It may be reassuring to such students to know that generations of students before them have encountered a remarkably similar array of issues. Moreover, the new clinic students’ experiences will take place within a context that has been shaped significantly by a series of choices, conflicts, and controversies that have marked the common history and development of the civil legal aid and clinical legal education movements in America. The goal of this primer is to familiarize such students with this common ancestry and the …

"The Paradox Of Legal Expertise: A Study Of Experts And Novices Reading The Law", Leah M. Christensen

Leah M Christensen

Abstract: What strategies do lawyers and judges use to read the law? The study described in this article examined the way in which 10 legal experts (8 lawyers and 2 judges) and 10 novices (law students in the top 50% of their class) read a judicial opinion. Whereas the experts read efficiently (taking less overall time), the beginning law students read less efficiently. Where the experts read the text flexibly, moving back and forth between different parts of the opinion, the novices read inflexibly. The experts connected to the purpose of their reading more consistently than the novices and drew …

To Make Or To Buy: In-House Lawyering And Value Creation, Steven L. Schwarcz

Steven L Schwarcz

In recent years, companies have been shifting much of their transactional legal work from outside law firms to in-house lawyers, and some large companies now staff transactions almost exclusively in-house. Although this transformation redefines the very nature of the business lawyer, scholars have largely ignored it. This article seeks to remedy that omission, using empirical evidence as well as economic theory to help explain why in-house lawyers are taking over, and whether they are likely to continue to take over, these functions and roles of outside lawyers. The findings are surprising, suggesting that in-house lawyers may now be performing as …

To Make Or To Buy: In-House Lawyering And Value Creation, Steven L. Schwarcz

Steven L Schwarcz

No abstract provided.

Bias, The Brain, And Student Evaluations Of Teaching, Deborah J Merritt

ExpressO

Student evaluations of teaching are a common fixture at American law schools, but they harbor surprising biases. Extensive psychology research demonstrates that these assessments respond overwhelmingly to a professor’s appearance and nonverbal behavior; ratings based on just thirty seconds of silent videotape correlate strongly with end-of-semester evaluations. The nonverbal behaviors that influence teaching evaluations are rooted in physiology, culture, and habit, allowing characteristics like race and gender to affect evaluations. The current process of gathering evaluations, moreover, allows social stereotypes to filter students’ perceptions, increasing risks of bias. These distortions are inevitable products of the intuitive, “system one” cognitive processes …

Economic Analysis Of Law In North America, Europe And Israel, Oren Gazal-Ayal

Oren Gazal-Ayal

What explains the popularity of law and economics (L&E) in some academic communities and the scarcity of such scholarship in others? Many explanations have been given for the centrality of economic analysis in American legal thought and its marginality in Europe. This article examines what drives scholars to select L&E as a topic for research. It does so by implementing the methodology of many papers in the field – by assuming that regulation and incentives matter. Legal scholars face very different academic incentives in different parts of the world. In some countries, the academic standards for appointment, promotion and tenure …

China's Future Lawyers: Some Differences In Education And Outlook, Patricia Ross Mccubbin, Malinda L. Seymore, Andrea Anne Curcio, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

Patricia Ross McCubbin

In this short essay, four U.S. professors who recently served as Fulbright Lecturers in Law in China share important observations about China's future lawyers. The authors discuss key differences in the legal education systems of the two countries, noting that the most significant difference is the lack of Chinese training in the critical legal analysis so familiar to U.S.-trained lawyers. The authors also discuss Chinese law students' limited knowledge of the U.S. legal system and U.S. culture generally. This essay seeks to help members of the U.S. legal community understand the different skill sets and information that Chinese lawyers may …

Calling For Stories, Nancy Levit, Allen Rostron

Nancy Levit

Storytelling is a fundamental part of legal practice, teaching, and thought. Telling stories as a method of practicing law reaches back to the days of the classical Greek orators. Before legal education became an academic matter, the apprenticeship system for training lawyers consisted of mentoring and telling war stories. As the law and literature movement evolved, it sorted itself into three strands: law in literature, law as literature, and storytelling. The storytelling branch blossomed.

Over the last few decades, storytelling became a subject of enormous interest and controversy within the world of legal scholarship. Law review articles appeared in the …

Hope Without Optimism: Legal Education In Spain At The Threshold Of Bologna Plan, Josep Cañabate

Josep Cañabate Pérez

As part of the European Union, Spain is obligated to implement the “Bologna Plan” by 2010. This article explores the historical and social forces which hinder Spain’s ability to fulfill this laudable goal as regards legal education. The Bologna Plan for legal education is an enormous undertaking. It begin in 1999 when the ministers for science and education of the European Union met to lay the groundwork for the reform and homogenization of higher education throughout the Union. The process started at Bologna aims for two principal objectives. The first is the establishment of a common educational ambit, including reciprocal …

Educación Jurídica: Ejercicio Político Desde La Técnica, Jorge Gonzalez-Jacome

Jorge Gonzalez-Jacome

Los estudiantes de primer semestre de una facultad de derecho se diferencian radicalmente de los que se encuentran en los últimos semestres, no sólo por la experiencia de cinco años más de carrera y conocimiento, sino también por la falta de fe de estos últimos y la esperanza de los primeros. La actitud de la falta de fe se refiere a una persona que está altamente capacitada para la labor mecánica del derecho, pero sin mucha esperanza de que a través del ejercicio del derecho pueda hacer una transformación social. Es un gran técnico del derecho. Por su parte el …

A Look At Legal Education: The Globalization Of American Legal Education, James P. White

Indiana Law Journal

Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators Annual Meeting July 29-August 2, 2006 Indianapolis, Indiana.

Re-Conceptualizing Poverty Law Clinical Curriculum And Legal Services Practice: The Need For Generalists, Jonel Newman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay argues that law schools should adopt a program for training more legal generalists, especially in the field of poverty law. Furthermore, poverty law clinics should be the vehicle used to train these generalists.

Creeping Impoverization: Material Conditions, Income Inequality, And Erisa Pedagogy Early In The 21st Century, Maria O'Brien Hylton

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay argues that the current trend focusing on the law and economics theory does a disservice to the full-spectrum of legal issues. Law and economics, according to the author, is a value -neutral approach to the law. It fails to take into account poverty and other social values when thinking about the law. Finally, law schools should recalibrate their approach and, in some instances, take social values into account when teaching the law.

Restorative Justice: How Law Schools Can Help Heal Their Communities, Rachel King

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay argues that the justice system should establish a parallel system, using restorative justice, designed to "heal" those individuals affected by crime, but who are not the victim, i.e. the victim's family. Additionally, the author proposes that law schools should help develop this parallel system.

Musical Chairs And Tall Buildings: Teaching Poverty Law In The 21st Century, Amy L. Wax

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay examines the evolution, demise and focus of welfare law courses in law school. It examines the content of these courses in an attempt to understand why these courses are not as popular as they once had been. Finally, it looks at the goals of welfare policy and what welfare law courses should teach.

The Pendulum Swings Back: Poverty Law In The Old And New Curriculum, Martha Davis

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay seeks to answer the question "'What is Poverty Law'?" It does this in two parts. First, it examines the surge in property law courses in the 1960's and 70's and "the purpose these early courses were intended to serve." In the second section the Essay asks and the author asks "what the history suggests about poverty law in the law school curriculum today and in the future."

The Bologna Process And Its Implications For U.S. Legal Education, Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

Virtually all European countries are in the midst of a massive multi-year project intended to dramatically restructure higher education in Europe. This project, which is known as the Bologna Process or Sorbonne-Bologna, began less than ten years ago when four European Union (EU) countries signed a relatively vague agreement. The Bologna Process has now grown to forty-six countries, including all of the EU Member States and nineteen non-EU countries. The Bologna Process participants have agreed to form the European Higher Education Area or EHEA by 2010; among other goals, the EHEA is intended to help Europe better compete in the …

Calling For Stories, Nancy Levit, Allen Rostron

Faculty Works

Storytelling is a fundamental part of legal practice, teaching, and thought. Telling stories as a method of practicing law reaches back to the days of the classical Greek orators. Before legal education became an academic matter, the apprenticeship system for training lawyers consisted of mentoring and telling war stories. As the law and literature movement evolved, it sorted itself into three strands: law in literature, law as literature, and storytelling. The storytelling branch blossomed.

Over the last few decades, storytelling became a subject of enormous interest and controversy within the world of legal scholarship. Law review articles appeared in the …

¿Qué Hacen Los Civilistas En México?, Juan Carlos Marín

Juan Carlos Marín

What happened to private law in Mexico? In the early 20th century, this nation embraced a new world of legal thought, characterized by a 'socialization of law,' a 'social point of view,' or 'sociological jurisprudence,' and at the same time rejoiced in the passing of the nineteenth century world of laissez-faire, autonomous individuals and their rights. This paper examines how, as a result, the growth and development of Mexican private law has been seriously altered and stunted.

Widener Law Criminal Defense Clinic: Twelve Years Of Making A Difference, Judith L. Ritter

Judith L Ritter

No abstract provided.

China's Future Lawyers: Some Differences In Education And Outlook, Patricia Ross Mccubbin, Malinda L. Seymore, Andrea Anne Curcio, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

Malinda L. Seymore

In this short essay, four U.S. professors who recently served as Fulbright Lecturers in Law in China share important observations about China's future lawyers. The authors discuss key differences in the legal education systems of the two countries, noting that the most significant difference is the lack of Chinese training in the critical legal analysis so familiar to U.S.-trained lawyers. The authors also discuss Chinese law students' limited knowledge of the U.S. legal system and U.S. culture generally. This essay seeks to help members of the U.S. legal community understand the different skill sets and information that Chinese lawyers may …

China's Future Lawyers: Some Differences In Education And Outlook, Patricia Ross Mccubbin, Malinda L. Seymore, Andrea Anne Curcio, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

Andrea A. Curcio

In this short essay, four U.S. professors who recently served as Fulbright Lecturers in Law in China share important observations about China's future lawyers. The authors discuss key differences in the legal education systems of the two countries, noting that the most significant difference is the lack of Chinese training in the critical legal analysis so familiar to U.S.-trained lawyers. The authors also discuss Chinese law students' limited knowledge of the U.S. legal system and U.S. culture generally. This essay seeks to help members of the U.S. legal community understand the different skill sets and information that Chinese lawyers may …