Law Commons^™

Law School As A Culture Of Conversation: Re-Imagining Legal Education As A Process Of Conversion To The Demands Of Authentic Conversation, Gregory A. Kalscheur S.J.

Gregory A. Kalscheur, S.J.

Conventional wisdom holds that the principal task of a law school is to teach law students to "think like lawyers." However, law school can be experienced as a form of narrow training that diminishes something central to the human person: the fundamental drive to question and to follow those questions wherever they lead. This Article will explore the ways in which the thought of two scholars, Bernard Lonergan and James Boyd White, can usefully inform our understanding of this crisis of meaning and value within the context of a conception of law as a social and cultural activity. First, this …

Rebellious Lawyering, Regnant Lawyering, And Street-Level Bureaucracy, Paul R. Tremblay

Paul R. Tremblay

This Article explores the professional responsibilities of progressive lawyers representing the poor and disadvantaged. The author argues that lawyers representing the poor are generally good, energetic lawyers committed to social justice and lessening the pain of poverty. Subsequently, the defects found in poverty lawyering are structural, institutional, political, economic, and ethical. Therefore, the author posits that the mission of teachers and practitioners should be to develop practice patterns and proposals that account for the street-level experiences of legal services lawyers on the front lines. By examining the notions of rebellious and regnant lawyering, the author seeks to illuminate how these …

Beyond The Ada: How Clinics Can Assist Law Students With “Non-Visible” Disabilities To Bridge The Accommodations Gap Between Classroom And Practice, Alexis Anderson, Norah Wylie

Norah Wylie

This article examines how best to educate law students with disabilities so that they can successfully transition from classroom to practice. At the very time that the importance of experiential learning is being trumpeted as critical to the preparation of all law students for practice, all too little attention has been given to the role of clinical education in helping students with non-visible disabilities succeed in their chosen careers. Increasingly, law students are seeking accommodations for a range of mental health, cognitive, and learning disabilities. Law schools have become more adept at providing accommodations in academic classes to qualified students …

A Brief Reflection On The Multiple Identities And Roles Of The Twenty-First Century Clinician, Michael Pinard

Michael Pinard

No abstract provided.

The Legal Education Of A Patriot: Josiah Quincy Jr.'S Law Commonplace (1763), Daniel R. Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

This article is based on the exciting discovery of a never before printed Law Commonplace, written by the 18th-century lawyer and patriot, Josiah Quincy, Junior. Quincy was co-counsel with Adams in the famous Boston Massacre Trial, a leader of Committee on Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty, and author of the first American law reports. His Law Commonplace provides an exceptional window into the political, racial and gender controversies of the evolving American legal system, and profoundly challenges our conventional views on the origin of American legal education. In certain areas, particularly jury trial, it also has present constitutional significance, …

"The Purer Fountains": Bacon And Legal Education, Daniel R. Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

Today, the classical underpinnings of American legal education are under intense critical review. The dominant pedagogy, the case book and the Socratic method, were established by Christopher Columbus Langdell (1806-1906) at Harvard Law School more than a century ago. Together with Langdell's first year curriculum, which was exclusively focused on Anglo-American common law doctrine, and his emphasis on a competitive, anonymous graded meritocracy, this system still exercises an incredible grip on elite American law schools. But Langdell's 19th Century model has now been challenged by many rivals, including critical legal studies, law and economics empiricism, global curriculums, and clinical instruction. …

The Twentieth Century, Daniel R. Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

All self-respecting legal history is supposed to end by the twentieth century. As we approach our own lives, experience and training—and those events that we have actually witnessed—we allegedly lose that "objectivity" which makes the "science" of history itself possible. Certainly, there is no point in burdening the reader with the "original" materials, including cases and statutes, that make up the bulk of any legal education. But there are good reasons to reflect on our own legal century from an "historical perspective."

Through The Looking Glass Of Eminent Domain: Exploring The "Arbitrary And Capricious" Test And Substantive Rationality Review Of Governmental Decisions, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

The day-to-day realities of different systems of government can be discerned in the way they handle, in theory and practice, clashes between the individual and the collective will. The structure of contemporary American democracy is no exception. It is comprised of a variegated assortment of judicial formulae for balancing the interests of the individual and the state, most of these formulae tracing back with differing degrees of directness to textual bases in the first nine amendments to the federal Constitution or their state constitutional equivalents. One of these basic structural balancings, encountered early on by every student of American law …

Environmental Law In The Political Ecosystem - Coping With The Reality Of Politics, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

In this Essay, the proposition the author draws from the narrative of the endangered species litigation is derivatively Aristotelian – that we must consciously, actively, and explicitly integrate an informed consideration of human politics into what we teach and do in environmental law. The proposition is not that we should steep ourselves in party politics, although there are interesting observations aplenty that could be made on the direct consequences that the two major parties (and occassionally their wistful smaller incarnations) have on the evolution of environmental law. The proposition offered here operates at two different levels: practical politics and political …

What Balance In Legal Education Means To Me: A Dissenting View, Lawrence Raful

Lawrence Raful

No abstract provided.

Legal Education For Sustainability: A Report On Us Progress, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article is an overview of sustainability efforts in US law schools. It describes two sets of drivers for these efforts—inside and outside the legal profession. Drivers from within the legal profession include the American Bar Association as well as several state and local bar associations; law firms and other law organisations; and current and prospective law students. Drivers from outside the legal profession include clients, universities and colleges, nongovernmental organisations, and government. This article then describes what US law schools are now doing in the areas of curriculum, research, buildings and operations, community outreach and service, student life, and …

Thinking Like Thinkers: Is The Art And Discipline Of An "Attitude Of Suspended Conclusion" Lost On Lawyers?, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

In his 1910 book, How We Think, John Dewey proclaimed that “the most important factor in the training of good mental habits consists in acquainting the attitude of suspended conclusion. . .” This Article explores that insight and describes its meaning and significance in the enterprise of thinking generally and its importance in law school education specifically. It posits that the law would be best served if lawyers think like thinkers and adopt an attitude of suspended conclusion in their problem solving affairs. Only when conclusion is suspended is there space for the exploration of the subject at hand. The …

Book Review Of Current Issues In Constitutional Litigation: A Context And Practice Casebook (Carolina Academic Press 2011), Christy Whitfield

Sarah E. Ricks

This is a book review of Current Issues in Constitutional Litigation: A Context & Practice Casebook (Carolina Academic Press 2011). My perspective is unique because I have worked with and watched this casebook evolve – I was assigned an early draft of the casebook as a law school student taking a constitutional litigation course, I worked as a research assistant on a later version of the casebook, and now, several years later, I have viewed the final result of the casebook as a practicing attorney. As a former law clerk and now as an attorney advisor in the beginning years …

.Compelling Orthodoxy: Myth And Mystique In The Marketing Of Legal Education, Kenneth Lasson

Kenneth Lasson

Abstract In many ways the story of modern legal education reads like a grim fairy tale, whose moral dénouement is no less compelling and perhaps more consequential than its fabulist forbears. Today's law schools are preoccupied with their reputations -- as much a survival instinct as anything else. The competition for bright students and talented faculty is more intense than ever, and marketing has increasingly come to be treated as a consideration at least as important as the actual academic enterprise. Thus do administrators seek to adopt a strategic identity plans – “building the brand” in the common parlance of …

The Law School Firm, Bradley T. Borden, Robert J. Rhee

Robert Rhee

This Article introduces the concept of the law school firm. The concept calls for law schools to establish affiliated law firms. The affiliation would provide opportunities for students, faculty, and attorneys to collaborate and share resources to teach, research, write, serve clients, and influence the development of law and policy. Based loosely on the medical school model, the law school firm will help bridge the gap between law schools and the practice of law.

Social Capital Benefits Of Peer Mentoring Relationships In Law School, Meera E. Deo, Kimberly A. Griffin

Meera E Deo

Scholars have addressed the rigors of law school and suggest mentorship may help students better navigate their educational environments. However, literature largely addresses the role of faculty mentors, less often considering peer mentors in the law school context. This study explores first year law students’ motivation in forming peer mentoring relationships and the roles peer mentors play in students’ lives. Analyses of survey and focus group data collected from 203 first-year law students at 11 institutions reveal that the majority rely on peer support, forming formal, informal, and “organizational” peer mentoring relationships. Relationship formation is motivated by students’ acknowledged need …

Reinvigorating The 1l Curriculum: Sequenced "Writing Across The Curriculum" Assignments As The Foundation For Producing Practice-Ready Law Graduates, Alice M. Noble-Allgire, Suzanne J. Schmitz

Alice M. Noble-Allgire

Study after study lists written legal analysis as one of the most critical skills of a lawyer; yet it is often under-developed in the traditional law school curriculum. This article describes an integrative, sequenced “Writing Across the Curriculum” (WAC) program to help first-year law students master legal analysis and writing by systematically developing these skills though writing assignments in doctrinal courses, thereby enhancing the instruction that students receive in the Lawyering Skills course. The article discusses the key components of the program --- writing assignments sequenced to build skills incrementally from simple to complex; prompt and consistent feedback based upon …

Reinvigorating The 1l Curriculum: Sequenced Awriting Across The Curriculum@ Assignments As The Foundation For Producing Practice-Ready Law Graduates, Alice M. Noble-Allgire, Suzanne J. Schmitz

Alice M. Noble-Allgire

This article describes an integrative, sequenced “Writing Across the Curriculum” (WAC) program to help first-year law students master legal analysis and writing by systematically developing these skills though writing assignments in doctrinal courses, thereby enhancing the instruction that students receive in the Lawyering Skills course. The article discusses the key components of the program --- writing assignments sequenced to build skills incrementally from simple to complex; prompt and consistent feedback based upon a competency model; and transparency in setting forth the professor’s expectations, both in advance of the exercise and in the feedback --- and assesses some of the benefits …

Electronic Discovery: Sanctioning Spoliation With An Adverse Inference Instruction, Robert A. Weninger

Robert A Weninger

This article discusses the spoliation of ESI (electronically stored evidence) in a completely non-technical way. It focuses on the law governing sanctions and not on computer technology.

Professor Richard L. Marcus, the Special Reporter to the Civil Rules Advisory Committee and a primary drafter of the 2006 amendments addressing the discovery of ESI, reviewed my article and was enthusiastic about it. The article is particularly timely because the Advisory Committee is presently considering whether to propose further amendments to address problems created by the disparate positions taken by federal courts on issues concerning sanctions for spoliation.

Courts divide over the …

Rethinking The Legal Reform Agenda: Will Raising The Standards For Bar Admission Promote Or Undermine Democracy, Human Rights, And Rule Of Law?, Samuel J. Levine, Russell G. Pearce

Samuel J. Levine

This Article offers a critique of, and alternative to, the American Bar Association's efforts, supported by the United States government, to promote the requirement of a college education in law as prerequisite for becoming a lawyer in developing countries. Using the examples of China, which currently has a far more open system for becoming a legal services provider, and South Africa, which already has a system consistent with the goals of the ABA, the Article argues that more stringent education requirements actually undermine democracy, human rights, and rule of law. In China, where the most significant advocates for human rights …

Why Not A Justice School? On The Role Of Justice In Legal Education And The Construction Of A Pedagogy Of Justice, Peter L. Davis

Peter L. Davis

Why are law schools not named schools of justice, or, at least, schools of law and justice? Of course, virtually every law school will reply that this is nit-picking; all claim to be devoted to the study of justice. But our concern is not so easily dismissed. The names of institutions carry great significance; they deliver a political, social, or economic message. . . This Article contends that not only do law schools virtually ignore justice – a concept that is supposed to be the goal of all legal systems – they go so far as to denigrate it and …

Teaching Interdisciplinarily: Law And Literature As Cultural Critique, Deborah Waire Post

Deborah W. Post

No abstract provided.

Teaching Like Lawyers: What Empirical Research Can Tell Us About The Effect Of Law School Pedagogy On Law Student Learning Styles, Eric A. Degroff

Eric A DeGroff

Though the legal academy is a relative newcomer to the field, questions concerning law school pedagogy and law student learning styles have gained increasing traction among legal scholars in recent years. This article reports the results of empirical research concerning the effects of the law school experience and of disparate pedagogical approaches on law student learning styles.

In what appears to be the first research of its kind in a law school context, the article reports the results of a longitudinal assessment of law student learning styles, and documents a statistically significant shift in learning styles among first-year students over …

Law Schools: Where The Elite Meet To Teach (Transforming Legal Education: A Symposium Of Provocative Thought), Howard Glickstein

Howard Glickstein

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing The Rejection Letter: A Look At Elitism In Article Selection, Dan Subotnik, Glen Lazar

Dan Subotnik

No abstract provided.

The Promise Of Grutter: Diverse Interactions At The University Of Michigan Law School, Meera E. Deo

Meera E Deo

In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School on the grounds of educational diversity. Yet, the Court’s assumption that admitting diverse students into law school would result in improved race relations, livelier classroom conversations, and better professional outcomes for students has never been empirically tested. This article relies on survey and focus group data collected at the University of Michigan Law School campus itself in March 2010 to examine whether and how diversity affects learning. Data analysis makes clear that there are sufficient numbers of students of color on campus …

The Ugly Ducking Comes Of Age: The Promise Of Full-Time Field Placements, Robert A. Parker, Sue Schechter

Robert A. Parker

This article locates field placement offerings within a landscape of legal education that is being transformed by incisive critiques, new regulations, advances in technology, and harsh economic conditions. Drawing upon our combined experience of over 15 years working with students enrolled in full-time field placements and with faculties who define the parameters of field placement programs, we offer a description of the advantages of these programs, innovative options for implementation, and some traps for the unwary. The heart of our article is a discussion of the results of our comprehensive survey of all 200 ABA approved law schools. The information …

Sea Change: The Seismic Shift In The Legal Profession And How Legal Writing Professors Will Keep Legal Education Afloat In Its Wake, Kirsten A. Dauphinais

Kirsten A Dauphinais

2010 found us in the midst of what commentators have called "The Great Recession" and the effects on the legal profession have been profound. Law firms have lost their immunity to recession and industry leaders are concluding that the recession has and will continue to have an enduring impact on the profession, including extensive layoffs, salary decreases, hiring freezes, firm closures, and even deaths. Many observers have predicted that these changes may prove to be permanent, not only because of the magnitude of the economic downturn, but also because the present predicament is only an acceleration of the decline of …

The Promise Of Grutter: Diverse Interactions At The University Of Michigan Law School, Meera E. Deo

Meera E Deo

In Grutter v. Bollinger, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan Law School on the grounds of educational diversity. Yet, the Court’s assumption that admitting diverse students into law school would result in improved race relations, livelier classroom conversations, and better professional outcomes for students has never been empirically tested. This article relies on survey and focus group data collected at the University of Michigan Law School campus itself in March 2010 to examine whether and how diversity affects learning. Data analysis makes clear that there are sufficient numbers of students of color on campus …

Fixing Students' Fixed Mindsets: Paving The Way To Meaningful Assessment, Carrie Sperling

Carrie Sperling

Soon every law school in the country will be turning its attention to the important topic of assessment. Responding to a new ABA guideline, schools will be tackling the difficult task of defining, refining, and creating more assessment opportunities for their students. The guideline’s purpose is to improve student learning through more assessment, but nothing in the ABA proposal changes the fact that many of our students fail to react adaptively to feedback. Instead, many students will become hostile, defensive, or despondent and will, therefore, not further develop their competencies.

With the American Bar Association putting emphasis on formative assessment …