Legal Education Commons^™

Teaching Law Students To Be Self-Regulated Learners, Michael Hunter Schwartz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Part-Time Legal Education: It‘S Not Your Parents’ Old Oldsmobile, Edwin J. Butterfoss

Faculty Scholarship

When I am asked to name my accomplishments as dean,' the one that often piques the listener's interest is "starting a weekend law program." Their reaction usually is along the lines of, "A weekend law program? That's different." But depending on to whom I am talking, that "uniform" response needs to be interpreted based on the tone of voice, facial expression, and other body language of the listener If I happen to be talking to a faculty member from another school, the translation is, "I hope my dean doesn't get a crazy idea like that and make me work on …

From The Clinic To The Classroom: Or What I Would Have Learned If I Had Been Paying More Attention To My Students And Their Clients, Peter B. Knapp

Faculty Scholarship

This past year, two experiences related to clinical teaching—one a moment of personal epiphany and the other, a conversation with a colleague—have caused the author to spend more time thinking about what he should be learning in the clinic and applying in the classroom.

The Document Package Exam As A Teaching Tool, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses an exam technique that uses realistic hypothetical corporations to test on course material. These fact scenarios are more enjoyable for the students to complete than traditional exams. In addition, the technique helps the Author achieve important pedagogical goals. Students are given a document package composed of corporate articles of incorporation, bylaws, SEC filings, a Standard & Poors Company report, financial statements, and a trust indenture, for example. They have a few weeks before the end of the term to digest the material. They understand that in order to answer the take-home exam questions completely they will have …

Rosalie Wahl's Vision For Legal Education: Clinics At The Heart, Ann Juergens

Faculty Scholarship

Rosalie Wahl holds a special place in the hearts of Minnesota lawyers. Many women and girls, especially, were gratified when Governor Rudy Perpich appointed her the first woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1977. There were no more than nine other women on supreme courts around the country at the time, and none on the U.S. Supreme Court. She served on the court until 1994, when the law mandating judges’ retirement at age seventy caused her to step down from the bench. This essay highlights the significance of Wahl’s work as a clinical legal educator and activist for legal …

Clinical Teaching At William Mitchell College Of Law: Values, Pedagogy, And Perspective, Eric S. Janus

Faculty Scholarship

A retrospective celebrating thirty years of clinical education at William Mitchell College of Law. These courses are nurtured by the key principles that have shaped clinical education at William Mitchell. They embrace the profession of law, but insist on a critical stance. They recognize that values define the practice of law, and that only through intentional choice of pedagogy and perspective can values education be effective and respectful of the autonomy of our students as they work to define the sort of lawyers they wish to become.

Teaching Law Students To Be Self-Regulated Learners, Michael Hunter Schwartz

Faculty Scholarship

This article articulates a model of self-regulated learning for law students and lawyers, explains why law schools should aspire to teach their students to be self-regulated learners and details a curriculum designed to accomplish that goal.

The first section of the article explains self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learning is a cyclical model of the learning process. In fact, all learners self-regulate, although many new law students are novice self-regulated learners. Self-regulation involves three phases. In the planning phase, learners decide what they want to learn and how they will learn it. Expert self-regulated learners are more likely to strive for mastery, …

Towards A New Scholarship For Equal Justice, James S. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

Over the last thirty years, the legal academy has turned a cold shoulder to the subject matter of this symposium: scholarship for equal justice. I am here to suggest that a thaw may be on the way. By scholarship for equal justice – as distinguished from scholarship about that topic – I mean academic work undertaken for the purpose of improving outcomes for individuals and members of groups who have been systematically held back by their race, sex, poverty, or any other basis for rationing success that our legal system treats with suspicion. With reference to some of my own …

Learning From Conflict: Reflections On Teaching About Race And Gender, Susan Sturm, Lani Guinier

Faculty Scholarship

In 1992 had been teaching for four years at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I taught voting rights and criminal procedure, subjects related to what I had done as a litigator. Preparing for class meant reading many of the same cases I had read preparing for trial. Some were even cases I had tried. Teaching offered me a fresh chance to read those cases with new interest. I could see the subtle linkages between cases that I had not previously noticed. From the distance of the academy, I observed the evolution of the doctrine without feeling overcome by the …

The Meaning Of Quality, Steven R. Smith

Faculty Scholarship

This essay considers the qualities that constitute excellent lawyers in any society. It thereby suggests the qualities that law schools should seek to ensure that their graduates possess as they leave law schools and enter the practice of law.

Stuck In A Rut: The Role Of Creative Thinking In Problem Solving And Legal Education, Janet Weinstein, Linda H. Morton

Faculty Scholarship

This article focuses on the mental process of creative thinking. We discuss what it is, why we have difficulty engaging in it, and how we can overcome this difficulty through specific techniques and a more conducive environment. Creative thinking is an essential component to problem solving. In training future lawyers, we must do a better job of incorporating and supporting creative thinking in legal education. We conclude the article with a description of some of our efforts toward this objective.