Legal Profession Commons^™

Teaching Business Law Through An Entrepreneurial Lens, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

The legal market has changed. Although change creates uncertainty and fear, it also can create opportunity. This essay explores the opportunity for innovation in the business law curriculum, and the role of simulation to help create more practice-aware new lawyers.

Reflections On Team Production In Professional Schools And The Workplace, Robert J. Rhee

Robert Rhee

No abstract provided.

Judicial Training Programs In Bosnia And The Efficacy Of Rule Of Law Training, E. Joan Blum

E. Joan Blum

Presentation on personal experience conducting judicial training programs in Bosnia, including observations and recommendations on the efficacy of rule of law training programs.

Law And Negotiation: Necessary Partners Or Strange Bedfellows?, Nancy Schultz

Nancy Schultz

To what degree does legal authority dictate the outcomes of negotiations? Scholars have discussed the issue, and law students argue about it in their negotiation classes. A survey of practicing lawyers reveals that knowing the law is an important part of the preparation for negotiation, but that legal authority is not the primary determinant of negotiated outcomes in practice. Financial constraints, bargaining power, and negotiating skill are all reported as having a greater effect on negotiated outcomes than the law.

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 …

Foreword: The Way To Carnegie, Sharon L. Beckman, Paul R. Tremblay

Sharon Beckman

From the introduction:

Law schools have a clear mission, one would think. Even if the American Bar Association did not insist upon it, any given law school would acknowledge its commitment to “prepare its students for ad-mission to the bar, and effective and responsible participation in the legal profession.” In return for a substantial contribution of (usually borrowed) money, law schools promise to train students to practice law as competent, thoughtful, and faithful fiduciaries for their clients and to seek a just and fair system.

Though law schools’ collective mission is apparent, the question of how best to implement that …

Exporting American Legal Education, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Practice Setting As An Organizing Theme For A Law And Ethics Of Lawyering Curriculum, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Legal Education, Experiential Education, And Professional Responsibility, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

The Legal Skills Program At The College Of William And Mary: An Early Report, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Goodness And Humanness: Distinguishing Traits, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Strategic Austerity: How Some Law School Affordability Initiatives Could Actually Improve Learning Outcomes, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

The legal profession is facing profound and perhaps irreversible changes. Whether you view these striking demographics as a “crisis” likely depends on the location of your perch. If you are a tenured professor at a T14 law school or a senior partner at an NLJ 250 firm, you may view the trends we have been discussing today as cyclical corrections. If you are an unemployed graduate looking for work or an untenured professor at a lower-tier school that is struggling to stay afloat, you may be more likely to view these trends as permanent and paradigm shifting.

While applications to …

One Small Step For Legal Writing, One Giant Leap For Legal Education: Making The Case For More Writing Opportunities In The "Practice-Ready" Law School Curriculum, Sherri Keene

Sherri Keene

Legal writing is more than an isolated practical skill or a law school course; it is a valuable tool for broadening and deepening one’s knowledge and understanding of the law. If experienced legal professionals, both professors and practitioners alike, take a hard look back at their careers, many will no doubt remember how their work on significant legal writing projects advanced their own knowledge of the law and enhanced their professional competence. Legal writing practice helps the writer to gain expertise in a number of ways: first, the act of writing itself promotes learning; second, close work on legal writing …

It’S All About The People: Hierarchy, Networks, And Teaching Assistants In A Civil Procedure Classroom Community, Jennifer E. Spreng

Jennifer E Spreng

This article provides a blueprint for a “civic community in a law school classroom” that would better prepare many students for what is likely to be their professional future based on natural social hierarchy and network dynamics. It uses experiences from the author's own teaching career to illustrate hierarchy and network dynamics and how to use them to enrich the pedagogical and social experience of a first year course. It also roots those experiences in principles from social psychology, organizational behavior, transformative leadership and all levels of education literature.

Modern law school classrooms fall into two categories: the "polar model" …

Introduction, Justice, Lawyering And Legal Education In The Digital Age (Symposium Editor With M. Lauritsen), Ronald W. Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

When Socrates Meets Confucius: Teaching Creative And Critical Thinking Across Cultures Through Multilevel Socratic Method, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

No Money, Mo' Problems: Why Unpaid Law Firm Internships Are Illegal And Unethical, Eric M. Fink

Eric M Fink

The practice of law firms offering unpaid internships in lieu of paid employment should concern law students and law school graduates who face an increasingly tight market for entry-level legal jobs. This article argues that such unpaid internships are impermissible under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). It further argues that lawyers who illegally hire unpaid interns should be subject to discipline under the ethics rules of the legal profession.

While law students collectively have an interest in ending this exploitative practice, they have a disincentive against taking action themselves, lest they hurt their prospects in the already unfavorable postgraduate …