Law Commons^™

Legal Education And The Threat Response, Jane Mitchell

The Journal of Law Teaching and Learning

Law students struggle with disproportionately high rates of depression, anxiety, addiction, and disconnection. This paper offers a novel explanation for these negative outcomes that thus far has been absent from conversations on the subject: Law schools fuel students’ sense of threat. According to psychology’s well-established cognitive appraisal model, students “appraise” stressful situations as either challenging or threatening. Educational environments appraised as threatening consistently lead to negative outcomes—lower student performance, decreased student engagement, and increased anxiety. Situations appraised as challenging lead to positive outcomes—improved academic performance, increased participation, and better overall health.

Law schools facilitate students’ threat response rather than a …

The Year Of Magical Teaching: Lessons Learned From One Class In Three Modalities, Debra Moss Vollweiler

The Journal of Law Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Luke Nottage & Makoto Ibusuki (Eds), Comparing Online Legal Education: Past, Present And Future (Intersentia, 2023), Chin Seng Bryan Leow, Kwan Ho Lau

Research Collection Library

This is a review of the book Comparing Online Legal Education: Past, Present and Future (Luke Nottage & Makoto Ibusuki, eds) (Intersentia, 2023)

With Pride: Lgbtq+ Rights & Advocacy In Legal Education Summit, Center For Civil & Human Rights, School Of Law, Gonzaga University

Gonzaga School of Law With Pride Summit

Event program for the 2024 With Pride Summit held by the Center for Civil & Human Rights at Gonzaga Law.

The program includes the summit schedule and bios for panelists and moderators, including the keynote speaker, Kellye Testy. Featured speakers include:

• Luke Boso
• Stewart Chang
• Ashlyn Hannus
• Sarah Harmon
• Heather L. Johnson
• Courtney Joslin
• Sheldon Lyke
• Dallas Martinez
• Ikál Nico Quintana
• Brad Sears
• Sarah Steadman
• Kyle Velte
• Danaya C. Wright
• Mary Yu

Teaching "Is This Case Rightly Decided?", Steven Arrigg Koh

Faculty Scholarship

“Is this case rightly decided?” From the first week of law school, every law student must grapple with this classroom question. This Essay argues that this vital question is problematically under-specified, creating imprecision in thinking about law. This Essay thus advocates that law professors should present students with a three-part framework: whether a case is rightly decided legally, morally, or sociologically.

Additionally, this Essay argues that disaggregating the question exposes deeper deficiencies in legal education. Many law professors do not provide students with serious grounding to engage in rigorous thinking about the relationship between law, morality, and justice, not to …

Searching For Justice: Incorporating Critical Legal Research Into Clinic Seminar, Priya Baskaran

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This Article provides educators with a roadmap for incorporating Critical Legal Research into Clinical Pedagogy. Critical Legal Research is a social justice-oriented critical intervention that provides a theoretical framework and practical application. Critical Legal Research provides lawyers with tools to deconstruct but also reconstruct legal research and analysis modes to engender more just, client-focused outcomes that fall outside dominant legal narratives. The problematic advent of ChatGPT and the broader incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the legal research regime has made the Critical Legal Research project more urgent than ever. Ultimately, introducing Critical Legal Research in the clinic seminar is …

The Art Of Discovery: Part 2, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Form discovery is undeniably useful, particularly for seeing the types of questions or documents that are usually asked in a certain type of case. Unfortunately, many form interrogatories and document requests are outdated and do not follow effective writing strategies of clarity and precision. Many of the sample discovery requests are full of legalese, which often results in ambiguity. Grab your comb and razor, as we work together to “clean up” your discovery requests.

Henderson Named One Of The Most Influential People In Legal Education, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Bill Henderson has once again been recognized as one of the most influential people in legal education, but he’s not the only one with ties to the Law School on this year’s list.

The National Jurist ranked Henderson #18 on its list. Kellye Testy, a 1991 alumna of the Law School and president and CEO of the Law School Admission Council, is ranked second.

The Case For (And Against) Aba Regulation Of Non-J.D. Programs, Benjamin H. Barton

Scholarly Works

American law schools have pulled out of what looked like a death spiral. From 2008-18 job placement and bar passage cratered and applications and JD enrolment followed. Some law schools found themselves trapped between Scylla and Charybdis – if they did not loosen admissions, they would not have the funds to keep the doors open. But if they loosened admissions too much bar passage and placement suffered, prompting a possible closure via disaccreditation by the ABA (or the DOE).

There are (broadly speaking) two models of profitable higher education in the United States. The first is the old school, classic …

Tapping Into The Talent Pipeline While Repairing The Leaky Pipe, Michelle M. Kwon

Scholarly Works

Diversity in the legal profession matters. It helps legitimize our legal system, giving everyone confidence that they will be treated fairly. Diverse legal teams make it more likely that the team will understand different perspectives and avoid “group think.” Having diverse groups make, enforce, and interpret laws leads to better outcomes. And yet, the legal profession is one of the least diverse in the country. The vast majority of lawyers are White men even though women constitute half of the population and about 40% of the U.S. population is not White. The percentage of Black lawyers has remained virtually unchanged …

Why Equity Follows The Law, Adam J. Macleod

Faculty Articles

Renewed attention to equity in higher education is welcome because true equity helps us to reason together well. When administered correctly, the jurisprudence of equity models civil discourse and, therefore, can teach us how to carry out civic engagement reasonably. Equitable interpretation of the law teaches us how to understand each other charitably. And equity’s deference to law teaches us how to reason well together about our practical problems. Law is the practical reasoning that we do together. Equity serves the ends of justice by serving law, rather than undermining it. These functions of equity in adjudication point toward a …

Institutional Antiracism And Critical Pedagogy: A Quantum Leap Forward For Legal Education And The Legal Academy, Danielle M. Conway

Faculty Scholarly Works

A fundamental launchpad for redeeming American society is to look to the historical and contextual goals of the Second Founding—the Reconstruction Amendments—and grasp the lessons about justice and equality for all by focusing on the principles of institutional antiracism. While our nation should deploy teaching and learning strategies at all levels of the American system of education, legal education must be out front leading the way to incorporate institutional antiracism through critical pedagogy.

This article provides the historical context in which legal education developed in the antebellum and postbellum periods and up to what might be deemed the “Third Founding” …

Keynote Address: Law Schools Need Curricular Reform: Time To Address Transactional Students' Needs, Stephanie Hunter Mcmahon

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Having Fun While Learning: Pedagogical Techniques For Teaching Contract Drafting, Robin Boyle

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Transactional Skills For Tomorrow, Adam Eckart

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Teaching Transaction Planning And Project Management, Michelle Sonu

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Teaching The Choice Between Vagueness And Precision In Contracts, Naveen Thomas

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

The Empty Space In The Teaching Of Commercial Law: An Argument For Including Article 7 Of The Ucc In The Commercial Law Curriculum, Glenys Spence

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Preparing Future Lawyers To Draft Contracts And Communicate With Clients In The Era Of Generative Ai, Kristen Wolff

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

One Semester, One Deal: A Transactional-Practice Focused Syllabus, Kari Sanderson

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Raising The Bar: The Nextgen Bar Exam And Contract Drafting, Susan M. Chesler, Karen J. Sneddon

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Ok, Computer: Harnessing Ai In Contracts To Change How Our Students Will Practice And How We Will Teach, Mark E. Need

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Training Law Students For Cybersecurity Practice, Stephen Black

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Teaching Transactional Business Law Through Campus And Community Partnerships, Joan Macleod Heminway, Brian Kingsley Krumm

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

How To Make Transactional Classes More Engaging And Practical With Blended Learning And Flipped Classrooms: A Practical Framework And A Look At The University Of Miami School Of Law’S Innovative Approach, Marcia Narine Weldon, Ian Nelson

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Introducing Law Students To Transactional Practice: From Using Precedent To Closing The Deal, Ben Fernandez

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

The Futures Of Law, Lawyers, And Law Schools: A Dialogue, Benjamin H. Barton, Sameer M. Ashar, Michael J. Madison, Rachel F. Moran

Scholarly Works

On April 19 and 20, 2023, Professors Bernard Hibbitts and Richard Weisberg convened a conference at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law titled “Disarmed, Distracted, Disconnected, and Distressed: Modern Legal Education and the Unmaking of American Lawyers.” Four speakers concluded the event with a spirited conversation about themes expressed during the proceedings. Distilling a lively two days, they asked: what are the most critical challenges now facing US legal education and, by extension, lawyers and the communities they serve? Their agreements and disagreements were striking, so much so that Professors Hibbitts and Weisberg invited those four to extend their …

Language Models, Plagiarism, And Legal Writing, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

Language models like ChatGPT are the talk of the town in legal circles. Despite some high-profile stories of fake ChatGPT-generated citations, many practitioners argue that language models are the way of the future. These models, they argue, promise an efficient source of first drafts and stock language. Others make similar claims about legal writing education, with a number of professors urging the acknowledgment of language models. Others go further and argue that students ought to learn to use these models to improve their writing and prepare for practice. I argue that those urging the incorporation of language models into legal …

Helping Students To Organize Their Thoughts About The Erie Doctrine, William Casto

Indiana Law Journal

This little Essay presents a framework for teaching the Erie Doctrine. It is not a grand analysis of the federal courts’ puzzle. It does not even offer a wondrously insightful vision of one of the puzzle’s colorful pieces. Rather, the purpose is quite modest. The essay simply aims to help students to organize their thoughts about whether a particular legal issue is governed by state or federal law. Given the Essay’s limited and wholly heuristic purpose, the usual endless parade of all possible cases and the careful rehearsal of exquisite and finely-tuned factors and considerations are eschewed.

Beyond "Hard" Skills: Teaching Outward - And Inward-Facing Character-Based Skills To 1ls In Light Of Aba Standard 303(B)(3)'S Professional Identity Requirement, Marni Goldstein Caputo, Kathleen Luz

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, we share some ways in which we have adjusted our teaching to comply with Standard 303(b)(3) by addressing professional identity formation through the vehicles of outward-facing and inward-facing character-based skills. We believe that if law students do not intentionally start *811 exploring their professional identities as soon as they step foot into law school, they run the risk of believing that legal education and practice are somehow separate from their inner, personal identities as lawyers when, of course, they are, and ought to be, enmeshed. By injecting skills into the 1L curriculum that force both the development …