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Articles 31 - 57 of 57
Full-Text Articles in Law
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
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.
Clinical Teaching At William Mitchell College Of Law: Values, Pedagogy, And Perspective, Eric S. Janus
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.
Rosalie Wahl's Vision For Legal Education: Clinics At The Heart, Ann Juergens
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 …
Part-Time Legal Education: It‘S Not Your Parents’ Old Oldsmobile, Edwin J. Butterfoss
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 …
Availability Of Works Cited In Recent Law Review Articles On Lexis, Westlaw, The Internet, And Other Databases, Simon Canick
Availability Of Works Cited In Recent Law Review Articles On Lexis, Westlaw, The Internet, And Other Databases, Simon Canick
Faculty Scholarship
In this study, a group of recent law articles was examined to determine the proportion of cited resources that are easily findeable online. Searches were conducted in databases such as LEXIS and Westlaw, and on the Internet, for full-text versions of every source cited in seven articles. The results have been broken down into 13 categories, including: federal cases, books, foreign law, and legal periodicals pre-1990. Not surprisingly coverage differs widely between the categories. Overall the study found that 77% of the 1,984 citations in the articles reviewed are available online. This article concludes with a general discussion of why …
Recalling Atticus Finch: Conversations With Practicing Lawyers, Deborah A. Schmedemann
Recalling Atticus Finch: Conversations With Practicing Lawyers, Deborah A. Schmedemann
Faculty Scholarship
This article discusses the skills, values, and attitudes that are key to practicing law. Input from practicing attorneys shows that while some traits are essential for all practice areas, other traits are specifically necessary for certain types of attorneys.
Minnesota Lawyers Evaluate Law Schools, Training And Job Satisfaction, John O. Sonsteng
Minnesota Lawyers Evaluate Law Schools, Training And Job Satisfaction, John O. Sonsteng
Faculty Scholarship
The MacCrate Report was published in 1992 and detailed the findings of a task force established by the American Bar Association. The purpose of the task force was to examine a perceived “gap” between legal education and law practice. The Report concluded that law schools needed to affirm their commitment to train students to practice effectively in the legal profession. This article analyzes the results of several surveys, each seeking to determine to what extent law schools provided Minnesota lawyers consistent training in the practice skills areas identified in the MacCrate Report. The findings discussed in this article were gleaned …
Of Learning Civil Procedure, Practicing Civil Practice, And Studying A Civil Action: A Low-Cost Proposal To Introduce First-Year Law Students To The Neglected Maccrate Skills, Raleigh Hannah Levine
Of Learning Civil Procedure, Practicing Civil Practice, And Studying A Civil Action: A Low-Cost Proposal To Introduce First-Year Law Students To The Neglected Maccrate Skills, Raleigh Hannah Levine
Faculty Scholarship
This article proposes three exercises designed to help introduce law students to four of the lawyering skills that the American Bar Association's MacCrate Report has identified as fundamental, but that legal scholarship has largely ignored: factual investigation, client counseling, recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas, and organization and management of legal work. My goal in devising these exercises has been to allow a professor teaching a traditional, first-year civil procedure class to incorporate them into her syllabus at low cost to herself (in terms of time expended and doctrine sacrificed) and to the law school as an institution (in terms of …
Porcupine Diplomacy Produces Summit (Ave.) Accord, Douglas R. Heidenreich
Porcupine Diplomacy Produces Summit (Ave.) Accord, Douglas R. Heidenreich
Faculty Scholarship
While William Mitchell College of Law was officially formed in 1956 through the merger of two local evening law schools, there had been discussion of a merger for years before 1956. Even after the merger, the two parts of the new institution continued to operate mostly separately. The acquisition of a building at 2100 Summit Avenue, in St. Paul, in 1958 finally allowed the two schools to become one and to enter the modern era of legal education.
Professional Training, Diversity In Legal Education, And Cost Control: Selection, Training And Peer Review For Adjunct Professors, Marcia R. Gelpe
Professional Training, Diversity In Legal Education, And Cost Control: Selection, Training And Peer Review For Adjunct Professors, Marcia R. Gelpe
Faculty Scholarship
The thesis of this article is that adjunct faculty make a unique and valuable contribution to legal education, that law is best taught by a combination of full-time and adjunct faculty members, and that serious consideration should be given to the issues of how best to divide teaching between full-time faculty and adjuncts. In addition, if adjunct faculty are to be viewed as a positive part of the teaching endeavor, it is essential to consider the ways to maximize their contribution. This article recommends a serious change in the way law schools think about and relate to adjunct faculty. Part …
Summer Musings On Curricular Innovations To Change The Lawyer's Standard Philosophical Map, James Coben
Summer Musings On Curricular Innovations To Change The Lawyer's Standard Philosophical Map, James Coben
Faculty Scholarship
When Hamline’s participation in the FIPSE grant was announced several years ago, the Hamline community saw an opportunity to help achieve the stated strategic-plan objective to ensure that every graduating student “will have basic knowledge about ADR and the opportunity for simulation experience with ADR.” The FIPSE grant working-group established the following objectives to guide the curriculum-development effort: (a) emphasize the importance of ADR by formally recognizing it as “substance,” (b) help students confront the standard philosophical map of lawyers and promote an “alternative” definition of lawyer as “problem-solver,” (c) provide a baseline familiarity with rule vs. interest and position …
And Then There Was One, Douglas R. Heidenreich
And Then There Was One, Douglas R. Heidenreich
Faculty Scholarship
In the twentieth century's second decade, Minneapolis lawyers created four night law schools, all of which William Mitchell College of Law numbers among its predecessor institutions. By 1940, a single law school remained, an amalgam of the original four. It would unite in 1956 with its St. Paul counterpart to form William Mitchell College of Law.
Hiram F. Stevens And The Founding Of The St. Paul College Of Law, Douglas R. Heidenreich
Hiram F. Stevens And The Founding Of The St. Paul College Of Law, Douglas R. Heidenreich
Faculty Scholarship
The St. Paul College of Law, one of William Mitchell College of Law's predecessor institutions, was established by five attorneys in 1900. Especially prominent among these attorneys was Hiram F. Stevens (1852-1904), who served as the first dean and was also a legislator, teacher, scholar, popular orator, and a founding member of the American Bar Association.
A Field Trip To Benetton And Beyond: Some Thoughts On Outsider Narrative In A Law School Clinic, Carolyn Grose
A Field Trip To Benetton And Beyond: Some Thoughts On Outsider Narrative In A Law School Clinic, Carolyn Grose
Faculty Scholarship
This essay explores the process of teaching students—and ourselves—to listen to and accept different versions of reality. Such exploration results in a proposition that is easy to state but difficult to accomplish: that in order to achieve this goal, we must challenge the students' "common sense”—their sense that they "know" how people act—by offering examples of behaviors that differ from that knowledge, without triggering the very "common sense" we are trying to combat. Toward this end, the first section of the essay presents a hypothetical initial interview with a client, and the student interviewer's reactions to her, which reflect the …
A Decade Of Developments In Performance-Based Legal Education, Deborah A. Schmedemann, Christina L. Kunz
A Decade Of Developments In Performance-Based Legal Education, Deborah A. Schmedemann, Christina L. Kunz
Faculty Scholarship
This tribute summarizes some of the accomplishments of William Mitchell college of Law in performance-based learning in legal education between 1986 and 1996. It first chronicles developments in the first-and second-year performance-based courses and then turns to upper-level curricular developments. At each point, it touches on course development and scholarship--the parallel tracks pursued by faculty focusing on performance-based legal education. As a result of these developments, the college is well positioned to contribute to the growth of performance-based learning in legal education nationally.
Law Teachers And The Educational Continuum, Michael K. Jordan
Law Teachers And The Educational Continuum, Michael K. Jordan
Faculty Scholarship
There are many difficulties in teaching the law. These problems are often referred to generically as the difficulty in training students to "think like lawyers." The primary focus of the literature discussing these concerns has, therefore, been on how law schools should assist students in developing this ability. Underlying much of this literature is the assumption that what is needed is some tinkering with the law school curriculum. Students are believed to enter law with a set of abilities and potentialities that are honed by the law school curriculum to produce something called a lawyer or the skill denominated as …
Rosalie Wahl: Her Extraordinary Contributions To Legal Education, James F. Hogg
Rosalie Wahl: Her Extraordinary Contributions To Legal Education, James F. Hogg
Faculty Scholarship
Justice Rosalie Wahl is well-known as the first woman to be appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, but she has made a lesser known, yet critical, contribution to the quality and effectiveness of legal education in this country. As chair of the American Bar Association's Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, Wahl created the MacCrate Commission. The MacCrate Report charts the way for improvement in law school teaching and learning, and the discussion following the report lead to the creation of an ABA Commission to take testimony and review the ABA Accreditation Standards. Wahl also chaired this …
Learning By Doing - Preparing Law Students For The Practice Of Law: The Legal Practicum, John O. Sonsteng, Roger S. Haydock
Learning By Doing - Preparing Law Students For The Practice Of Law: The Legal Practicum, John O. Sonsteng, Roger S. Haydock
Faculty Scholarship
The MacCrate Report outlined ten skills that are essential for every practicing attorney and should ideally be taught in every law school. The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) concluded that these ten skills cannot be effectively obtained through every law school curriculum because of each school's individual, economic limitations. This article demonstrates how one law school—William Mitchell College of Law, in St. Paul, Minnesota—has , since 1984, incorporated a cost effective Legal Practicum course into its curriculum to help meet the MacCrate Report goal of providing the law student with the opportunity to learn and apply fundamental lawyering skills. …
Our Perspective On Irac, Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann
Our Perspective On Irac, Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann
Faculty Scholarship
In this brief article, the authors present their view of IRAC, an acronym for Issue, Relevant law, Application to facts, and Conclusion. The authors conclude that IRAC can be taught so that students understand not only why it is useful as a thinking and writing tool, but also that proper use of it requires judgment and creativity. When IRAC is presented this way, the authors assert, it can serve first-year students well as they study legal writing. And they will operate accordingly, even without being aware of its influence, during their years as practicing lawyers.
Using The Maccrate Report To Strengthen Live-Client Clinics, Ann Juergens
Using The Maccrate Report To Strengthen Live-Client Clinics, Ann Juergens
Faculty Scholarship
Clinical teachers can use the "MacCrate Report"—the Report of the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap and its Statement of Skills and Values—in a variety of ways to help live-client clinics. This paper assumes that the reader has basic background knowledge of the MacCrate Report. It also makes a fundamental judgment about the value and role of live-client clinics: it assumes that strengthening live-client clinics is important for the future of legal education. Strategies for negotiation for educational change, of course, must be tailored to each negotiation's context. Each law school has its own …
Teach Your Students Well: Valuing Clients In The Law School Clinic., Ann Juergens
Teach Your Students Well: Valuing Clients In The Law School Clinic., Ann Juergens
Faculty Scholarship
Law schools, teaching primarily by the casebook method, generally avoid the thorny issues that real clients pose.' Recently, however, law review articles and the ""regular classroom"" have referred more frequently to real client stories. Law school clinics are a primary source of client stories. Despite increased attention to clinical programs, client interests are frequently subordinated to the goals of students, clinical law teachers and law schools. This article urges clinicians to constantly evaluate whether and how well they and their students take their clients' interests and perspectives on clinical education into account. It argues that clinic teachers must learn to …
"Skilling" Time, Peter B. Knapp
"Skilling" Time, Peter B. Knapp
Faculty Scholarship
This article describes disagreements about the "MacCrate Report" on skills education for law students, as well as the connections between the Report's recommendations and legal education at William Mitchell College of Law. The final commentary focuses on what William Mitchell can do to further ensure that teaching prepares students for the learning they will have to do when they begin working as lawyers.
Skills For Diversity: Description, Evaluation And Recommendations, Eric S. Janus
Skills For Diversity: Description, Evaluation And Recommendations, Eric S. Janus
Faculty Scholarship
In May 1991, the William Mitchell College of Law Faculty voted to offer to all first year students the following fall a program to assist students "in learning how to work effectively with diverse others in professional situations." The faculty directed that the program be supervised by a member of the full time faculty, and that reaction to the program be evaluated by the Curriculum Committee. During the Summer 1991, the dean appointed me to supervise the program, and I asked Assistant Dean Joan Bibelhausen to assist me. The two of us worked closely with an informal group called the …
Clinics And "Contextual Integration": Helping Law Students Put The Pieces Back Together Again, Eric S. Janus
Clinics And "Contextual Integration": Helping Law Students Put The Pieces Back Together Again, Eric S. Janus
Faculty Scholarship
In legal education, as in all education aimed at practice, the relationship between theory and practice is an uneasy one. William Mitchell College of Law, one of the nation’s few free-standing law schools, has traditionally placed itself squarely on the practice side of the theory/practice axis. It has aimed to produce law graduates who could walk into a law office and begin practicing law—not lawyers who would spend additional years learning the profession at someone’s elbow. In recent years, William Mitchell has begun to embrace a more academic approach to legal education. This paper suggests that the College need not, …
Ethos And Conscience—A Rejoinder, Daniel S. Kleinberger
Ethos And Conscience—A Rejoinder, Daniel S. Kleinberger
Faculty Scholarship
In “Wanted: An Ethos of Personal Responsibility,” Professor Kleinberger sought to prompt debate about the moral preconceptions of the legal profession. Professor Morawetz responded in his essay, “Layers and Conscience.” This article responds, commenting on Morawetz’s arguments that (1) excessive pessimism about lawyer morality is unfounded and counterproductive; (2) the public’s antipathy toward lawyers is inevitable given the role lawyers play in our society; (3) codes of ethics can and do have an uplifting influence on the morals of lawyers; and (4) law schools can and do train moral judgment.
Wanted: An Ethos Of Personal Responsibility—Why Codes Of Ethics And Schools Of Law Don't Make For Ethical Lawyers, Daniel S. Kleinberger
Wanted: An Ethos Of Personal Responsibility—Why Codes Of Ethics And Schools Of Law Don't Make For Ethical Lawyers, Daniel S. Kleinberger
Faculty Scholarship
This article: (1) argues that neither codes of professional ethics nor traditional modes of law school teaching do much to produce ethical lawyers; (2) asserts that ethics codes and the presuppositions of the adversary system work to alienate lawyers from a sense of individual responsibility; (3) critiques the conceptual connection between the adversary system and codes of lawyer ethics; (4) critiques the conventional approach to teaching legal ethics in law schools; (5) invokes the approach to ethical analysis championed by the German sociologist and social theorist Max Weber; and (6) explains how that approach, coupled with traditional tools of legal …
Court Trial Empirical Survey: Interview Responses From Trial Judges Explaining Their Experiences And Views Regarding The Trial Of Non-Jury Cases, John O. Sonsteng, Roger S. Haydock
Court Trial Empirical Survey: Interview Responses From Trial Judges Explaining Their Experiences And Views Regarding The Trial Of Non-Jury Cases, John O. Sonsteng, Roger S. Haydock
Faculty Scholarship
Knowing how a judge will react to certain trial techniques in a trial can greatly enhance an attorney's effectiveness in the courtroom. This article contains and explains the results of the authors' empirical survey. Fifty-nine judges serving in both criminal and civil court in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area were surveyed, with each judge responding to thirty-eight questions designed to obtain objective information concerning their experiences and views on effective trial advocacy. The survey covered eight topics: (1) trial briefs; (2) pretrial chambers discussions; (3) opening statements; (4) direct and cross-examinations; (5) evidentiary matters; (6) closing arguments; (7) findings of fact …