Law Commons^™

The Integrated Law School Curriculum, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

In January 2014, the American Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of Legal Education stated that “[a]n evolution is taking place in legal practice and legal education needs to evolve with it.” To this end, the Task Force recommended that the law school curriculum “needs to shift still further toward developing the competencies and professionalism required of people who will deliver services to clients.” In fact, the Task Force emphasized that “[a] graduate’s having some set of competencies in the delivery of law and related services, and not just some body of knowledge, is an essential outcome …

The Death Of Academic Support: Creating A Truly Integrated, Experiential, And Assessment Driven Academic Success And Bar Preparation Program, Adam Lamparello, Laura Dannebohm

Adam Lamparello

For too long, academic support programs have been viewed as the unwanted stepchild of legal education. These programs have existed in the dark shadows of legal education, reserved for students deemed “at risk” for satisfactorily completing law school or successfully passing the bar examination, and focused on keeping students above the dreaded academic dismissal threshold. The time has arrived for the remedial – and stereotypical – character of academic support to meet its demise, and to be reborn as a program that helps all students to become better lawyers, not just better law students.

In this article, we propose a …

Baker V. State And The Promise Of The New Judicial Federalism, Charles Baron, Lawrence Friedman

Charles H. Baron

In Baker v. State, the Supreme Court of Vermont ruled that the state constitution’s Common Benefits Clause prohibits the exclusion of same-sex couples from the benefits and protections of marriage. Baker has been praised by constitutional scholars as a prototypical example of the New Judicial Federalism. The authors agree, asserting that the decision sets a standard for constitutional discourse by dint of the manner in which each of the opinions connects and responds to the others, pulls together arguments from other state and federal constitutional authorities, and provides a clear basis for subsequent development of constitutional principle. This Article explores …

Developing Professional Identity Through Reflective Practice, Suzanne Darrow Kleinhaus

Suzanne Darrow Kleinhaus

No abstract provided.

Tough Love: The Law School That Required Its Students To Learn Good Grammar, Ann Nowak

Ann L. Nowak

No abstract provided.

Environmental Law And Three Economies: Navigating A Sprawling Field Of Study, Practice, And Societal Governance In Which Everything Is Connected To Everything Else, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

The vast sprawl of the environmental law field makes it a bemusing and confounding puzzle even to those who pursue it as their primary academic vocation. The amorphous breadth and intricate depths of environmental law present special challenges to anyone who tries to navigate the field. This Article addresses several of these challenges, briefly analyzing how environmental curricula are designed, and then suggests a potentially useful new way to conceptualize the realm of environmental law.

The Law Schools, Howard Glickstein

Howard Glickstein

No abstract provided.

"The Lord Speaks Through Me": Moving Beyond Conventional Law School Pedagogy And The Reasons For Doing So, Robert C. Schehr

Robert C. Schehr

ABSTRACT Maintenance of status quo law school curricular design and delivery, along with the continued marginalization of live client clinic programs, and the discordant objectives of law schools as compared to the expectations of Bar passage, serve to stifle the role of juridic practitioners in the service of justice. Decades of careful scholarship regarding the problems associated with the quality of legal education have repeatedly called for curricular revisions that should enhance the knowledge and skill base of graduates, develop their level of preparedness to actually serve in the profession, and demonstrate care for students. And while there has been …

The Political Economy Of Legal Education And Legal Pracitce: Judicial Globalization And The Establishment Of American Style Law Schools In Japan, Hidetoshi Hashimoto

Hidetoshi Hashimoto

This article analyzes recent legal reform in Japan, specifically focuses the establishment of American style law schools. The article examines current legal education, the National Bar Examination, rationale for legal reform, recommendations of the Judicial Reform Council, new law schools, law school admission, law school curriculum, the new bar examination, apprenticeship training and practicing law in Japan. The attempt of legal reform is in response to demand for greater citizen participation in judicial process in Japan but also to judicial globalization. The author stresses that the judicial reform must be made in such a way that it guarantees judicial independence.

Baker V. State And The Promise Of The New Judicial Federalism, Charles Baron, Lawrence Friedman

Charles H. Baron

In Baker v. State, the Supreme Court of Vermont ruled that the state constitution’s Common Benefits Clause prohibits the exclusion of same-sex couples from the benefits and protections of marriage. Baker has been praised by constitutional scholars as a prototypical example of the New Judicial Federalism. The authors agree, asserting that the decision sets a standard for constitutional discourse by dint of the manner in which each of the opinions connects and responds to the others, pulls together arguments from other state and federal constitutional authorities, and provides a clear basis for subsequent development of constitutional principle. This Article explores …

Theory And Practice In Legal Education: An Essay On Clinical Legal Education, Mark Spiegel

Mark Spiegel

In this Article, the author argues that where clinical education fits within the law school curriculum does not have to be viewed as simply a question of whether more skills training is needed to balance the theory of the traditional curriculum. The author posits that stating the question this way obscures the choices already made, as most types of legal education have elements of both theory and practice. However, how the terms “theory” and “practice” are defined strongly influences how various aspects of legal education are perceived. Therefore, the way we view clinical education depends as much upon the viewpoint …