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The Lawyer As Dream Enabler, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

In law school and in law practice, the power of preparation is reinforced. Generations of law students have heard me extol the virtue of preparation above all others. While it is true, even the best preparation will never beat luck; luck is fickle and not subject to our control. On the other hand, we totally control the amount and quality of the preparation we put into any project. I discovered preparation is more important than good looks, nice clothes, a shiny leather briefcase, eloquence, experience, or even intelligence.

Editor In Chief & Managing Editor's Note, Kaitlyn Marquis Editor In Chief, J. Caleb Strauss Managing Editor

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

As we continue to navigate the challenges of a global pandemic, we have been honored to continue a tradition of scholarship with the publication of the 2022 edition of the Brigham Young University Prelaw Review. This year’s topics are grounded in issues on the cutting edge of legal thought, ranging from paid parental leave to the new frontier of Esports in collegiate athletics. Authors and editors were selected in July 2021, and since that time, they have honed their ideas and claims through devoted study and conversations with fellow authors and editors. After selecting their topics, authors and editors worked …

Reflections On Law Student Mental Health By A Dean Of Students After 25 Years, David Jaffe

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Your faculty need to be educated about how to refer students, how to speak with students who pop into their office. Your Dean, writ-large nationally, Deans need to have the willingness, and again, the bravado, the willingness to go to the faculty and say, "You need to be part of this movement." Whatever that may mean. I would love to see every faculty member taking 30 seconds at the beginning of every class for students to breathe. Thirty seconds of breathing. If you've never done it, do it at home today, deep breaths, and see what it feels like. I …

"It's Okay To Not Be Okay": The 2021 Survey Of Law Student Well-Being, David Jaffe, Katherine M. Bender, Jerome Organ

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The Survey of Law Student Well-Being, implemented in Spring 2014 [hereinafter "2014 SLSWB"], was the first multi-law school study in over twenty years to assess alcohol and drug use among law students, and it was the first multi-law school study ever to address prescription drug use, mental health, and help-seeking attitudes. The article summarizing the results of the 2014 SLSWB has been downloaded over 12,000 times.

With a desire to learn what has changed since 2014 given the increased emphasis on law student and lawyer well-being among law schools and legal professionals, the authors sought and received grant funding from …

Publisher's Note, Kris Tina Carlston Jd, Mba

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The 2022 Brigham Young University Prelaw Review (Journal) continues to demonstrate Brigham Young University’s commitment to excellence in scholarship and student development. Throughout this past year, it has been a privilege to work with ambitious students who want to produce the best possible undergraduate legal journal.

The Need For Social Support From Law Schools During The Era Of Social Distancing, Michele Okoh, Inès Ndonko Nnoko

Faculty Scholarship

Law students have been faced with unparalleled stress during the syndemic. They must cope with being students during the COVID-19 pandemic but also must deal with stress related to social and political unrest. This essay recommends that law schools apply social support theory in developing interventions to effectively address the needs of law students now and in the future.

Social support theory focuses on the value and benefits one receives from positive interpersonal relationships. These positive relationships impact both mental and physical health and promote beneficial short and long-term overall health. However, not all supports are the same, and social …

Lessons From Psychology For Law Practice Management, Peter G. Glenn

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

The Kids Are Alright, Rachel H. Smith, Rosa Castello

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

As with the law itself, law students are always changing. And law professors should regularly consider how those changes will impact the classroom and our pedagogical approach. For our year-long Legal Writing course, the law students of 2021-22 surprised us with the careful and nuanced way they thought about language. Our 1L students were more interested in parsing the meaning, effect, and approach to potentially offensive language than any students we had taught before. We learned a lot from them. And what we learned will have a lasting impact on how we teach legal writing and design our legal …

Lawyering Paradoxes: Making Meaning Of The Contradictions, Susan P. Sturm

Faculty Scholarship

Effective lawyering requires the ability to manage contradictory yet interdependent practices. In their role as traditionally understood, lawyers must fight, judge, debate, minimize risk, and advance clients’ interests. Yet increasingly, lawyers must ALSO collaborate, build trust, innovate, enable effective risk-taking, and hold clients accountable for adhering to societal values. Law students and lawyers alike struggle, often unproductively, to reconcile these tensions. Law schools often address them as a dilemma requiring a choice or overlook the contradictions that interfere with their integration.

This Article argues instead that these seemingly contradictory practices can be brought together through the theory and action of …

Introducing Students To Ethics And Professionalism Challenges In Virtual Communication, Carol Morgan, Katherine M. Koops, James E. Moliterno, Carol Newman

Scholarly Works

As the practice of law, and the conduct of business generally, focuses increasingly on virtual communication, the ethics and professionalism challenges inherent in email, videoconference, text, and telephone communication continue to evolve. These challenges are particularly prevalent in transactional practice, which involves frequent communication with a variety of parties through a variety of communication channels. Exposing law students to these challenges through exercises and simulations contributes to the continued development of their professional identity as lawyers.

This article presents a variety of exercises that introduce students to client confidentiality, inadvertent disclosure, and other ethical issues that often arise in the …

Law Library Usage For Legal Information Seeking Among The Law Students In Public Sector Universities: An Empirical Study, Jibran Jamshed, Muhammad Kashan Jamshaid, Iram Saleemi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Objectives: The primary purpose of this study was to determine the Law Library usage patterns of law students in the public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan. It analyzed the legal information needs of law students along with the purpose of their visits, availability of services, and major problems faced by law students in the law libraries.

Methodology: This empirical study was conducted while using a survey design. A structured questionnaire was distributed among the participants of the study using a convenience sampling technique. Collected data was analyzed and interpreted through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V23). …

Creating A More Diverse Workforce: How The Aall George A. Strait Minority Scholarship & Fellowship Program Is Supporting Future Minority Law Librarians, Shamika Dalton

Scholarly Works

The recent addition of a fellowship to the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship offers future minority law librarians a paid internship and mentorship as they embark on a career in law librarianship.

Radical Imagination: Fostering Community In Legal Education, Adrienne Baker

Student Scholarship

Study after study alerts us to concerns about law student wellbeing. Statistics are staggering, and law students are more likely to become anxious, depressed, and turn to substance abuse. Self-care is framed as an antidote, but the individual responsibility is still placed on the student. Rather, the issue is better resolved upstream.

Law schools must transgress and transform; they must reimagine their function. This article reflects on law school pedagogy and simple ways to build community in the classroom as well as school-wide administrative suggestions to promote law student wellbeing.

Take Note: Teaching Law Students To Be Responsible Stewards Of Technology, Kristen E. Murray

Catholic University Law Review

The modern lawyer cannot practice without some deployment of technology; practical and ethical obligations have made technological proficiency part of what it means to be practice-ready. These obligations complicate the question of what constitutes best practices in law school.

Today’s law schools are filled with students who are digital natives who don’t necessarily leverage technology in maximally efficient ways, and faculty who span multiple generations, with varying amounts of skepticism about modern technology. Students are expected to use technology to read, prepare for class, take notes, and study for and take final exams. Professors might use technology to teach or …

Will Legal Education Change Post-2020?, Heather K. Gerken

Michigan Law Review

The famed book review issue of the Michigan Law Review feels like a reminder of better days. As this issue goes to print, a shocking 554,103 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States alone, the country seems to have begun a long-overdue national reckoning on race, climate change and economic inequality continue to ravage the country, and our Capitol was stormed by insurrectionists with the encouragement of the president of the United States. In the usual year, a scholar would happily pick up this volume and delight in its contents. This year, one marvels at the scholars who …

Affirmative Inaction: A Quantitative Analysis Of Progress Toward “Critical Mass” In U.S. Legal Education, Loren M. Lee

Michigan Law Review

Since 1978, the Supreme Court has recognized diversity as a compelling government interest to uphold the use of affirmative action in higher education. Yet the constitutionality of the practice has been challenged many times. In Grutter v. Bollinger, for example, the Court denied its use in perpetuity and suggested a twenty-five-year time limit for its application in law school admissions. Almost two decades have passed, so where do we stand? This Note’s quantitative analysis of the matriculation of and degrees awarded to Black and Latinx students at twenty-nine accredited law schools across the United States illuminates a stark lack of …

Mindfulness For Legal Professionals: An Appeal For Positive Change, Dianna Mejia

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Recent studies and reports address growing concerns about high rates of chronic stress, depression, and substance use by lawyers and law students. The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being identified the practice of law as a profession that is struggling and urged leaders to act now to improve the state of mental health and well-being of legal professionals. Among the recommendations in the 2017 report, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change, the National Task Force included mindfulness as a practice to address the psychological and psychosomatic disorders permeating the legal profession. The National Task Force urged …

Collared—A Film Case Study About Insider Trading And Ethics, Garrick Apollon

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This Article discusses the visual legal advocacy documentary film, Collared, by Garrick Apollon (author of this Article). Collared premiered in fall 2018 to a sold-out audience at the Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto for the Hot Docs for Continuing Professional Education edutainment initiative. Collared features the story and reveals the testimony of a convicted ex-insider trader who is still struggling with the tragic consequences of “the most prolonged insider trading scheme ever discovered by American and Canadian securities investigators.” The intimate insights shared by former lawyer and reformed white-collar criminal, Joseph Grmovsek, serves as a painful reminder of the …

Law Student’S Response To The Covid 19 Infodemic On Social Media: An Empirical Study, Jibran Jamsheed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Object: The primary aim of this study is to analyze and determine the skills of undergraduate law students regarding the handling of misinformation about COVID 19 on Social Media. It determines the most reliable and most popular social media platforms used by the law students and also highlighted the different methods used by them to separate the grain from the chaff on social media.

Methodology: This quantitative study was conducted using the survey design. A structured questionnaire was distributed among the participants to collect the data. The collected was analyzed while using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences …

The Joys Of Mentoring, Michael A. Mogill, Jd, Llm

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Wants To Be A Prosecutor? And Why Care? Law Students’ Career Aspirations And Reform Prosecutors’ Goals, Shih-Chun Steven Chien, Stephen Daniels

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Often called “progressive” or “reform” prosecutors, a number of reform-minded prosecutors have been elected recently across the United States—promising a distinctive vision of criminal justice and signaling that their role will be more attuned to issues of race and equity than “law and order.” Furthering this vision requires dramatic changes to the working cultures—the norms, practices, and even personnel—of their offices. Diversity plays a major role.

One central challenge is identifying, attracting, and hiring newly-minted lawyers who can, over time, be socialized into and sustain a changing organizational culture. This article empirically examines that challenge, which involves two sides of …

Dumping: On Law Reviews, James Boyle

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conversations After Class: 'Becoming Critical,' Or The Steps Necessary To Achieve Critical Thought For Law Students, Daniel J. Sequeira

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professional Identity In Time Of Uncertainty: Not Moment Too Soon, Margaret E. Reuter

Faculty Works

This essay introduces the UMKC Law Review Symposium on Professional Identity Formation and Its Pedagogy, situating the collection of articles against the backdrop of extraordinary social and political upheavals, including the COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice movements, and threats to constitutional democracy. The Symposium brings together leading scholars and educators to explore how law schools can better prepare students to meet professional and societal demands by fostering a strong sense of professional identity. Themes emerging from the contributions include the integration of reflective practice, mindfulness, leadership, grit, growth mindset, externship experiences, and virtue ethics into legal education. Collectively, the works argue …

Compassion: A Critical Skill For Law Students, Stephanie Smith Ledesma, Ma, Jd, Cwls

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

What The Access To Justice Crisis Means For Legal Education, Kathryne M. Young

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Despite enormous social, legal, and technological shifts in the last century, the structure of legal education has remained largely unchanged. Part of the reason so little change has occurred is that the current model mostly “works”; it produces a professional class of lawyers to populate the ranks of law firms and government entities. At the same time, for decades, legal education researchers have considered it practically axiomatic that law school has room for improvement.

In this Article, I argue that the access to justice crisis—a deficit of just resolutions to justiciable civil justice problems for everyday people—compels an overdue examination …

The Struggle With Basic Writing Skills, Ann Nowak

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Julian Miller '23: Reflections On The Fall 2020 Semester, Julian Miller

Law School Personal Reflections on COVID-19

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Feminism, Law & Culture: Law Students’ Perspectives, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay is a collective reflection by thirty-nine law students on feminism, law and culture. In the Spring 2020 semester, the students who enrolled in the Feminist Legal Theory course taught by Professor Bridget Crawford at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University were a mixed-gender group of second-year, third-year, and fourth-year students. The course focused on the themes and methods of feminist analysis and the application of feminist legal theories to topics such as intimate partner violence, prostitution, pornography, sexual harassment, reproductive rights, and economic rights. Students attended a traditional seminar meeting once each week. Conversations continued …

Research Across The Curriculum: Using Cognitive Science To Answer The Call For Better Legal Research Instruction, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The American Bar Association (ABA), law students, and employers are demanding that law schools do better when teaching legal research. Academic critics are demanding that law professors begin to apply the lessons from the science of learning to improve student outcomes. The practice of law is changing.

Yet, the data shows that law schools are not changing their legal research curriculum to respond to the need of their students or to address the ABA’s mandate. This stagnation comes at the same time as an explosion in legal information and a decrease in technical research skills among incoming students. This article …