Law Commons^™

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.

Judicial Knowledge, William B. Fisch

Faculty Publications

This paper reviews rules governing the use by judges in United States courts of their personal knowledge - as distinguished from that supplied by the parties in the adjudication of a civil case, whether of the particular facts out of which the dispute arises, or of general information with which the particular facts must be processed, or of law which is to be applied to the particular facts.

The Chaotic Pseudotext, Paul F. Campos

Publications

No abstract provided.

Teaching Research To Faculty: Accommodating Cultural And Learning-Style Differences, Jane Thompson

Publications

Ms. Thompson explores the challenge of teaching law school faculty how to research effectively, especially in light of a unique "faculty culture" and differences in individual learning styles.

Book Review, Marianne Wesson

Publications

No abstract provided.

This Could Be Your Culture--Junk Speech In A Time Of Decadence, Pierre Schlag

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Odds Against Teaching Conflicts, Gene R. Shreve

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Confronting Expectations: Women In The Legal Academy, Christine Haight Farley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

A seemingly insurmountable barrier to women's success in legal academia is the way they are perceived. Numerous studies have shown that women are perceived as less competent than men and that the same work is evaluated more critically when it is thought to have been done by a woman than by a man. This problem exists in all aspects of life, but it is especially acute for women in professional roles, such as academics. Legal academia, however, seems to be particularly resistant to viewing women as equally competent. The article presents original empirical research that shows that student evaluations of …

A Tribute To Jerry Israel: A Friend With A Messy Office, Debra A. Livingston

Faculty Scholarship

My legal education began with Jerry Israel.

During the fall of 1977, I was assigned to his section of Criminal Law. From the very first day of class, Jerry made it clear to us that the problems of crime and punishment were at once profoundly important and elusively difficult. Jerry taught from judicial opinions in the classic Socratic mode. Each day we were forced to grapple with the perplexing manner in which the language of precedent, so comforting when first encountered in the frame of an opinion, turned to quicksilver when tested against new cases, real or hypothetical.

Comment On Moliterno, Legal Education, Experiential Education, And Professional Responsibility, Lance Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

In attempting to predict and prescribe the future, my vision of the recent history of legal education differs from Professor Moliterno's in certain relevant ways.

I graduated from Law School in 1967. I learned largely through doctrinal courses that delivered steady training in thinking like a lawyer and information about areas of law. These courses exposed me and my classmates to legal lingo and to the standard types of legal arguments. We learned, largely by hearing the teacher and our fellow students, to make verbal moves and to see the strengths and limitations of others' argumentation skills and techniques. We …

Ethical Commitments, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Paying Attention To The Signs, Susan P. Koniak, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

After all our efforts and all Keck's money, where are we? Some good has been accomplished. By committing its resources to the study of legal ethics, the W.M. Keck Foundation has encouraged law schools to pay attention to a subject all too often ignored. That itself is good. The money has made things happen. Schools have held conferences devoted to legal ethics that otherwise would not have been held;¹ schools have experimented with teaching programs in legal ethics that otherwise might have been left untried;' members of the practicing bar have had conversations and debates with academics about the …

An Authentic Life In The Law: A Tribute To James K. Logan, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

UMKC School of Law Professor Irma S. Russell reflects on the professional life and legacy of Judge James K. Logan, exploring his career as a model of integrity, intellect, and dedication to justice. Through the lens of her experiences as his former law clerk, Russell examines broader questions about what constitutes a meaningful and ethical life in the legal profession. Blending biography, personal reflection, and professional critique, Russell argues that authenticity in law arises from commitment to community, ethical responsibility, and the pursuit of the common good.

Stories Out Of School: Teaching The Case Of Brown V. Voss, Elizabeth Samuels

All Faculty Scholarship

As a law teacher, I have observed these benefits of the case method, particularly with conducive appellate opinions and a skillfully assembled text. But I have also experienced, as I suspect most law teachers have, instances in which a case that lacks a sufficiently revealing narrative seems to mystify more than elucidate. One example is the case of Brown v. Voss, which appears in a number of property law casebooks, including the widely used Property by Jesse Dukeminier and James E. Krier. In Brown v. Voss the State of Washington Supreme Court departs, in a somewhat disingenuous way, from an …

Tomorrow's Law Schools: Globalization And Legal Education, Alberto Bernabe-Riefkohl

San Diego Law Review

This Article focuses on the globalization of world political and economic structures, and how this affects the legal community. The globalization movement opens opportunities for the expansion of the market of legal services, as well as affecting the availability and accessibility of those services. This movement places legal educators in a crucial juncture. This article describes the effects of globalization on legal education, and proposes changes for legal educators in order to help meet the challenge of preparing lawyers for practice in this rapidly changing world.

The Gulf Of Mexico, The Academy, And Me, Fran Ansley

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

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.

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. …

A Short History Of Hearsay Reform, With Particular Reference To Hoffman V. Palmer, Eddie Morgan And Jerry Frank, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Much of the history of the American law of evidence, including its most contentious issue, hearsay, is the story of stasis and reform. The case of Hoffman v. Palmer represents one of few cases concerning hearsay known by name, and illustrates that “false” evidence has often been used to caution against efforts proclaiming “radical reform” of the law of evidence.

In this case involving a collision between a car and a train, the critical question was: Is the defendant railroad permitted to introduce into evidence the transcript of a question and answer session made two days after the accident between …

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 …

Of Rat Time And Terminators, David R. Barnhizer

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

A version of rat time is being created within the legal profession as law schools pump 40,000 graduates a year into a saturated system. Understanding our present condition as a period of rat time can help us diagnose the problems of the legal profession, identify the future responsibilities of law schools and the profession, and create more effective solutions than the bandaids that have been proposed or applied thus far. This is particularly important because lawyers and law schools have lost their way. They are afraid to address their most troubling problems and to take the principled actions necessary for …

Teaching Commercial Law In The Third Year: A Short Report On A Business Organizations Commercial Law Clinic, John F. Dolan, Russell A. Mcnair Jr.

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Some Thoughts On A More Humanist And Equitable Legal Education, A. Wayne Mackay

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article starts with the premise that all teaching is a communication of values between student and teacher. An important challenge in confronting law is making it more inclusive and equitable. A critical step in this process is first recognizing one's own biases. Only then will genuine dialogue about the inherent biases in the legal profession and in law schools be possible. Making law schools more inclusive entails not only superficial changes, but an examination of what is taught, how it is taught and how students are evaluated.

A Holistic Approach To Criminal Justice Scholarship, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

A Teacher's Trouble: Risk, Responsibility And Rebellion, Margaret Martin Barry, Lisa Lerman, Homer La Rue, Odeana R. Neal

All Faculty Scholarship

What follows is an edited transcript of a session at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 7, 1995. The meeting was a joint plenary session of the AALS Section on Professional Responsibility and the Section on Clinical Legal Education. The meeting was planned and the role plays were written by Professors Margaret Martin Barry and Lisa Lerman of The Catholic University of America and Professor Homer La Rue of Howard University.

The purpose of the program was to foster interaction among teachers of professional responsibility and clinical teachers about …

Business Lawyers And Value Creation For Clients, Ronald J. Gilson, Robert H. Mnookin

Faculty Scholarship

This Symposium marks an important milestone in legal scholarship and education: The spotlight falls on business lawyers for a change. Ten years ago, when one of us first wrote about what business lawyers really do, no one had devoted much attention to this part of the profession. In his broadside against lawyers, Derek Bok, then President of Harvard University and formerly dean of its law school, reserved his invective for litigators and the litigation process. Business lawyers captured the attention of very few critics; even on the unusual occasion when we were noticed, the criticism was at least funny. If …

Becoming Gentlemen: Women's Experiences At One Ivy League Law School, Lani Guinier, Michelle Fine, Jane Balin, Ann Bartow, Deborah Lee Stachel

Publications and Research

In this Article we describe preliminary research by and about women law students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School—a typical, if elite, law school stratified deeply along gender lines. Our database draws from students enrolled at the Law School between 1987 and 1992, and includes academic performance data from 981 students, self-reported survey data from 366 students, written narratives from 104 students, and group-level interview data of approximately eighty female and male students.' From these data we conclude that the law school experience of women in the aggregate differs markedly from that of their male peers.

Starting With The Students: Lessons From Popular Education, Fran Ansley

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice And The Teaching Of Environmental Law, Richard Lazarus

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Playing The Game, Allan C. Hutchinson

Dalhousie Law Journal

Soccer is my game. It has been part of my life and, therefore, a part of me since before I can remember. Much of my early years was spent kicking a ball around in one setting or another. Sleeping or waking, I was never far from a soccer ball. On my own against a wall or with a couple of likeminded friends, I took the part of legendary favourites and played out some of soccer's great games. The stuff of boyhood fantasizing, some of my best memories can still be traced back to my grandfather's back yard or the local …