Legal Education Commons^™

Res Gestae 2024 Fall Issue, Lindsay Wilcox, Angela Turnbow, Austen Diamond, Lexie Kite, Elizabeth Kronk Warner, Violet Maw, Henry Randolph, Dave Titensor

Law School Historical Documents

The Alumni Magazine for the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah

Blind Grading Gives Law Schools 20/20 Vision, Amy H. Soled

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

There has been a big push to revamp legal education. Many have argued that after years of doing things the same way, it is time to change. While there is validity for the need for reform, educators should embrace the one thing legal education has gotten right: anonymous or blind grading. This Essay makes the case that blind grading should not only remain in legal education, but every law school course should adopt it, including writing and clinical courses. Only through blind grading can law schools better succeed in the ABA mandated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Grades are …

Room To Grow: Exorcising The Curse Of Coverage To Make Room For Professional Identity Formation, Barbara Glesner Fines

Faculty Works

In any conversation about integrating opportunities for professional identity formation into the curriculum, particularly when suggesting that these opportunities be integrated into required doctrinal courses, one will hear an objection that there is no room for these learning activities. Many doctrinal teachers worry that incorporating professional identity formation opportunities or focus into classes would require sacrificing the critical time, doctrinal content, and analytical skills that are the “signature pedagogy” of law schools. Lawyering skills faculty, already managing a broad, feedback-intensive range of learning objectives, may object that their courses are the last place one can find room for one more …

Summer 2024: Breaking Ground

The Weldon Times

A student-run publication from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Co-Editors in Chief: Faith Thomson, Kimberly Gilson

An Approach To Monitoring And Assessing Online/Hybrid J.D. Programs, Rti International

Commissioned Research

The expansion of distance learning among American Bar Association (ABA)-approved J.D. programs has the potential to increase access to a legal education, especially for students who have traditionally faced barriers to J.D. attainment because of employment, family duties, geographical location, and other circumstances. Compared to attending class in person, distance learning provides greater flexibility and increased convenience and may also result in cost savings since students do not have to relocate or forgo earnings to enroll full-time.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, only a few law schools offered ABA-approved hybrid J.D. programs, but the pandemic temporarily forced all law schools online …

From Medic To Legal Maven: Military Veteran Turns Legal Interest Into Second Career, Samantha Mendoza

Black History at St. Mary's University - 2025 Collection

Starting a new career can be daunting; however, alum David Louis proves that it is never too late to do so. Louis served 20 years as a combat medic in the United States Army, and after doing so, received a J.D. degree from the St. Mary’s University School of Law in 2020. With his knowledge in Law and his experience in the military, Louis has found his new career as a clerk for the Supreme Court of Texas. While pursuing a degree is beneficial for many reasons, Louis found it especially beneficial for himself and his family due to the …

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 …

The Role Of Intuitive Reasoning In Lawyering And Legal Education, N. E. Millar

St. Thomas Law Review

Intuition-a process of "rapid cognition" that offers foresight and helps with creative problem-solving-is a powerful tool that lawyers can use to inform strategic decisions, avoid ethical pitfalls, enhance communication, and increase career satisfaction. However, many law students come to law school after decades of being taught to trust only external sources-such as data and authority figures-and out of touch with their internal, intuitive resources. Law schools exacerbate this disconnect by prioritizing grades, awards, rankings, prestigious jobs, and other external sources of satisfaction and meaning. Indeed, the study of law is primarily the study of external sources of guidance, such as …

The Guided Sequence For Formation Of Professional Identity, David I. C. Thomson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

When the ABA approved a requirement that law schools offer opportunities for the formation of professional identity, there were already several courses on the topic that had been developed in numerous law schools. But those are limited to the students who take them, and do not - even taken together - fulfill the ABA rule. Instead of trying to teach a course on professional identity—as if that were teachable in the didactic sense—we should instead create exercises (or modules if you prefer) in which students may practice making these decisions. We must do that in virtually every course a student …

Implementing Aba Standard 303(B)(3): Positive Legal Education Through A Community Of Inquiry, Joshua Aaron Jones

Faculty Scholarship

According to William Adams, Executive Director of Legal Education and Bar Admissions at the American Bar Association (ABA), “Full implementation [of 303(b)(3)] [was] expected by 2023.” The revised Standard requires that law schools provide “substantial opportunities” for professional identity development (PID). Though the ABA’s Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools and the related interpretations allow flexibility, the ABA left law schools without detailed guidance; without a unified professional identity concept, law schools across the country will implement a patchwork of programs, some stronger than others, that may curtail a global strengthening of the profession. Fortunately, scholars …

In-House Counsel(Or): The Case For Providing Integrated Mental Health Support Services To Law Students, Eric W. Shannon

Faculty Publications

While some American law schools currently provide onsite mental health support services to their student populations, many still do not. This essay is the first to argue that all law schools should provide onsite mental health support services to their students—ideally, by way of a mental health professional integrated within the law school’s staff (an “integrated mental health professional,” or “IMHP”) who is familiar not only with the unique pressures of law school generally, but also with the school-specific environment. It explores current data on law student well-being as well as external considerations including ABA recommendations and standards for law …

Critical Race Thinking In A Pro-Black Space: An Asian American Law Professor's Reflections On Teaching At An Hbcu, Philip Lee

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been the subject of both scholarly criticism and praise. Some of these colleges have shut down in recent years. Many HBCU law schools could face the same fate due to bar passage and other issues. However, with the recent Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admission, Inc. (SFFA) v. Harvard invalidating long-standing race-conscious admissions policies in higher education, HBCUs have become even more relevant in the educational landscape. As admission to historically White institutions (HWIs) become more elusive and as racial diversity at these places plumets, HBCUs are expected to admit …

The Music & The Movement: Race, Rhythm, And Social Justice, Renee Nicole Allen

Faculty Publications

From Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" to J. Cole's "Be Free," music has played a vital role in energizing social justice movements and elevating the legal and social issues facing Black people. An examination into the legal, historical, and social contexts for the music created during ten key movements in Black history reveals the role of lyrics and rhythm. Through the lens of music, ten movements—Freedom, Lynching, the Great Migration, Civil Rights, Black Power, Black Feminism, Police Brutality, Mass Incarceration, Black Love, and Black Lives Matter—demonstrate that Black music is more than entertainment. It is …

Access To Justice: A Roadmap To Creating And Launching Consumer Bankruptcy Experiential Programs In Law Schools, Ishaq Kundawala

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

No abstract provided.

Winter 2024: Amplifying

The Weldon Times

A student-run publication from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Co-Editors in Chief: Nicole Payette, Elyse Loewen

Moving Beyond Statements And Good Intentions In U.S. Law Schools, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

This Article seeks to answer these questions about how law school leaders might help to cultivate antiracist cultures within their law schools, among their students, and across the legal profession, even in the face of a growing national backlash against antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.³² Part I first establishes why it is important for law schools to "provide [an] education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism," as the American Bar Association (ABA) requires, and to train future lawyers who have the abilities to combat racism. ³³ In so doing, Part I defines key terms such as …

Mothers In Law: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Mothers In Law School, Sarah M. Jordon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mothers are an increasing student population in higher education but an extensively under-researched population. While research examining motherhood is limited, the dearth of studies examining motherhood in higher education is especially limited, with even less available in the legal field and the institutions that provide legal education. This study examined how mothers in law school made meaning of their experiences utilizing a postmodernist epistemological framework, postmodernism and performance as a theoretical framework, and critical discourse analysis as a methodology. Data collection took place over the 2022-2023 academic year. Eight mothers participated in this qualitative study representing a range of ability …

Fall 2023: Grounding

The Weldon Times

A student-run publication from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Co-Editors in Chief: Nicole Payette, Elyse Loewen

Women In U.S. Law Schools, 1948-2021, Elizabeth D. Katz, Kyle Rozema, Sarath Sanga

UF Law Faculty Publications

We study the progress of women’s representation and achievement in law schools. To do this, we assemble a new dataset on the number of women and men students, faculty, and deans at all ABA-approved U.S. law schools from 1948 to the present. These data enable us to study many unexplored features of women’s progress in law schools for the first time, including the process by which women initially gained access to each law school, the variance in women’s experiences across law schools, the relationship between women’s representation and student achievement, and the extent to which women disproportionally occupy interim and …

Summer 2023: Welcome To Weldon

The Weldon Times

A student-run publication from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Editor in Chief: Madeline Heinke

Maurer School Of Law, Iu Northwest Partner On Law Scholars Program, James Owsley Boyd

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

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law, working in collaboration with Indiana University Northwest, has established a new program to act as a pipeline into law school, the schools announced today (June 27).

The Indiana University Northwest Law Scholars Program will substantially reduce tuition for up to four IU Northwest graduates interested in pursuing a legal education in Bloomington, as well as supply qualifying students with dedicated faculty mentorship to help ensure their success.

Mindfulness For Lawyers Cannot Begin Too Early, Heather Simmons

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Mindfulness can help law students handle the stress of Socratic method and cold calling. But the standard mindfulness panic practice, which is to stop and take three deep breaths, doesn’t work because the professor is waiting for an answer. In my ABA Student Lawyer article, I describe the following alternative: Step 1. Plant your feet firmly on the floor; Step 2. Sit up straight; Step 3. Take one deep breath; Step 4. Now restate the question. These steps could easily be modified to work in court when the judge asks a challenging question.

‘Radical Turn Away’ From Admissions Tests? Deans Say Claims Of Increased Diversity May Be Unfounded, Tyler Fenwick

Christiana Ochoa (7/22-10/22 Acting; 11/2022-)

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Dean Christiana Ochoa said those who want to do away with requiring law school admission tests for diversity’s sake have it backward.

The idea that law school diversity would increase if tests like the LSAT and Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, became an optional part of the admissions process is unfounded, Ochoa said.

Instead, she said she’s worried the opposite is true — that the move would actually hurt diversity.

And she is not alone.

Ochoa was one of 60 deans to sign a letter last September pushing back against the proposed change to …

Clinics, The Cloud, And Protecting Client Data In The Age Of Remote Lawyering, Andrew C. Budzinski

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Technology has become central to law practice. Attorneys have an ethical obligation to understand how that technology works, how it can facilitate client representation—and the risks it poses to the confidentiality of clients’ electronically-stored data. Law school clinics seem to fall behind the curve on this obligation. Some maintain outdated protocols, and some have no protocols at all, to manage and safeguard client data. This leaves client data less secure than it ought to be, risking harm to clients, ethical violations for attorneys, and missed opportunities to communicate the importance of ethical technology use to clinic students.

This Article offers …

John Osborn's Enduring Words On Law & Learning, Walter Effross

Popular Media

When I started my first year at Harvard Law School, 17 years after Osborn did, I wasn’t looking for enlightenment. But I expected to be — and was — intimidated by Socratic taskmasters who, like the movie version of Osborn’s Professor Kingsfield (a role for which John Houseman won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 1973), were ready with “always another question, another question to follow your answer.”

Covid And Bar Admissions, Steven R. Smith

Arkansas Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic, killings of George Floyd and others, and civil unrest created dislocation, hardship, and uncertainty. For millions of people, it included deaths in family, unemployment, and serious mental and physical illness. Graduates of professional schools preparing to take licensing examinations faced unexpected obstacles in meeting licensing standards for their chosen professions. It quickly became apparent, for example, that the usual licensing examination arrangements were problematic. The question for licensing authorities in 2020 was what accommodations would be appropriate to take account of the disruptions applicants faced while fully protecting the public’s interest in careful licensing.

Belonging Matters: One School's Strategy For Fostering Community And Confidence Among Students From Historically Excluded Groups, Alexi Freeman, Caley Carlson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

For generations, law students from historically excluded and underrepresented groups—including but not limited to students of color, students with disabilities, gender diverse and gender non-conforming students, and students who identify as LGBTQIA+—have been expected to navigate their legal educations “successfully” despite the many challenges they encounter. This article describes Denver Law Ascent, a program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law that is designed to provide critical supports to such students and cultivate a sense of belonging early on as well as throughout students’ educational journeys. Drawing from evidence-based research and best practices, Denver Law Ascent is one …

Change Is Inevitable. Exhaustion Is Optional: Get Your Students Nextgen Ready With An Upcycled Mpt, Maggie Eilertson, Melissa Bezanson Shultz

Faculty Articles

Despite an understandable desire to play ostrich—to dig our heads into the sand so we cannot see and, therefore, can entirely ignore what is about to happen—change is coming to legal education. In July of 2026, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) will begin to phase out the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and will administer a new national licensing exam for law school graduates. This reality means that, depending on the jurisdiction, at least some part-time students who matriculated in 2022 and full-time students who will matriculate in 2023 will be faced with a new final hurdle before attorney …

Chatgpt, Professor Of Law, Tammy Oltz

Faculty Scholarship

In this Paper, I test the ability of ChatGPT to assist with common tasks performed by law professors. To conduct the experiment, I ran four service-related prompts and three teaching-related prompts through the free version of ChatGPT and then analyzed the results. ChatGPT performed very well on the service-related prompts and moderately well on the teaching-related prompts. I conclude that ChatGPT can provide law professors with near-finished products for routine tasks and a solid jumping-off point for those that are more complex.

Seismic Shifts: Post-Covid Legal Education And The Profession, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Articles

The 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic created significant upheaval in the legal profession. Courts closed, cases were delayed, and law firms and other legal institutions rapidly moved their employees and operations to a virtual forum. And among this disruption, law schools made unprecedented changes to their curricula and pedagogy as students attended classes over Zoom, through asynchronous means, or in a hybrid fashion that split their learning between in-person and online. These rapid developments have sparked new discussions regarding the future of legal education. Specifically, law schools and the American Bar Association (ABA) are now re-examining their approach to determine the appropriate …