Legal Education Commons^™

A Simple Low-Cost Institutional Learning-Outcomes Assessment Process, Andrea A. Curcio

Faculty Publications By Year

Law school institutional learning outcomes require measuring nuanced skills that develop over time. Rather than look at achievement just in our own courses, institutional outcome-measures assessment requires collective faculty engagement and critical thinking about our students’ overall acquisition of the skills, knowledge, and qualities that ensure they graduate with the competencies necessary to begin life as professionals. Even for those who believe outcomes assessment is a positive move in legal education, in an era of limited budgets and already over-burdened faculty, the new mandated outcomes assessment process raises cost and workload concerns. This essay addresses those concerns. It describes a …

Remembering Ilene Barshay—Classmate, Colleague And Friend, Joseph B. Rosenberg

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Global Diffusion Of U.S. Legal Thought: Changing Influence, National Security, And Legal Education In Crisis, Fernanda Giorgia Nicola Dr.

Contributions to Books

During the twentieth century, the center of production of legal ideas shifted from France to Germany and then to the United States. Here, the dominant legal reasoning framed the law as a phenomenon of social organization that was not confined to a specific legal system. There were both external and internal factors influencing U.S. legal thought which explain this change of wind from continental Europe to the United States. Externally, after World War II the United States garnered influence by positioning itself for political and economic global leadership. Internally, the critique of social purpose functionalism articulated by the legal realists …

Developing Workplace Law Programming: A Labor Of Love, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Green reflects and comments on his work in developing workplace law programming as a key component of the annual SEALS program.

Planning Your Class To Take Advantage Of Highly Effective Learning Techniques, James Mcgrath

Faculty Scholarship

What are the most highly effective learning techniques? Take a moment and consider what you think they are. Write them down if it is convenient. The symposium that is the subject of this law review volume examines the impact of formative assessment. In this article, I will connect formative assessment possibilities with ideas on how to take advantage of some of the proven highly effective learning techniques. The road there is a bit tortuous, but it is my hope that even the most well-informed teacher will find something that they can add to their quiver of techniques to help with …

Assessments All The Way Down, James Mcgrath, Andrew P. Morriss

Faculty Scholarship

The role of assessments is getting attention throughout legal education. A growing acceptance of the Graduate Record Examination (“GRE”) as an alternative to the Law School Aptitude Test (“LSAT”) and its incorporation into the U.S. News & World Report (“USN&WR”) law school rankings opened the door to changes in who is going to law school and how they are recruited. At the other end of students’ journey through legal education, the discussion of recent graduates’ bar exam performance – linked by some to declining LSAT scores of entering students – raised questions about the design of bar exams as well …

Exploring The Meaning Of Experiential Deaning, Robert Dinerstein, Margaret Martin Barry

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article explores the position of associate dean of experiential education in law schools across the country and the central role associate deans play in the changing landscape of legal education. Experiential deans have broad responsibility for overseeing law schools’ experiential education programs. Additional responsibilities differ between institutions, but range from leading efforts to comply with new ABA standards to overseeing the integration of experiential education into the broader curriculum. Analyzing survey data collected from associate experiential deans across the country, the authors find the structure, content, and authority of the position is under-developed. The authors make recommendations on how …

Rethinking Digital Repositories And The Future Of Open Access, Margaret Schilt, Karen Shephard, Carol A. Watson

Scholarly Works

Over the last two years, changes in the legal publishing arena involving digital repository platforms have raised concerns about the future of open access. This article reviews the current status of the various repository platforms and how they impact legal scholarship. The article goes on to analyze the areas that law libraries should focus on in platform selection.

The Sharpest Tool In The Toolbox: Visual Legal Rhetoric, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Visual briefs and other forms of visual rhetoric in legal communication may eventually become the norm in legal practice because of the enormous communicative and rhetorical power of visual media. I have discussed the uses of visual legal rhetoric and the ensuing ethical and professional considerations elsewhere. Here, I will focus on providing instruction to law students and lawyers regarding proper and effective usage of visual legal rhetoric.

Assessment Of Professional Values In Experiential Education In Law: Becoming Who We Are Through Practice, John Erbes, Rebecca J. O'Neill

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Patent Jobs And The Myth Of The Employment Hypothesis, Kenneth L. Port, Lucas Hjelle, Molly Litman

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Imagination: Diversity And The Education Of Lawyers And Judges, Barry Sullivan

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Seven Principles For Good Practice In [Asynchronous Online] Legal Education, Kenneth R. Swift

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching The Art Of Effective Advocacy In The 21st Century: A Paradigm Shift, John O. Sonsteng, Samuel Heacox, Hannah Holloran, Cara Moulton

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Invitation To Explore Online Legal Education And Strategically Realign Legal Education, Alison Becker, Carrie Lloyd

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Uneasy History Of Experiential Education In U.S. Law Schools, Peter A. Joy

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

This article explores the history of legal education, particularly the rise of experiential learning and its importance. In the early years of legal education in the United States, law schools devalued the development of practical skills in students, and many legal educators viewed practical experience in prospective faculty as a “taint.” This article begins with a brief history of these early years and how legal education subsequently evolved with greater involvement of the American Bar Association (ABA). With involvement of the ABA came a call for greater uniformity in legal education and guidelines to help law schools establish criteria for …

Mini-Law School: Civic Education Making A Difference In The Community, Pat Newcombe, Beth Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

Western New England’s Mini-Law School Program increases civic engagement and awareness and provides opportunities for law schools and educators to help non-lawyers better understand the legal system. This article will discuss the Mini-Law School Program, a creative and extremely successful five-week community outreach program focused on demystifying the law. Our society is in dire need of greater civic education. Public policy surveys consistently reveal disturbing statistics about the public’s lack of civic awareness (e.g., 15 percent of the public knew that John Roberts is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but 66 percent could name an American Idol judge; 70 …

Examining Value, Measuring Engagement: A National Study Of The Long-Term Outcomes Of A Law Degree, Accesslex Institute, Gallup

Commissioned Research

By 2019, over 3 million Americans will be enrolled in a graduate program. This is an important and difficult choice for most students, given the time, money and uncertain job prospects associated with advanced degrees. The decision to attend law school is particularly challenging, as student loan burden and job market competitiveness have increased significantly since the end of the Great Recession. Furthermore, as noted by the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, the legal profession is “at a crossroads” caused by a dwindling market share, waning public confidence and mental health issues among lawyers. These challenges call for a …

Measuring Law School Clinics, Colleen Shanahan, Jeffrey Selbin, Alyx Mark, Anna Carpenter

Faculty Articles

Legal education reformers have long argued that law school clinics address two related needs: first, clinics teach students to be lawyers; and second, clinics serve low-income clients. In clinics, so the argument goes, law students working under the close supervision of faculty members learn the requisite skills to be good practitioners and professionals. In turn, clinical law students serve clients with civil and criminal justice needs that would otherwise go unmet. Though we have these laudable teaching and service goals — and a vast literature describing the role of clinics in both the teaching and service dimensions — we have …

Vol. 23: No. 1 (Winter 2018) Masthead

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law Library Blog (January 2018): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Vol. 23: No. 2 (Spring 2018) Masthead

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Legal Reasoning: A Critique Of Pure Lawyering, Jeffrey M. Lipshaw

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This is the Preface to Beyond Legal Reasoning: A Critique of Pure Lawyering (Routledge, 2017) (ISBN: 978-1138221307).

The book provides a critique of the traditional views of “thinking like a lawyer” or “pure lawyering,” aimed at lawyers, law professors, and students who want to understand lawyering beyond the traditional warrior metaphor. Drawing examples from the intersection of real world law and business issues, the book argues the “pure lawyering” of traditional legal education is agnostic to either truth or moral value of outcomes. It offers a critique of pure lawyering’s potential both for illusions of certainty and cynical instrumentalism, and …

Advising 2.0: Helping Students Achieve Academic Success Through Meaningful Academic Advising, Alicia Jackson

Journal Publications

It is becoming increasingly clear that current law students are seeking more wraparound support than previously provided by legal education, which begs the question, why? The answer is simple - modern law students are different and come to law school with very different expectations and experiences than students from previous years. To aid our students in achieving academic success, it is essential that we understand the complex needs of our students by first examining their previous educational experiences.

Academic advising is commonplace at institutions that serve undergraduate students. In fact, some would argue that academic advising is the cornerstone of …

What A Technical Services Librarian Wants Their Library Director To Know, Georgia Briscoe

Publications

Promoting the value of technical services librarians in the digital age.

The Economics Of American Higher Education In The New Gilded Age, Paul Campos

Publications

No abstract provided.

Boost: Improving Mindfulness, Thinking, And Diversity, Peter H. Huang

Publications

Many important decisions can be difficult; require focused, cognitive attention; produce delayed, noisy feedback; benefit from careful and clear thinking; and quite often trigger anxiety, stress, and other strong, negative emotions. Much empirical, experimental, and field research finds that we often make decisions leading to outcomes we judge as suboptimal. These studies have contributed to the popularity of the idea of nudging people to achieve better outcomes by changing how choices and information are framed and presented (also known as choice architecture and information architecture). Although choice architecture and information architecture can nudge people into better outcomes, choice architecture and …

Adventures In Higher Education, Happiness, And Mindfulness, Peter H. Huang

Publications

This Article recounts my unique adventures in higher education, including being a Princeton University freshman mathematics major at age 14, Harvard University applied mathematics graduate student at age 17, economics and finance faculty at multiple schools, first-year law student at the University of Chicago, second- and third-year law student at Stanford University, and law faculty at multiple schools. This Article also candidly discusses my experiences as student and professor and openly shares how I achieved sustainable happiness by practicing mindfulness to reduce fears, rumination, and worry in facing adversity, disappointment, and setbacks. This Article analyzes why law schools should teach …

Bridges Ii: The Law--Stem Alliance & Next Generation Innovation, Harry Surden

Publications

Technological change recently has altered business models in the legal field, and these changes will continue to affect the practice of law itself. How can we, as educators, prepare law students to meet the challenges of new technology throughout their careers?

Two Pedagogies In Search Of Synergy, Lisa Schultz, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

Anyone who has taught a first-year legal research course understands the dilemma: How do we weave research skills into the writing program without sacrificing the quality or quantity of either discipline? In fact, it is difficult and time consuming to interweave any serious legal research instruction into a first-year writing course. What the students need to know is not just how to do a little case law research or how to find a statute: they need to also know how to formulate a research plan, how to evaluate a database, what kind of search works in different information environments, and …