Legal Education Commons^™

Concluding Remarks By Conference Co-Organizer, Richard H. Weisberg

Articles

This Article represents the concluding remarks made by Professor Richard H. Weisberg at "Disarmed, Distracted, Disconnected & Distressed," a conference on Modern Legal Education and the Unmaking of American Lawyers, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the Law & Humanities Institute, April 20-April 23, 2023.

Unsettling Human Rights Clinical Pedagogy And Practice In Settler Colonial Contexts, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Caroline Bishop Laporte

Articles

In settler colonial contexts, law and educational institutions operate as structures of oppression, extraction, erasure, disempowerment, and continuing violence against colonized peoples. Consequently, clinical legal advocacy often can reinforce coloniality--the logic that perpetuates structural violence against individuals and groups resisting colonization and struggling for survival as peoples. Critical legal theory, including Third World Approaches to International Law (“TWAIL”), has long exposed colonial laws and practices that entrench discriminatory, racialized power structures and prevent transformative international human rights advocacy. Understanding and responding to these critiques can assist in decolonizing international human rights clinical law teaching and practice but is insufficient in …

Trauma-Informed (As A Matter Of) Course, Natalie Netzel

Faculty Scholarship

Law students are impacted by trauma and law professors are in a position to help by adopting a trauma-informed approach as a matter of universal precaution. The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being (“SLSWB”) revealed that over twenty percent of responding law students meet criteria that indicate they should be evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). The study also revealed that almost fifty percent of responding students reported an important motivation for attending law school was experiencing a trauma or injustice. Put differently, law schools are full of law students who have experienced trauma, many of whom are actively struggling …

Taking Office Hours On The Road: How Pop-Up Help Desks Help Students, Mandee Baumer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reimagining Langdell's Legacy: Puncturing The Equilibrium In Law School Pedagogy, Laura A. Webb

Law Faculty Publications

For more than 150 years, legal education has largely followed the course charted by Christopher Columbus Langdell when he became dean of Harvard Law School in 1870. Langdell’s innovations included the case method, high-stakes summative assessments, and preferences for faculty members with experience in “learning law” rather than practicing it. His proposals were innovative and responsive to challenges in legal education at the time, but this Article argues that taking Langdell’s approach to reform—including a willingness toimplement radical changes in the face of institutional shortcomings—requires reimagining his methods for the benefit of today’s students. We identify key deficiencies of the …

Trauma-Informed (As A Matter Of) Course, Natalie Netzel

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Law students are impacted by trauma and law professors are in a position to help by adopting a trauma-informed approach as a matter of universal precaution. The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being (“SLSWB”) revealed that over twenty percent of responding law students meet criteria that indicate they should be evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). The study also revealed that almost fifty percent of responding students reported an important motivation for attending law school was experiencing a trauma or injustice. Put differently, law schools are full of law students who have experienced trauma, many of whom are actively struggling …

On Women Professors Who Teach Legal Writing: Addressing Stigma And Women's Health, Amanda L. Stephens, Sean A. Vina

Faculty Articles

Since the late 1980s, legal writing (LW) professors have been disproportionately white women because the LW field has been stigmatized as "women's work. "As a result, these teaching positions typically have been low status and afforded with less pay and job security in comparison to tenure-track doctrinal law professor positions. Compounding--or intersecting--with the stigma of teaching LW are LW professors' social statuses as women and/or other marginalized statuses. These statuses intersect and influence how and what they teach and the legal academy's attitudes toward them.

Although previous scholarship has briefly addressed legal skill classes' stigmatization, no scholarship to date has …

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 …

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.

The Scholar: Twenty-Five Years Of Change, Catherine Casiano

Faculty Articles

Catherine Casiano, the Assistant Dean of Admissions at St. Mary's University School of Law, a former staff writer and editor for The Scholar, reflects on the journal's twenty-fifth anniversary and evolution.

Feedback Loops: E-D-I-T (Continued), Patrick Barry

Articles

In the "Feedback Loops" column back in March, we introduced the "E-D-I-T" framework:

• Find something to Eliminate
• Find something to Decrease
• Find something to Increase
• Find something to Try

This new column will discuss each category more in depth.

Dethroning Langdell, Beth H. Wilensky

Articles

I come not to bury the case method. I come merely to dethrone it. While the case method’s monopolistic hold on the law school classroom has loosened somewhat in recent years, it is still the dominant approach to pedagogy in many law school classrooms—and especially in the first-year law student experience. That is also true of the case method’s traditional pedagogical partners, the Socratic method and the cold call: their dominance has declined somewhat, even while they still have remarkable staying power.

This Essay identifies one fault with our continued acquiescence to these pedagogical mainstays of law school classrooms: it …

Restoring Confidence In Educational Technologies, Ariel Newman

Faculty Works

This article explores how adaptable digital learning tools, originally designed for K-12 education, can enhance engagement and comprehension in law school classrooms. In response to lingering skepticism toward educational technology following the pandemic, the article advocates for a strategic approach that integrates interactive and student-centered methods rather than reverting entirely to traditional instruction. Newman emphasizes the importance of leveraging digital tools that align with the learning preferences of Generation Z students, fostering more dynamic and effective legal education. By rethinking how technology is used in law schools, educators can create more engaging and responsive learning environments that better prepare students …

The History Of Religious Hiring At American Catholic Law Schools, John M. Breen, Lee J. Strang

Faculty Publications & Other Works

A mission-driven institution requires personnel who are competent for the realization of the mission. The following article examines the practice of Catholic law schools hiring Catholics as law professors throughout the over 150-year history of Catholic legal education in the United States. The history shows that Catholic law schools alternately sought to hire Catholics as law professors or to hire individuals without regard to their religious affiliation as these schools’ self-understanding of mission changed over time.

Tribute To Professor James Moliterno, Patricia Roberts, Soledad Atienza, Eleanor Myers, Jim Heller, Gary Tamsitt, Neal Devins, Peter Čuroš, Maxim Tomoszek, Veronika Tomoszek, Pavol Žilinčík, Rongjie Lam, José M. De Areilza, Irina Lortkipanidze, Ján Mazúr, Javier Guillen, Lucia Berdisová, James Étienne Viator

Washington and Lee Law Review

A tribute to Professor James Moliterno, who served on the faculty of the Washington and Lee University School of Law from 2009 to 2022. An internationally active scholar of legal and judicial ethics, Moliterno was most recently the Vincent Bradford Professor of Law. For 21 years prior to joining W&L, he was a member of the faculty of the William & Mary Law School.

Nestlé V. Doe: A Death Knell To Corporate Human Rights Accountability?, Phillip Ayers

Seattle University Law Review

The Supreme Court in Nestlé v. Doe held that foreign plaintiffs who claimed to be victims of overseas tortious conduct by corporate defendants had no jurisdiction to sue in federal courts using the Alien Tort Statute. This Comment looks at the history of the Alien Tort Statute, from its inspiration, long dormancy, and recent reinvigoration beginning in the 1980s. The Comment then explores the background of Nestlé and its issues with child slavery in its cocoa supply chain. From there, the Comment analyzes the Nestlé v. Doe decision, and posits an alternative outcome. Finally, this Comment looks for a new …

Take Me To Church [Of Logan], Kelvin Santos

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forced Disclosures: The Reality Transgender People Face In Entering The Legal Field, Eden Yerby, Makayla Thomas

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Logan Church, Rebekkah Ruth Nardi Stoeckler

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Founding Of The Justice For All Edition, Rachel Dunham, Sophia Weaver

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.