Legal Education Commons^™

A Methodical Approach To Legal Research: The Legal Research Plan, An Essential Tool For Today's Law Student And New Attorney, Caroline L. Osborne

Scholarly Articles

This article lays out an approach to teaching legal research through an examination of historical and contemporary approaches to legal research and research instruction. It discusses creating a research plan and reviews the most commonly used legal research texts. It concludes with sample research assignments and assessment tools.

Teaching Social Justice, Expanding Access To Justice: An Introduction, Ngai Pindell, Jackie Gardina

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

The jig is up. Countless articles have exposed the disconnect between legal education and legal practice, and countless more have exposed the fibs of some law schools when it comes to reporting certain information to U.S. News and World Report. Whatever we have been doing wrong has finally caught up with us. Among the loudest and bravest voices excoriating law schools is Brian Tamanaha, the William Gardiner Hammond Professor of Law at the Washington University School of Law. In this book review, Professor Nancy Rapoport reviews Tamanaha's Book Failing Law Schools.

Plus Ça Change, Plus C’Est La Même Chose, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This essay takes the original plans from NYU Law School and draws analogies between those plans and the issues facing legal education today.

Benjamin Butler's 1835 Plan for the Organization of a Law Faculty and for a System of Instruction in Legal Science in the University for the City of New-York will make any law school dean feel like Yogi Berra: it’s “deja-vu all over again.” The issue of how best to organize a curriculum to train legal professionals was a hot topic then, and it’s a hot topic now.

Across The Curriculum: Integrating Transactional Skills Instruction, Jean M. Whitney, Lori D. Johnson, Richard A. Rawson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Managing U.S. News & World Report--The Enron Way, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Of Carts And Horses: Organizing Remedies For The Classroom, Elaine W. Shoben

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Joining The Conversation: Law Library Research Assistant Programs And Current Criticisms Of Legal Education, David Mcclure

Scholarly Works

Law libraries should play a greater role in addressing the current crisis in legal education. Proponents for educational reform often view libraries as a vehicle for cost savings, while overlooking the ability of libraries to train students in the skills and competencies that are essential for the practice of law. Libraries’ research assistant programs can be particularly effective in imparting workplace values and lawyering skills beyond the traditional law school curriculum. This article encourages libraries to build on the strengths of their research assistant programs as a substantive way to equip law students with essential skills for today’s legal marketplace.

Legal Writing: A Doctrinal Course, Linda H. Edwards

Scholarly Works

Legal writing instruction in American law schools has come a long way. Although scattered experiential courses and co-curricular activities have existed since legal education moved into a university setting, the modern era of skills education began in the 1950s and 1960s, with the creation of live-client clinics at many law schools. Early legal writing programs soon followed, moving into the main stream of curricular reform during the 1980s and 1990s. As these new courses and new instructors moved into the academy, the language of legal education naturally changed. Law faculties found themselves wanting to describe these new additions to the …

We Have A Dream: Integrating Skills Courses And Public Interest Work In The First Year Of Law School (And Beyond), Sara Rankin, Lisa Brodoff, Mary Bowman

Faculty Articles

The clinical and legal writing faculty at the Seattle University School of Law are experimenting with collaborative teaching projects that bring real clients and real legal problems into the first year curriculum. These “integrated skills projects” engage first year students with legal writing faculty, clinical faculty, and public interest work. These projects provide first year students with exceptional training in practical skills, generate remarkable student satisfaction, and re-ignite student passion for the practice of law. This essay (1) introduces a “continuum” of integrated legal skills projects, featuring applied examples of activities that range from discrete to more ambitious; (2) surveys …

Can Law Schools Prepare Students To Be Practice Ready?, Sara Rankin, Susanna K. Ripken, R. Michael Cassidy, James E. Moliterno

Faculty Articles

The transcription of 2013 Chapman Law Review Symposium: “The Future of Law, Business, and Legal Education: How to Prepare Students to Meet Corporate Needs”. Professor Rankin, along with James E. Moliterno, R. Michael Cassidy, and Susan B. Myers, answer the first panel question, "Can law schools prepare to students to be practice ready?" Professor Rankin discusses the importance of innovations in legal education, and explains how she is actually changing the first year to focus on real-client and real-world experiences. She explains the innovations taking place at Seattle University in her first year lawyering skills classes, where her first-year students …

Promoting Language Access In The Legal Academy, Gillian Dutton, Beth Lyon, Jayesh Rathod, Deborah Weissman

Faculty Articles

Since the 1960s, the United States government has paid increasing attention to the rights of language minorities and to the need for greater civic and political integration of these groups. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the issuance of Executive Orders, and intervention by the federal judiciary, progress has been made in the realm of language access. State and local courts have likewise taken steps (albeit imperfectly) to provide interpretation and translation assistance to Limited English Proficient persons. Most recently, responding to both lack of services and inconsistent practices, the American Bar Association has set out …

Postscript To A Deanship, Annette E. Clark

Faculty Articles

The author reflects on her experiences as the dean of the Saint Louis University School of Law and tries to discern lessons that might be useful to other deans.

Derrick Bell: Oregon Trailblazer, Steve Bender

Faculty Articles

Tribute to Professor Derrick Bell

Derrick A. Bell, Jr.: Serving Two Masters Elegantly, Margaret Chon

Faculty Articles

Tribute to Professor Derrick Bell

Bell Labs: Derrick Bell’S Inspirational Pedagogy, Charlotte Garden

Faculty Articles

Tribute to Professor Derrick Bell

Derrick Bell: Ethical Ambition And Law Teaching, Natasha Martin

Faculty Articles

Tribute to Professor Derrick Bell

A Tribute To Derrick Bell, Henry W. Mcgee

Faculty Articles

Tribute to Professor Derrick Bell

Shareholder Primacy In The Classroom After The Financial Crisis, David Millon

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

A Community Of Procedure Scholars: Teaching Procedure And The Legal Academy, Elizabeth G. Thornburg, Erik S. Knutsen, Carla Crifo, Camille Cameron

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article asks whether the way in which procedure is taught has an impact on the extent and accomplishments of a scholarly community of proceduralists. Not surprisingly, we find a strong correlation between the placement of procedure as a required course in an academic context and the resulting body of scholars and scholarship. Those countries in which more civil procedure is taught as part of a university degree — and in which procedure is recognized as a legitimate academic subject — have larger scholarly communities, a larger and broader corpus of works analyzing procedural issues, and a richer web of …