Legal Education Commons^™

Response To The Consultation Paper Of The Task Force On The Canadian Common Law Degree Of The Federation Of Law Societies Of Canada, Canadian Association Of Law Teachers/Canadian Law And Society Association, Richard Devlin Frsc, Hester Lessard, Roderick A. Macdonald, Diana Majury, Annie Rochette

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Response to the Consultation Paper of the Task Force on the Canadian Common Law Degree (the Task Force) of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada was prepared by a joint Committee of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) and the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA).

'...And The Learners Shall Inherit The Earth': Continuing Professional Development, Life Long Learning And Legal Ethics Education, Richard Devlin, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

After many years of debate and resistance the Canadian legal profession is finally accepting that compulsory professional development is a necessity. We argue that as the legal profession begins to design and deliver these programmes it should take into consideration the insights of the educational literature on lifelong learning. By way of a concrete example we explore the ways in which lifelong learning theory can inform the design and delivery of legal ethics education.

Before They Even Start: Hope And Incoming 1ls, Barbara Brunner

Faculty Scholarship

Newly-accepted law school 1Ls often express interest in how they should spend the summer before starting their fall courses in order to be best prepared for success in their first semester. This desire to have a "leg up" on law school success leads those of us teaching first-year courses to think more deeply about what constitutes a "good preparation" for the unique experiences that new law students will face, and what skills are really necessary to increase their possibilities of success, especially in the first semester.

Over the past few years, I have compiled a list of activities which I …

Launch Of An International Transactions Clinic: Doing Good While Doing Deals, Deborah Burand

Articles

September 2008 marked the launch of the International Transactions Clinic (ITC) at the University of Michigan Law School, the first legal clinic of its kind to combine an international and transactional focus. As Law School Dean Evan Caminker said upon the launch of the ITC, “[t]his is an exciting opportunity to involve a new generation of bright legal minds in cross-border transactions that will train our students for a lifetime of international business dealings, and that can also make an enormous difference in the lives of people in the developing world.”

One Student’S Thoughts On Law School Clinics, Jeffrey Ward

Faculty Scholarship

Law school offers few opportunities for students to move beyond the ink and paper law of textbooks to see the actual effects of real law on real communities. Because law school clinics offer a rare opportunity for students to see the real and imperfect law-in-action, the import of immersive clinical experiences on the education of tomorrow's lawyers is inestimable. Through clinics, students learn how the law really works, witness its power and its shortcomings, and ideally begin to envision what shape the law ought to take. Expressing a student's perspective on how to make the most of the extraordinary opportunity …

From Judge To Dean: Reflections On The Bench And The Academy, David F. Levi

Faculty Scholarship

In July of 2007, having served nearly seventeen years as a United States District Judge with chambers in Sacramento, California, I moved to Durham, North Carolina, to become the fourteenth dean of the Duke University Law School. I would concede that in the grand scheme of things such a transition must be deemed unremarkable. Lawyers have become soldiers, presidents, artists, and inn keepers. Judges have left the bench to do much the same. Nonetheless, in the somewhat closed worlds of the federal bench and the legal academy, at a time when the two worlds have seemed to drift apart, such …

Supporting Scholarship: Thoughts On The Role Of The Academic Law Librarian, Richard A. Danner

Faculty Scholarship

Discussing the role of the law library in legal education is necessary and essential, both because of the demands libraries place on increasingly tight law school budgets and space, and the challenges that libraries face as the information they collect and organize has moved largely from print to digital formats. This paper explores the roles of academic law librarians in supporting faculty scholarship within the context of the forces affecting libraries, librarians, and legal education in the (still early) twenty-first century. Although it has been more than 30 years since the widespread adoption of the legal research databases in the …

The Pedagogy Of The Old Case Method: A Tribute To “Bull” Warren, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

First in a series of occasional features, "Legends of the Legal Academy," focused on law teachers whose lessons and teaching style left an enduring imprint on their students, their institutions, and the profession. This essay is a modification of a comment on Duncan Kennedy's youthful assault on the legal education that he had recently experienced, Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy: A Polemic Against the System (1983). Kennedy's book was republished in 2003 by the New York University Press, with Prof. Carrington's comment as an addendum to its republication.

Levinas, Law Schools And The Poor: They Stand Over Us, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

In the style of philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, who has written about the ethics of the Face, this essay challenges the complacency of most American law schools in response to the plight of the poor and proposes ways in which the law school curriculum, space and programs can be re-configured to bring the poor into community with legal educators and students.

A Brief Reflection On The Stages Of The Clinical Year: Group Process With Existentialist Roots, Richard J. Wilson

Working Papers

This short article focuses on "units," or stages of group process, part of my shared experience in law teaching and in adult education at St. Mark’s Church, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. The article explores the context of the functional education program of church teaching and its common elements with clinical law teaching. The unit structure from church teaching translates well, I conclude, into the structure of clinical legal education.

The Goals And Objectives Of Law Schools Beyond Educating Students: Research, Capacity Building, Community Service-The National University Of Singapore School Of Law Experience, Cheng-Han Tan

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

No abstract provided.

An Autobiography Of A Digital Idea: From Waging War Against Laptops To Engaging Students With Laptops, Diana R. Donahoe

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This is an autobiographical account of my attempt to bridge the digital divide to meet students' changing needs. When I first began teaching at Georgetown University Law Center in 1993, I employed many traditional teaching techniques and used printed textbooks. However, laptops soon began peppering my classroom; at first there were only a few, and then suddenly almost every student was hiding behind a laptop. I noticed that my students were looking down at their screens, typing furiously, instead of watching me while I discussed my material written on the blackboard or projected overhead. When I realized that I was …

In Honor: Law Review Faculty Adviser & Professor Emeritus Eugene J. Davidson, John A. Lynch Jr.

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Digitization And Democracy: The Conflict Between The Amazon Kindle License Agreement And The Role Of Libraries In A Free Society, Gregory K. Laughlin

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ivory Tower At Ground Zero: Conflict And Convergence In Legal Education's Responses To Terrorism, Peter Margulies

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Journey Toward Excellence In Clinical Legal Education: Developing, Utilizing And Evaluating Methodologies For Determining And Assessing The Effectiveness Of Student Learning Outcomes, Ann Marie Cavazos

Journal Publications

This Article proposes pedagogy and methodology for the assessment of student learning outcomes in a Model Clinic Program, intended to accomplish the clinic's goal of preparing students for the practice of law. The Clinic Model emphasizes apprenticeship methodology and assessment pedagogy to ensure that students are learning and developing the legal skill sets that they are expected to learn. In this Article, the Author will depict the Clinic Model in the present tense to illustrate a working, not just a theoretical, model.

Addressing Problems Of Power And Supervision In Field Placements, Nancy M. Maurer, Robert F. Seibel

Faculty Scholarship

Power dynamics play a role in all workplace relationships and are of particular significance in field placement programs where such dynamics can have an impact on the learning opportunities for law students. This article examines power issues in relation to supervision of law students. The article begins by exploring the parameters of the problem through examples, and then examines the potential consequences of failing to address such issues in field placement programs, including ethical ramifications. Faculty in field placement programs, who generally are not responsible for client work product, have a unique opportunity to address power and supervision issues with …

The Pedagogy Of "Yes We Can": Teaching Reformative Legal Justice In The Age Of Obama, Leroy Pernell

Journal Publications

These brief comments, delivered as part of the 5th Annual Fred Gray Sr. Civil Rights Symposium, Faulkner University, Thomas Goode Jones School of Law October 21, 2009, do not challenge whether law schools and the profession sufficiently make the case for public service and commitment to societal good; admittedly most existing standards and curricula do. Rather, these comments address the opportunity for legal education to tap, and expand on, a heightened psychological and emotional commitment that might be engendered in law students following the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

Time To Blossom: An Inquiry Into Bloom’S Taxonomy As A Hierarchy And Means For Teaching Legal Research Skills, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

Within law librarianship and legal education, there has been far too little scholarly engagement on the underlying pedagogy at the heart of legal research instruction. To correct this deficiency, law librarianship needs to open a dialogue and should consider adapting Bloom’s Taxonomy as a common schema for a collaborative effort.

This paper was initially presented at the "Conference on Legal Information: Scholarship and Teaching," held at the University of Colorado Law School on June 21-22, 2009, as part of its Boulder Summer Conference Series. It follows the author's own recently published challenge to law librarianship and legal research instructors to …

Opposition To Clinics Tests Attorney-Client Privilege; Students Working On Pro Bono Cases Leave Schools Vulnerable To Confidentiality Challenges, Patrick C. Brayer

Faculty Works

This National Law Journal article draws attention to past attempts by government and private parties to pierce the protections of the attorney client relationship, specifically confidentiality, when it comes to the representation of clients by law school clinics. Several law school clinics and innocence projects have defended themselves against actions by prosecuting attorney offices and opposing parties who have attempted to obtain information that is traditionally protected by state and federal confidentiality rules. Law school clinics, public interest organizations, innocence projects, government agencies and Public Defender organizations can better protect themselves from future attempts by opposing parties to invade the …