Teaching Health Law

Abstract

This column is based on my personal experience teaching in both United States medical and law schools and is intended to provide an overview of how they each take very different ap­ proaches to what is inherently a very similar task: educating young adults who want to join a specific profes­ sion. It is intended to compare and contrast the two in order to promote better understanding between the two professions and to point out ways in which each might learn from the other. I know that American medi­ cal education is not perfect and do not advocate adopting it wholesale into legal education. I also know that many ofthe teaching techniques used in American medical schools are al­ ready being used in a wide variety of higher-education setting including law schools.l Evidence from teaching conferences sponsored by the Society of American Law Professors (SALT), the listervs on teaching methods and humanizing legal education of the Association ofAmerican Law Schools (AALS), and a review of the literature collectively demonstrate that numer­ ous law professors are committed to incorporating many of the things discussed in this column. Professor Roy Stuckey's Best PracticesforLegal Educationis an outstanding resource that brings together many innovative and effective teaching methods. 2 The literature on clinical legal education and teaching legal research and writ­ ing also suggests innovations analo­ gous to those adopted in medical schools. 3