Law Deans Research Articles

Lessons Learned: The Experiences of Non-Traditional Law Deans and the Law Schools That Hire Them

Lessons Learned: The Experiences of Non-Traditional Law Deans and the Law Schools That Hire Them

Noted social justice scholar named president of Mount Holyoke

After nine years as dean and professor of law at Howard University School of Law, Danielle R. Holley will assume the presidency of Mount Holyoke College July 1, becoming the first Black woman to serve as permanent president in the 186‐year history of the renowned women's college.

People With Disabilities Need Lawyers Too! A Ready-To-Use Plan for Law Schools to Educate Law Students to Effectively Serve the Legal Needs of Clients With Disabilities as Well as Clients Without Disabilities


 Canada's legal profession is not sufficiently equipped to meet the legal needs of clients with disabilities. For decades, legal education focused primarily, if not exclusively, on training law students to serve clients without disabilities. A law student can complete their legal education while learning little about how to meet the legal needs of clients with disabilities. Law students need to be effectively trained to serve clients with disabilities as well as clients with no disabilities. Law faculties commendably focus increasingly on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Disability should be a strong and equal focus in their equity, diversity and inclusion strategies. How can a law school fix this? This article gives a roadmap, and gives further resources enabling law deans and law teachers to quickly take action. This article first describes why it is important to expand a law school's disability curriculum. It spells out disability content that should be shared with students, including a course-by-course delineation of topics. It offers practical, cost-effective options for law schools to systematically work towards permanently embedding disability content in their programs. A law school should make a concerted policy decision and create an action plan. This article’s tools point the way. 

THE FOUR-YEAR LLB PROGRAMME AND THE EXPECTATIONS OF LAW STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL AND NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY: SOME PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A SURVEY

After the 1994 elections the Ministry of Justice convened several legal forums to deal with the legislative and other changes required to make the transition from minority rule to a broad-based democracy. The forums examined different aspects of legal practice, legal qualifications and legal education (see for instance, Ministry of Justice Legal Forum on Legal Education: Proceedings (1995)). The legal education forums were attended by the law deans of all the law faculties in the country. By 1997 there was agreement by the deans – albeit reluctantly by some – that the Baccalaureus Legum (LLB) degree in South Africa should be modified from a three-year postgraduate to a four-year undergraduate programme (McQuoid-Mason “Developing the Law Curriculum to Meet the Needs of the 21st Century Practitioner: A South African Perspective” 2004 Obiter 101). The deans made a number of recommendations regarding the new law curriculum, but there was no mandatory uniform law curriculum requirement. Each university had the freedom to decide what it should include in its programme. The deans only made recommendations – their suggestions were not binding (McQuoid-Mason “Message from the Chairperson of the Board of Control, Durban School” Law Society of South Africa and University of Natal School for Legal Practice: Commemorative Brochure 1994-1998 (1998) 14-15; and cf Iya “The Legal System and Legal Education in South Africa: Past Influences and Current Challenges” 2001 Journal of Legal Education 355). The deans reached consensus that the new law degree should take into account that: South African law exists in and applies to a pluralistic society; students should acquire skills appropriate to the practice of law during the course of their degree; and law faculties should strive to inculcate ethical values into their students. In addition to the traditional core courses taught in the three-year LLB programme the deans recommended that a number of new skills courses should be introduced. The decision as to which courses should be included in the curriculum was left to individual law faculties (McQuoid-Mason 2004 Obiter 101).

Accrediting Indigenous Australian Content and Cultural Competency Within the Bachelor of Laws

The most recent version of the Council of Australian Law Deans Law School Standards calls for embedding Indigenous cultural competence in Australian law degrees as a matter of best practice. To support this work Universities Australia has produced several reports that establish a best practice framework for Indigenous cultural competence, which is reinforced by the Universities Australia Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020. Universities and law schools have a responsibility to drive this change, to be reflective, and to contribute to an expanding community of practice on Indigenous cultural competence in legal education. This paper explores how Charles Sturt University embedded Indigenous cultural competency across core curriculum content of the Bachelor of Laws. The authors provide a detailed explanation of the course pedagogical mapping and specific subject content that was submitted for institutional accreditation.

Anthony Angelo and Law Reform in Mauritius

The author, former Professor and Dean of Law at Victoria University of Wellington and President of the Court of Appeal, discusses his experience working a law reform project in Mauritius with Professor Tony Angelo. As the author has experience in income tax reform, the article focuses on Professor Angelo's legislative drafting and policy development in relation to income tax law. Professor Angelo is described as a "one man Law Reform Commission" regarding his role in Mauritius, and discusses the importance of rules relating to technical interpretation and accessibility.

Obligation and Commitment in Family Law: Author’s Response

Obligation and Commitment in Family Law: Author’s Response Gillian Douglas Gillian Douglas Gillian Douglas, Executive Dean and Professor of Law, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London. Email: Gillian.douglas@kcl.ac.uk. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies, Volume 22, Issue 1, December 2020, Pages 147–159, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrls/jlaa004 Published: 06 January 2021

Presumptions of Incompetence, Gender Sidelining, and Women Law Deans, in Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia Utah State University Press, 2020

Presumptions of Incompetence, Gender Sidelining, and Women Law Deans, in Presumed Incompetent II: Race, Class, Power, and Resistance of Women in Academia Utah State University Press, 2020

INTRODUCTION TO THE PRETORIA STUDENT LAW REVIEW: SPECIAL EDITION ON THE DECOLONISATION AND AFRICANISATION OF LEGAL EDUCATION

This special edition of the Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR) is devoted to papers presented at a Conference on Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education hosted by the University of Venda and the South African Law Deans Association (SALDA).1 This was the third event on decolonisation and Africanisation under the umbrella of SALDA in the period 2016 to 2019 and the first devoted to law students.

Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2013

This recent developments outline discusses, and provides context to understand the significance of, the most important judicial decisions and administrative rulings and regulations promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department during the most recent twelve months — and sometimes a little farther back in time if we find the item particularly humorous or outrageous. Most Treasury Regulations, however, are so complex that they cannot be discussed in detail and, anyway, only a devout masochist would read them all the way through; just the basic topic and fundamental principles are highlighted – unless one of us decides to go nuts and spend several pages writing one up. This is the reason that the outline is getting to be as long as it is. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code generally are not discussed except to the extent that (1) they are of major significance, (2) they have led to administrative rulings and regulations, (3) they have affected previously issued rulings and regulations otherwise covered by the outline, or (4) they provide Dan and Marty the opportunity to mock our elected representatives; again, sometimes at least one of us goes nuts and writes up the most trivial of legislative changes. The outline focuses primarily on topics of broad general interest (to us, at least) – income tax accounting rules, determination of gross income, allowable deductions, treatment of capital gains and losses, corporate and partnership taxation, exempt organizations, and procedure and penalties. It deals summarily with qualified pension and profit sharing plans, and generally does not deal with international taxation or specialized industries, such as banking, insurance, and financial services. Please read this outline at your own risk; we take no responsibility for any misinformation in it, whether occasioned by our advancing ages or our increasing indifference as to whether we get any particular item right. Any mistakes in this outline are Marty’s responsibility; any political bias or offensive language is Ira’s; and Dan is just irresponsible.Bruce A. McGovern, Vice President, Associate Dean, and Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law, contributed to this article. Bruce’s contribution is (relative) youth.

‘Africa Needs Many Lawyers Trained for the Need of their Peoples’

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the setting up of university law schools in many African nations led to often bitter battles over the purpose of legal education. The stakes in these struggles were high. Deliberately neglected under colonial rule, legal education was an important focus for the leaders of new states, including Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana. It was also a significant focus for expatriate British scholars and American foundations, seeking to shape the development of new universities in Africa. Disputes centred on whether training would have a wholly academic basis, and be taught exclusively in the University of Ghana, or be provided in addition through a dedicated law school with a more practical ethos. This debate became entangled in a wider confrontation over academic freedom between Nkrumah’s increasing authoritarian government and the university, with its significant body of expatriate lecturers, and indeed in wider political and class struggles in Ghana as a whole. Tensions came to a head in the period between 1962 and 1964 when the American Dean of Law was deported along with other staff on the foot of allegations of their seditious intent. In this paper we document these complex struggles, identifying the broader political stakes within them, picking out the main, rival philosophies of legal education which animated them, and relating all of these to the broader historical conjuncture of decolonisation. Drawing on a review of archival materials from the time, published histories and memoirs, as well as interviews, we aim to show that debates over legal education had a significance going beyond the confines of the Law Faculty. They engaged questions of African nationalism, development and social progress, the ambivalent legacy of British rule and the growing influence of the United States in these territories.

Brexit and the Future of English Law

Sir David Lloyd Jones was the 2017 Victoria University Law Dean's Fellow. The following is a revised version of the lecture given at Victoria University of Wellington on 23 August 2017 on the likely impact of Brexit on English law. It is based on the information available at that date.

Australian Clinical Legal Education: Designing and Operating a Best Practice Clinical Program in an Australian Law School by Adrian Evans, Anna Cody, Anna Copeland, Jeff Giddings, Peter Joy, Mary Anne Noone and Simon Rice

Introduction: The book provides a fresh look at Clinical Legal Education (CLE) in Australia in 2017, and examines the diverse factors which influence law clinics during a time when many disruptions are occurring in higher education. The authors argue that clinics make numerous contributions to Australian legal education, including fostering student awareness of concepts of justice and how the law and legal processes impact on people. They express the view that CLE can challenge a contemporary overemphasis on screen-based learning, particularly in cases where learning is purely technology-based without human interaction. They also argue persuasively that CLE is potentially the major disruptor of traditional law schools’ core functions, by challenging some of the accepted norms in traditional learning in law, such as a reliance on case law and teaching by way of a formal lecture. As the book is the result of research report prepared by the authors with funding from the National Office of Learning and Teaching, it is based on extensive and thorough research in the area of CLE in Australia. The book also considers the complex issues associated with enhancing law students’ public-interest professionalism in an Australian context, and offers practical guidance on how to construct and operate a ‘best practice’ CLE program for the benefit of various stakeholders, including regulators, law deans, associate deans, law teachers and students.

Law Deans in Jail

A most unlikely collection of suspects - law schools, their deans, U.S. News & World Report and its employees - may have committed felonies by publishing false information as part of U.S. News' ranking of law schools. The possible federal felonies include mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, racketeering, and making false statements. Employees of law schools and U.S. News who committed these crimes can be punished as individuals, and under federal law the schools and U.S. News would likely be criminally liable for their agents' crimes.Some law schools and their deans submitted false information about the schools' expenditures and their students' undergraduate grades and LSAT scores. Others submitted information that may have been literally true but was misleading. Examples include misleading statistics about recent graduates' employment rates and students' undergraduate grades and LSAT scores.U.S. News itself may have committed mail and wire fraud. It has republished, and sold for profit, data submitted by law schools without verifying the data's accuracy, despite being aware that at least some schools were submitting false and misleading data. U.S. News refused to correct incorrect data and rankings errors and continued to sell that information even after individual schools confessed that they had submitted false information. In addition, U.S. News marketed its surveys and rankings as valid although they were riddled with fundamental methodological errors.

Labor Likes President's New Pick for DOL Secretary

Management Report for Nonunion OrganizationsVolume 40, Issue 4 p. 1-1 News Labor Likes President's New Pick for DOL Secretary First published: 17 March 2017 https://doi.org/10.1002/mare.30260Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Several labor unions have endorsed President Trump's new nominee for Secretary of Labor, Florida International University College of Law Dean R. Alexander Acosta. All unions opposed the previous choice, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, who withdrew from consideration. Volume40, Issue4April 2017Pages 1-1 RelatedInformation

Asia’s Ambivalence about International Law and Institutions: Past, Present and Futures

of Paper It is a paradox of the current international order that Asia — the most populous and economically dynamic region on the planet — arguably benefits most from the security and economic dividends provided by international law and institutions and yet is the wariest about embracing those rules and structures. Asian states are the least likely of any regional grouping to be party to most international obligations or have representation reflecting their number and size in international organizations. There is no regional framework comparable to the African Union, the Organisation of American States, or the European Union; in the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Group of 53 states rarely adopts common positions on issues and discusses only candidacies for international posts. Such subregional groupings that exist within Asia have tended to coalesce around narrowly shared national interests rather than shared identity or aspirations. In part this is due to the diversity of the continent. Indeed, the very concept of “Asia” derives from a term used in Ancient Greece rather than any indigenous political or historic roots. Today, regional cohesion is complicated by the need to accommodate the great power interests of India, China, and Japan. But the limited nature of regional bodies is also consistent with a general wariness of delegating sovereignty. Asian countries, for example, have by far the lowest rate of acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC); they are also least likely to have signed conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), or to have joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The proportion of Asian states that are contracting parties of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) is also the lowest of any region — though on that they are tied with Latin America. This paper explores the reasons for Asia’s under-representation and under-participation in international law and institutions. Part I traces the history of Asia’s engagement with international law and institutions. Part II assesses Asia’s current engagement with international law and institutions, examining whether its under-representation and under-participation is in fact a problem. Finally, Part III attempts to project possible future scenarios based on three different scenarios. These are referred to here as status quo, divergence, and convergence. Brief Biography of Author Simon Chesterman is Dean and Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law.

Learning Law through a Lens

In 2009 the Australian government funded the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards ('LTAS') project to identify and define academic standards and learning outcomes by discipline area, including law.1 The LTAS project identified six 'threshold learning outcomes' ('TLOs') for Australian graduates in the Bachelor of Law ('LLB') and Juris Doctor ('JD') degrees. The Council of Australian Law Deans subsequently endorsed the TLOs. TLO 5 relates to written and oral communication skills. In this article we examine two separate, but related, visual media projects that facilitate and support the development of this crucial learning outcome in law students at the University of Western Australia. In the first project Kate Offer created short films of courtroom scenes from a fictitious trial, loosely based on the Harry Potter books, which she used in large lectures in the core unit, 'Evidence'. For the second project, Natalie Skead made a film using the virtual reality platform, Second Life, which she used in small group teaching in the core unit, 'Equity and Trusts'.

Global standards and outcomes of a legal education: how rubrics can help to deliver objectivity, transparency, verifiability and consistency

ABSTRACTRubrics may be time-consuming to create but they are superior to the usual method of evaluation: a number scrawled at the bottom of an essay without any context, feed-back or feed-forward. The author has used rubrics at Kuwait International Law School since 2012 and found them useful in at least four ways: they allow students to understand what is expected of them before they attempt a task; they take the “mystery” out of marks; they encourage fairness and promote a culture of trust between student and teacher; and they allow the teacher to engage in post-task meaningful discussions with students – they create “teaching moments”. Grading becomes more transparent and the faculty becomes more accountable to their students. A group of law deans adopted the “Singapore Declaration on Global Standards and Outcomes of a Legal Education” in 2013. This article addresses how the values in that Declaration are directly met by the use of rubrics. Transparency, accountability and authenticity in law teaching are all part of the Declaration: this article argues that rubrics deliver all three. The article addresses the research behind rubrics, the connection between the Singapore Declaration and rubrics and some “lessons learnt” from the author’s teaching experiences.

Teaching Statutory Interpretation in Australia: What’s Next?

The issue of whether statutory interpretation should be taught in law schools has been a difficult and divisive topic. Australia, like other common law jurisdictions, has grappled with the issue. Those advocating that it be treated as a discrete and significant area in the law school curriculum have struggled over the last two decades. Recently, however, an important step was taken. In 2015, the Council of Australian Law Deans, which comprises the Deans of all university law schools in Australia, formally approved a Guide which acknowledges the relevance and importance of statutory interpretation in a law degree and outlines learning outcomes to be achieved. This leads to the important question of how to teach the subject. This article addresses some of the issues relevant to an assessment of how to teach statutory interpretation. Following a brief examination of the Australian, US and UK experiences, the article offers suggestions, based on the Guide, international literature, and the authors’ own teaching experience, about important threshold issues such as teaching as a discrete subject, content, timing, and perception.

A Report on Future Directions of Legal Education in Malaysia

In December 2011, the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education called for a meeting among all Law Deans to discuss on the numerous critics about the standard of local law graduates at public law schools. The meeting was attended by the Deans and Deputy Deans of the schools. At the meeting, the Chairperson, Prof Dr ZaridaHambali, allocated a special fund for the law schools to conduct a study on the future directions of legal education in Malaysia. The research was supposed to take 6 months. However, trying to gather 7 law schools to work on a project was not an easy task. After intensive deliberations and effort to convince all law schools that this was for the betterment of legal education in Malaysia, an official Committee for the first time met on February 2012. The second hurdle was to get the cooperation of legal practitioners to participate in the survey. It took more than 6 months to distribute the questionnaire and after at least two attempts the team managed to get the response approximately 5% of the members of the Bar. Most questionnaires were returned unanswered. The team sent at least 35 students to assist in distributing the questionnaire. In this research we found a common disagreement among law lecturers and practitioners on the scope of their duty, not just in Malaysia but globally. The American Bar Association in the MacCrate report recorded the gap between academia and legal practice thus lead to:"Complaints and recriminations from legal educators and practicing lawyers. The lament of he practising bar is a steady refrain; 'they can’t draft a contract, they can’t write, they’ve ever seen a summon, the professors have never been inside a courtroom'". Law schools offer the traditional responses, "We teach them how to think, we're not trade schools, we're centre of scholarship and learning, practice is best taught by practitioners". Enhancement of legal education as this study will show is not the duty of law schools alone, neither does the law practitioner. Both must cooperate to find the best possible way to resolved the perceived weaknesses in our legal education. This study outlines the academic component at the law school and investigates the students and employers perspective about legal education in Malaysia. The research shows that all law schools are aware on the challenges on legal education and had taken reasonable steps or try to look for possible ways to improve on the quality. This becomes possible with the feedback from the survey on students perspectives and employers’ perception on local law students. The feedback from the students and law practitioners is then used to make recommendations on the appropriate strategies toward the improvement of legal education. This research is the catalyst for further research in legal education. To promote the development of learning and teaching in law at both the academic and professional stages the Committee strongly suggests for the establishment of a Centre for Legal Education at the national level. The centre will be a body where all law teachers not only meet and exchange their teaching experience but promote professional legal education in Malaysia, and to foster research opportunities with and on the legal profession.