Law School Education Research Articles

Thirty-five years of feminism and family law in the legal academy

ABSTRACT This chapter is in two parts, each of which reflects upon the developments and current state of family law scholarship and feminist teaching in universities in England and Wales. Piper focuses on the enormous body of research and writing that Felicity Kaganas achieved in over 35 years of research in family law. It outlines the publications that she and Kaganas wrote together and highlights Kaganas’ other significant work. It reflects upon the impact of this work for students, academic colleagues and policy-makers and concludes that many of the same issues Kaganas addressed over the years remain current. Auchmuty, on the other hand, reflects upon 35 years of feminism in the classroom. Both Auchmuty and Kaganas started teaching in English law schools in the 1980s when the job was very different. Since that time, law teaching has become an increasingly feminised profession, with feminist teachers occupying some of the highest positions, and feminist legal research has flourished. In spite of these two profound shifts, the law degree has remained virtually unchanged, especially in respect of the ‘core curriculum’. These reflections consider why this is so, focusing on mechanisms of patriarchal containment and backlash, and considers what can be done about it.

Teaching and learning rural governance in law schools: an account of an experiment with clinical legal education

ABSTRACT Clinical legal education (CLE) strives to develop competent and socially relevant legal professionals who can render legal services to the masses. Clinics are largely known to focus on the needs of individual clients as opposed to imparting community legal education. However, a growing body of literature suggests that clinics must focus more on social justice lawyering. This article aims at contributing to this emerging body of work. The Rural Governance, Justice, and Citizen Participation clinic elective course (course) has been taught at the O.P. Jindal Global University by the lead author of this article since 2010. The co-author of this article was a student in the inaugural batch of the course. The course aims at familiarising students with the growing “disconnect” between the promise and reality of law. The authors recommend that the guarantee of “equal access to justice” can be achieved as follows: (i) law schools must offer clinical courses focused on rural communities; (ii) the Bar Council of India must introduce clinical courses that focus on the legal needs of rural communities; and (iii) law schools must adopt a “good practices” framework for teaching community-centric clinical courses to empower rural communities.

Some Reflections on the Environment of Reality and Modern Technologies Evolving in the Study of Law

An advanced university methodology is a response to modern general and particular didactic challenges that is conditioned by an effective and indisputable exploitation of modern methodological resources. Incorporating recent data from socio-psycho-pedagogical research, the current university methodology, in addition to classic, traditional strategies and methods, includes modern strategies and methods of teaching-learning-evaluation, but especially new ways of exploring the best-known traditional methods: the debate , heuristic conversation, problematization, case study, etc. and other methods of individual investigation and indirect exploration. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of professional thinking styles on legal teaching and training methods in law schools. In this article, we define what teaching methods are, explore new types of teaching methods, review the benefits of these methods, and offer some tips for doing so successfully. We summarize the literature and recent thinking on the role, form and practices of modern university teaching in the digital age.

The best of two worlds: Multidisciplinary co-teaching of legal ethics

AbstractHungarian legal education is rarely discussed from a pedagogic perspective, especially in English. This paper would like to fill a gap in the academic literature on this topic by presenting a unique multidisciplinary co-teaching initiative, aiming to mix ‘the best of two worlds’: developing a legal ethics course which is an amalgam of philosophical/theoretical and legal/practical elements. Describing how a compulsory Legal Ethics course was delivered at the István Széchenyi University of Győr in a case study format, the main aim of the authors is to contribute to the international academic discourse on law school pedagogy in general, and on legal ethics education in particular. First, we provide an overview of professional ethics education in law schools, focusing on the origins of the course in the United States of America. Then, after a review of the academic literature on multidisciplinary co-teaching, the context of this Legal Ethics course is presented: the situation of legal ethics education in the Hungarian law curriculum. Then the course particulars, especially the content and the assessment, will be described in detail, based on the personal experiences and observations of the authors.

Just What the Doctor Ordered: The Need for Cross-Cultural Education in Law Schools

Just What the Doctor Ordered: The Need for Cross-Cultural Education in Law Schools

EALP textbooks and the challenges of legal English education

Over the last thirty years English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has expanded, cutting across the domains of specialised discourse, and has shifted its focus to meet the needs of large numbers of non-native speaking students at the university level. In this regard, English for Academic Legal Purposes (EALP) can be defined as the teaching and learning of legal English as an ESP subject that includes the academic dimensions of EAP. This paper investigates how EALP textbooks has responded to the challenges of law school education. Reflecting on the pedagogic contributions of Carrick and Dunn (1985), Candlin, Bhatia, and Jensen (2002), and Prinsloo (2015), this paper begins diachronically with a sample of EALP-type textbooks from the point where Prinsloo completed his analysis. Drawing on these reviews, this paper attempts to provide some insights into the development of EALP-type textbooks and their response to the challenges of legal English education.

Technological challenges for modern law school pedagogy: preparing graduates for the modern legal workplace

ABSTRACT This article explores the prevailing narrative that legal technology is changing both what lawyers do and the knowledge, skills and attributes they need, which in turn has implications for the appropriate curriculum required for law students intending to enter legal practice. It presents the results of a funded research study designed to test assumptions made regarding the knowledge, skills, attributes and experience required by law graduates to operate effectively in the modern legal workplace and the corresponding impact on law schools’ curricula. The article presents data collected from legal professionals to ascertain their views on the impact of legal technology on practice and what changes law schools should be considering to prepare law students for practice.

Human Rights Legal Education in Times of Transition: Perspectives and Practices of Law Instructors in Myanmar

This mixed-methods study examines the human rights and human rights education and training (HRET) perspectives and practices of law educators in Myanmar during the democratic transition that ended with the 2021 coup. “Contextual, Theoretical, and Methodological Framing” provides an overview of legal and human rights education in Myanmar, discusses the potential of human rights education in law schools during democratic transitions, addresses why educators’ human rights and human rights education perspectives and practices are important to examine, and presents the research methodology. “Findings” presents findings based on the two phases of research during the transitional period: phase 1 (2015–2017)—law instructors’ perspectives and practices after participating in a multi-year HRET program; and phase 2 (2019–2020)—law instructors’ perspectives on the goals, challenges, and potential of HRET in Myanmar. The third section—“Discussion and Implications”—examines the contextual challenges and opportunities for human rights education as related to (1) critical human rights education, (2) practice-oriented HRET, and (3) administrative policies and practices for human rights and HRET within universities.

Making a Case for Teaching Caste and Gender in Law Schools

This article argues for mainstreaming of caste and gender as subject matter in legal education in India. Justice education in any country ought to introduce students to the main axis of oppression, historical patterns of discrimination in their society—in the United States, it is race and patriarchy; in India, it is caste patriarchy. The article connects the denial of justice in caste crimes to the invisibility of caste in the legal discourse and insists that legal education is the key to making caste and gender visible within the legal machinery. For this purpose, the article examines how critical race and feminist theory informed law school education in the United States. It also elucidates the efforts of making legal education inclusive and reflective through the national law schools experiment in India. Lastly, it suggests ways in which caste and gender can be included in law school curricula.

Balancing Convenience and Connection: Blending Law School Teaching and Learning During a Pandemic

This article reports on the lived experiences of 30 students completing a two-week intensive course on Dispute Resolution (DR) at the University of Western Australia Law School in 2021. The course was delivered fully-online in the first week, and in a traditional face-to-face setting in the second week. The adoption of online learning was in response to a government-mandated lockdown to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic created a new landscape for higher education providers, where teachers needed to implement rapid adjustments to the delivery of legal education. By providing students with activities designed to capture their experiences with face-to-face and online delivery modes in the context of DR, Law School staff were able to gain valuable insight into the life of a law student during this time. The qualitative and quantitative findings revealed that the transition to online delivery was in some ways paradoxical, as students reported both benefits and limitations. This article contributes to accumulating literature exploring the impact of online delivery of education within a law school context, highlighting the potential barriers and facilitators to effective implementation identified by students. Further inquiry remains imperative in a post COVID-19 landscape where online delivery is increasingly relevant.

Legally Affective: Mapping the Emotional Grammar of LGBT Rights in Law School

The teaching of critical race, feminist, and queer theory generally, and of LGBT rights specifically, has developed into a discrete, contested, and politicised area of teaching in English law schools and beyond. While there is some academic discussion on the personal and political significance of ‘promoting LGBT rights’ within law schools, less considered is how ‘LGBT rights’ are shaped by the emotions of legal academics and how these emotions circumscribe what we imagine LGBT rights can and/or should mean in law and critical legal study. To illustrate this dynamic, this paper uses critical race, feminist, and queer scholarship alongside work in the emerging field of Law and Emotion to articulate the ‘emotional grammar’ of teaching a Gender, Sexuality and Law unit at an English law school. Turning to autoethnography, I use my emotional experiences as a methodological tool to explore how emotions co-constitute the pedagogical, political, scholarly, and personal registers of LGBT rights as a descriptive, critical, and normative pursuit. In doing so, I use ‘emotional grammar’ as a novel way to map how emotions structure legal pedagogies invested in pursuing LGBT rights. Emotional grammar illustrates how emotions structure: (1) the articulation of LGBT rights as an object of study in law; (2) the pursuit of law to secure the rights of LGBT people; and (3) the shape of legal critique relating to LGBT rights.

Towards improving the corporate lawyering skills base in South Africa through vocational education

Increased attention to vocational education in both law firms and in law schools in South Africa can improve the skills base in the legal services sector by upskilling junior attorneys. The location for this series of interventions should be in law practice and in law schools. We situate our discussion in the global literature of corporate lawyering, including some studies on legal services in Brazil. This contribution sketches the corporate lawyering vocational education which South African law graduates receive from law schools during an undergraduate law degree and the ad hoc practical training they may subsequently receive at law firms. Finally, it identifies and develops several options for improving South Africa’s corporate lawyering skills base, including experiential learning, the use of case studies, law school teaching partnerships with practitioners, and expanded clinical offerings.

로스쿨 교육의 방향성 모색과 제언

Though it has been for fourteen years since law school started as a part of judicial reform, it has raised many concerns about the content and direction of education. Due to the excessive difficulty of passing the bar exam without becoming the qualification test of the bar exam, the specialization, internationalization, professionalization planned for originally have been retreated and its education is being provided with curriculum and educational contents centered on the bar exam. However, as a university affiliated institution, the law school has the responsibility to not only predict the future legal market and train lawyers, but also develop the jurisprudence. The legal market in the digital global era will demand the critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills rather than simple and repetitive tasks because of the development of legal technology such as AI and the easy access to the law information. One of the achievements since the establishment of the law school is the advance of the diversity of the legal profession. It is noteworthy that the number of corporate lawyers continues to grow, they have been expanding their scope. In complex legal disputes, deficiencies and gaps in the statutory law have been supplemented by precedents, which are ‘living laws’, for rational and valid dispute resolution in specific cases that cannot be resolved with mere legal text alone. This development of case theory raises the necessity of the case method in law education as well. It is not valid to point out that the socratic method is not appropriate in the educational one because it is a written law of Korean legal system, so it is suggested that the purpose of this method is thinking like a lawyer, that is, improving problemsolving ability through critical thinking. Law school should prepare improvement plans for improvement plans for practical curriculum, educational content, and educational methods responding to legal needs actively. Law schools demand for the lecture encompassing legal principles and legal theory as legal knowledge as well as even the arguments of precedents. Now that it is the law school's responsibility to prevent the retreat of the rule of law in Korean society and meet the demands of the legal service market, law schools should make an effort to establish it as an advanced system for nurturing lawyers through the reform of law school education.

Intersubjective Connections and their Role in the Process of Professionalization of Foreign Language Teaching in Law Schools

The problem of influence of intersubjective connections on the quality of foreign language teaching in law schools in the Russian Federation has attained a new level. Changes in the social and cultural environment caused by coronavirus pandemic affect all the areas of human activities including intersubjective connections. The compelling transition to distance learning of future lawyers does not allow to implement to the full extent the traditional components of higher education, including feedback and pedagogical control.That is why assessment of the role of intersubjective connections in foreign languages teaching becomes increasingly important. Hence, the issue of interaction between subjects and objects of teaching foreign languages in electronic educational environment might be viewed as a present-day challenge. It undoubtedly affects to a certain extent the professionalization of foreign languages teaching as well as effectiveness and quality in the ambiance of distance learning of a legal university

Legal popularization and legal education for community models through clinical legal education – practice at law schools in Southern Vietnam

The legal dissemination and legal aid to the residential community is a typical activity in the program of Clinical Legal Education in law schools. In Vietnam, practical legal education programs have been implemented officially at Vietnamese law schools since 2010. Besides a legal dissemination's aim, the practical legal education program contributes to consolidating law knowledge and improving soft skills for students who take part in the program directly. Up to now, the practical legal education program has succeeded in legal dissemination activities. However, the development potential of the program in the coming time is considerable but has not been implemented strongly. Therefore, this article presents an overview of the origin and content of the Clinical Legal Education and the statistics of the actual situation of implementing this program in Vietnam in recent years. The following part describes the solutions proposed to promote this program as a component connecting to the policy of socialization of work and legal education prescribed by the Law on Legal Popularization And Education 2012.

Review for the Current Status and the Future Direction of the Criminal Procedure Act Education - Focusing on the Law School Education -

법학교육은 법조인 양성교육이라는 한 축과 순수한 학문으로서의 법학교육 및 학문후속세대의 양성이라는 또 다른 축으로 이루어져 있고 형사소송법의 경우도 마찬가지이다. 법학전문대학원에서의 교육은 교육을 통한 법조인 양성이라는 제도 도입취지에 맞추어 수수한 학문으로서의 교육이 아닌 법조인 양성에 부합하는 교육이 이루어져야 한다. 그렇다고 법조인 양성에 부합한 교육이 변호사시험에 합격시키기 위한 교육은 아니고 결국 국민들에게 양질의 법률서비스를 제공할 수 있는 전문적인 법조인으로 교육시키는 것이라고 할 것이다. 이를 위하여 이론교육에 있어서는 사례 중심으로 관련된 각종 법률서식을 강의자료로 활용하여 현실 속에 살아 숨쉬는 교육을 하는 것이 바람직하다고 생각된다. 특히 형사소송법은 다분히 실무적인 절차법이라는 점에서 더욱 그러하다. 그리고 기본적이고 중요한 판례를 엄선하여 판결요지만을 암기하는 것이 아니라 사실관계부터 결론도출까지 철저히 분석하여 학생들에게 법리를 실제 사건에 적절히 적용하여 결론을 이끌어내는 법적 사고력을 함양할 수 있도록 하여야 한다. 또한 형사수사 및 재판에서 매우 중요한 사실인정에 대한 교육이 실무교육의 핵심이 되어야 하고 이와 더불어 과거 사법연수원 체제에서의 전문과목을 참고하여 형사실무과목을 보다 다양하고 실효성 있게 개편할 필요가 있다. 그리고 이러한 법학전문대학원 교육의 정상화를 위하여는 변호사시험의 출제경향을 개선하고, 변호사시험을 자격시험하는 것이 필요하며 더불어 학부 법학과를 부활시켰을 때 얻게 될 시너지 효과(synergy effect)가 더 크다고 생각된다. 학부 법학과의 부활은 법학전문대학원에서 좀 더 전문적인 법조인을 양성하기 위한 다양한 교육을 실시할 수 있는 기반인 동시에 보다 많은 법학자들이 법학을 연구할 수 있는 기반이 되어 줄 수 있다. 또한 학문후속세대에 진입할 인재들의 역량을 끌어올리고 추후 이들 중 우수연구인력이 꿈을 펼칠 수 있는 터전이 될 수 있다. 결국 법학교육의 정상화를 위하여는 학부 법학과, 법학전문대학원, 일반대학원의 각 시스템이 그 제도의 목적에 맞게 운영되어야 한다.

“Permanent” but pressured: junior academics within Australian law schools

ABSTRACT Junior legal academics represent the future of teaching and research in law schools, and are vital in shaping the future of the legal profession. However, while research has focused on academic staff appointed on casual contracts, we know very little about junior academics who have obtained permanent employment. This paper examines the biographies of 700 junior academics within Australian law schools. It reveals that junior academics face many challenges. The opportunity for junior academics to gain a permanent post within an Australian law school is diminishing, and those that do gain permanent employment face unprecedented pressure. They often need to undertake doctorate studies at the same time as they carry a full academic workload. Many bring professional experience, but this experience does not appear to be well-valued within an academic environment. Female junior academics face even further barriers, which have a detrimental impact upon their research performance.

Reconsidering Legal Pedagogy: Assessing Trigger Warnings, Evaluative Instruments, and Articling Integration in Canada’s Modern Law School Curricula

Law schools are rethinking the form of instruction and the means of delivery, a discussion now at the fore of legal education. This pedagogical picture is not complete without understanding students’ fidelity to the human and social experience of law school. To further understand student experiences, a voluntary online survey was distributed to 103 first-year law students. Our findings on the use of trigger warnings, the use of 100 percent final examinations, and the integration of articling and clinical-based skills in law school education present an opportunity for law teachers to reconsider curriculum reform and conventional legal education. Legal curricula ought to contextualize law in its social impacts and this includes recognizing student experiences of trauma and vulnerability in the law classroom. Further, this recognition develops and supports important clinical skills, including participation, group work and deployment of empathy in legal settings. By recognizing student sensitivity and by implementing multiple assessments and skills-based learning and training, we argue that educators and students can work together towards common goals which benefit both the teaching and the learning of law.

Lawyers' beliefs about mental illnesses and their tendency to stigmatize people with mental illnesses.

This descriptive study determined lawyers' beliefs about mental illnesses and their tendency to stigmatize people with mental illnesses. The sample consisted of 181 lawyers. Data were collected using a demographic characteristics form, the Beliefs toward Mental Illness Scale (BMI), and the Stigma Scale (SS). Participants felt compassion, uneasiness, curiosity, and pity for people with mental illnesses. Participants had a mean BMI and SS score of 1.99 ± 0.70 and 2.19 ± 0.61, respectively. Their BMI and SS scores were moderately and positively correlated (r = 0.554) PRACTICE İMPLICATIONS: Lawyers should be informed about mental illness by courses within the context of health education in law schools' curricula. Future studies should focus on other community leaders' beliefs about mental illness and their tendency to stigmatize people with mental illnesses.

Legal clinics in the mechanism of dual education: analysis of results of pedagogical experiment

The article analyzes the provisions of legal acts regulating the legal status of legal clinics in the mechanism of dual education, as well as analyzes the results of pedagogical experiment. The genesis of scientific views on the role of legal clinics in legal education is also analyzed. with the help of legal clinics. The author concludes that clinical legal education within the dual, can have a positive impact on the quality of education in law schools in general. Working with real people and discussing real problems often increases students' interest in legal issues, encouraging them to be more active in learning. Trying to solve real problems helps students learn to think critically. Clinical legal education can also provide students with hands-on experience through collaboration with stakeholders. The system of "practice", currently adopted in Central and Eastern Europe, provides students with the opportunity to do internships on the basis of practice during their studies. This will allow students to think about what field they will be working on in the future - or even whether they want to be a lawyer at all - at the stage of their studies that allows them to change the content of the learning process accordingly. As well as the opportunity to see their strengths and weaknesses before graduation. This, in turn, allows them to improve their knowledge together with teachers.