Law Students Research Articles

Shifting perspectives: the potential of rich, ill-structured problems in legal education

ABSTRACT Messy, real-world problems that haven’t yet been framed into a single, neat narrative contain a richness that makes them a powerful tool in legal education. This paper explores the practices of three law teachers who use ill-structured problems to help law students develop the capacity for problem setting, enabling them to structure and restructure problems from different doctrinal, conceptual and theoretical perspectives. In each course, the confrontation of legal rules or reasoning with the concrete realities of a specific situation serves as a catalyst for insight, teaching students the value of seeing and staying with complexity to gain deep understanding and potentially generate new ideas.

Technology-Enhanced Approaches for Teaching English to Law Students: Innovations and Best Practices

This research paper summarizes an investigation into technology-enhanced English language teaching for law students in Medellín, Colombia. It briefly outlines the study's objectives, methodologies, and key findings, focusing on the improved English language proficiency, legal communication skills, and increased student engagement and autonomy due to technology-enhanced learning. Background: The study addresses the importance of English language proficiency for law students in a global legal context and the challenges in teaching English to this group. It reviews relevant literature on technology in language learning, particularly in legal education, establishing the theoretical basis for the research. Materials and Methods: The paper describes a mixed-methods approach involving 40 law students in Medellín. It explains the use of questionnaires for quantitative data and interviews and observations for qualitative data, alongside the methods of data analysis and ethical considerations of the research. Results: Findings from questionnaires indicate positive student perceptions of technology in learning and improvements in language proficiency. Qualitative data from interviews and observations highlight enhanced legal communication skills and increased engagement and autonomy in learning due to technology use. Conclusions: The conclusion synthesizes the study's findings, underscoring the positive impact of technology in legal English education. It discusses the implications for educators and suggests integrating technology into the curriculum. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research, particularly in exploring effective technology-enhanced teaching strategies.

Breaking the Silence: Fighting Injustice with Anti-Marginalization Advocacy

This article delves into the persistent issue of human rights violations against Scheduled Castes SC and Scheduled Tribes ST in India, despite the country’s celebration of its 75th anniversary of independence from British rule. It critically examines the historical and ongoing suppression of marginalized communities through the lens of modern - day slavery under the rule of law, with a focus on the legal and societal frameworks that perpetuate such atrocities. The author, a law student, employs a multidisciplinary approach to explore the gaps in the enforcement of legal protections and the stark inequalities that exist within Indian society. Drawing on reports, legal statutes, and the Constitution, the article highlights the increase in crimes against SC and ST communities, underscoring the need for stringent enforcement of laws and a coordinated effort among various stakeholders to address these violations. It proposes remedial measures aimed at systemic transformation, including building capacity, streamlining processes, and sensitizing the public. The article concludes with a call to action for every citizen to contribute to the fight for equality and dignity for marginalized communities, embodying the principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

The Urgency of Philosophy of Science for Doctoral Students of Law

Philosophy of science plays a very important role for doctoral students in law, because it provides a critical, reflective, and in-depth foundation for thinking in conducting advanced legal research. This article discusses the urgency of philosophy of science for doctoral students in law from several main aspects, including epistemological and ontological foundations, development of theoretical frameworks, critical evaluation of scientific methods, and improvement of legal reasoning skills. Philosophy of science also provides ethical guidance in research and helps students understand the relationship between law and other disciplines, such as sociology and politics. Through a deeper understanding of philosophy of science, doctoral students in law can compile more comprehensive, relevant, and impactful research, and make significant contributions to the development of legal science in the future.

Developing a Taught Module on ‘Law, Religion, and Environment’

Building on the Arab Barometer seventh wave survey, which highlights the regional priorities on climate change, water resources, and environmental development in Middle East and North Africa, this paper explores the potential for a module on “Law, Religion and Environmental Sustainability”. The module aims to mainstream environmental sustainability in the legal education curriculum through forging the intersections between law, religion, and the environment. The growing body of interdisciplinary research on religion and environmentalism mainly involves scholars from academic disciplines such as sociology, theology, and religious studies, but not law. The Arab Barometer results indicate that citizens’ environmental concerns are mostly linked to the micro level, without directly reflecting on related macro level issues. However, religious beliefs and faith systems often cut across the micro and macro levels, and could potentially advance environmental and sustainable development objectives. Moreso, there have been pockets of non-international armed conflicts that are in some ways tied to religious beliefs and cultural values on access to natural resources such as land and water. This paper addresses how to train law students to embrace and contribute to the emerging field of religion and environmentalism. Such training would equip law graduates to (a) have a good understanding of the contemporary social, economic and political context of environmental governance and sustainable development laws; (b) appreciate the interlinkages between law, religion and environment at a theoretical and practical level; and (c) be better equipped to maximise the opportunities and resolve tensions that may arise from mainstreaming legal principles, including human rights and justice, in advancing sustainable development goals, including environmental sustainability. , , CurriculumDevelopment, MENA region, Legal Education,

Enhancing legal writing skills: The impact of formative feedback in a hybrid intelligence learning environment

AbstractRecent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have significantly influenced educational technologies, reshaping the teaching and learning landscape. However, the notion of fully automating the teaching process remains contentious. This paper explores the concept of hybrid intelligence (HI), which emphasizes the synergistic collaboration between AI and humans to optimize learning outcomes. Despite the potential of AI‐enhanced learning systems, their application in a human‐AI collaboration system often fails to meet anticipated standards, and there needs to be more empirical evidence showcasing their effectiveness. To address this gap, this study investigates whether formative feedback in an HI learning environment helps law students learn from their errors and write more structured and persuasive legal texts. We conducted a field experiment in a law course to analyse the impact of formative feedback on the exam results of 43 law students, as well as on the writer (students), the writing product and the writing process. In the control group, students received feedback conforming to the legal common practice, where they solved legal problems and subsequently received general feedback from a lecturer based on a sample solution. Students in the treatment group were provided with formative feedback that specifically targeted their individual errors, thereby stimulating internal cognitive processes within the students. Our investigation revealed that participants who were provided with formative feedback rooted in their errors within structured and persuasive legal writing outperformed the control group in producing qualitative, better legal text during an exam. Furthermore, the analysed qualitative student statements also suggest that formative feedback promotes students' self‐efficacy and self‐regulated learning. Our findings indicate that integrating formative feedback rooted in individual errors enhances students' legal writing skills. This underscores the hybrid nature of AI, empowering students to identify their errors and improve in a more self‐regulated manner. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Collaboration between humans and AI in educational settings advances learning mutually, fostering a unified developmental process. Collaborative education models advocate leveraging human and AI strengths for adaptive learning. Despite abundant theoretical research, empirical studies in HI remain limited. This gap underscores the need for more evidence‐based approaches in integrating AI into educational settings. What this paper adds Field experiment investigating the impact of formative feedback in a hybrid intelligence learning environment based on the theory of learning from errors. Comparison of a traditional legal learning environment (lecturer teaching using sample solutions) versus formative feedback in a hybrid intelligence learning environment. Implementing formative machine learning‐based feedback supports law students in producing more structured and persuasive legal texts, leading to enhanced exam performance and higher grades. Implications for practice and/or policy Our research contributes significantly to computer‐based education by presenting empirical evidence of how formative writing feedback impacts students' legal knowledge and skills in educational settings. This underscores the importance of incorporating empirical data into the development of AI‐based educational tools to ensure their effectiveness. By focusing on individual errors corrected by formative feedback, we contribute to the learning from errors literature stream. This perspective offers valuable insights into how such feedback can support students' writing and learning processes, filling a gap in empirical evidence. Our findings demonstrate the potential impact of ML‐based learning systems, particularly in large‐scale learning environments like legal mass lectures. Formative writing feedback emerges as a scalable and beneficial addition to traditional learning environments, triggering internal learning processes, fostering self‐regulated learning and increasing self‐efficacy among students. By demonstrating the effectiveness of formative feedback within the framework of HI, particularly in legal education, our research underscores the potential of combining human understanding with AI‐supported feedback to enhance learning outcomes.

EMI and DMI, an elitist language learning approach? An investigation of students’ socio-economic and language profiles

ABSTRACT Internationalisation of higher education has really taken off in recent decades, with universities increasingly organising all or parts of their study programmes in a language other than their traditional language of instruction. Usually, that language is English, which is referred to as English Medium Instruction (EMI), but there are also programmes in other foreign languages, such as Dutch Medium Instruction (DMI) in French-speaking Belgium. Previous research links EMI with access inequity. This study investigates whether this inequity also exists in French-speaking Belgium and whether it extends to DMI by examining the socio-economic and language profiles of students in unilingual programmes versus multilingual programmes with DMI and/or EMI courses. An online questionnaire was administered to undergraduate law, political sciences, and economics & management students at a French-speaking university in Belgium. The results indicate that multilingual programmes attract students of higher socio-economic status (SES) and those who benefited from Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) school education, extracurricular activities or more classes in Dutch or English at secondary level. Taken together, these findings suggest that multilingual higher education with DMI/EMI in French-speaking Belgium is closely linked with access inequity. The article ends with suggestions for institutions offering or considering multilingual higher education.

Stages of teaching law students to draft international legal documents in English based on artificial intelligence tools

Importance. At the present time, the technologies of artificial intelligence are gradually finding their way into a wide variety of different fields of professional activity, including education. Over the past years, there has appeared a great corpus of research in pedagogical and methodical literature dedicated to the didactic and methodological potential of artificial intelligence. This study represents how the use of artificial intelligence technologies can diversify the learning and professional practice of learners, as well as take over some of the routine functions of a teacher. Genie AI, LegalAI, AI Legal Document Generator – these are all new artificial intelligence tools that allow international law students to draft international legal documents according to the characteristics of the legal systems of foreign authorities. At the same time, their linguodidactic potential is insufficiently revealed, which requires the development of a step-by-step methodology for teaching students to draft international legal documents in a foreign language based on these artificial intelligence tools. The aim of the research is to develop a step-by-step methodology for teaching law students to draft international legal documents based on artificial intelligence tools.Materials and Methods. The study is conducted on the basis of an expert approach. The materials are scientific articles considered with pedagogy and teaching foreign language methodology published in Higher Attestation Commission scientific journals and journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. Scientific literature analysis, methods of observation, and survey of university professors who deliver profile disciplines to students of the ‘Jurisprudence’ major, are used.Results and Discussion. A step-by-step methodology of teaching law students to draft international legal documents based on Genie AI, LegalAI, AI Legal Document Generator artificial intelligence tools is developed. The methodology consists of the following series of steps: 1) students study the structure of an international legal document taking into account the specificities of the legal systems of the participating countries in a regular class as part of an integrated course;2) students study or repeat an active vocabulary and grammar that are used in the process of drafting an international legal document; 3) explanation of the goals of drafting international legal documents on the basis of Genie AI learning practice, defining it’s stages and period to the students;4) discussion about information security and author ethics and the inadmissibility of unauthorised borrowing of generative AI material; 5) extracurricular independent educational practice on drafting international legal documents by students with the artificial intelligence tool; 6) mutual evaluation and discussion in small groups of students regarding international legal documents drafted with artificial intelligence tools; 7) selective evaluation by the instructor of legal documents drafted by students on the basis of practice with the artificial intelligence tool; 8) students’ reflection on the usefulness of using the artificial intelligence tool for drafting international legal documents.Conclusion. The novelty of the research lies in the development of a step-by-step methodology for teaching law students to draft international legal documents based on Genie AI, LegalAI, AI Legal Document Generator artificial intelligence tools. Prospects for further works are studying the linguodidactic potential of other artificial intelligence tools created for lawyers, and developing methods of teaching language aspects, types of speech activity, and specialised disciplines on their basis.

Strategies for Enhancing Legal Application Skills among College Students

In modern society, improving legal application abilities is crucial to college students' personal development and career planning. With the progress of society and the continuous changes in the country's legal application environment, college students, as the main force leading social changes, need to improve their legal application capabilities to solve many legal problems that arise in social development and promote the country's legal environment and rule of law. Capacity building. Improving the legal application ability of college students is an urgent requirement for building a socialist society ruled by law and an inevitable requirement for implementing the basic strategy of governing the country according to law. The current actual situation is that college students have low legal application ability and there are some problems, mainly lack of legal knowledge, weak legal awareness, and lack of legal practical experience. In today's era, except for professional law students, the legal studies of ordinary college students are mainly concentrated in the political field, and they only learn some simple basic legal knowledge. In the learning process, they pay too much attention to theoretical knowledge, lack practical application capabilities, and lack of practical experience, which makes them Insufficient ability to understand and apply legal knowledge. This article mainly discusses the legal application ability of ordinary college students other than law students. By analyzing the reasons for the problems in college students' legal application ability, it proposes corresponding strategies: First, improve classroom teaching links and optimize legal education content. The second is to establish scientific training concepts and strengthen the cultivation of practical experience. The third is to create a three-dimensional training environment and enhance the cultivation of legal awareness. The fourth is to construct effective practice links and cultivate college students’ legal application abilities. Through the above-mentioned strategies, we can improve the legal application ability of college students, so that they will pay more and more attention to and become accustomed to resolving disputes through legitimate legal channels and protect their legitimate rights and interests. At the same time, they can also contribute to the progress of society and the construction of the rule of law in the country. Make a contribution.

Unveiling the failure: a comprehensive analysis of Bangladesh’s war on drugs

Purpose This study aims to evaluate public perceptions of illegal drug availability in Bangladesh amid the ongoing war on drugs while comparing the efficacy of crackdowns with traditional law enforcement strategies. Design/methodology/approach Using a quantitative approach, the research analyzes data gathered from 400 participants, including law enforcement officials, students, politicians, community leaders and journalists. Findings The findings reveal that illegal drugs continue to be widely accessible in Bangladesh, with 50.15% of respondents acknowledging this despite the government's intensified efforts against drug dealers since 2015. Perceptions of availability are notably higher among those identifying as “other” (66.67%), younger individuals aged 18–28 (55.26%), participants with lower educational levels (76.67% for those with less than SSC education), unmarried respondents (58.86%) and students (60.55%). When assessing enforcement methods, a substantial majority (65.6%) prefer regular law enforcement over violent crackdowns. The survey indicates that all respondents identifying as “other,” along with 73.23% of females, 65.6% of males, 81.82% of participants aged 58–68 and individuals from Khulna (92.65%), Rangpur (96.92%) and Dhaka (51.43%), overwhelmingly favor regular law enforcement compared to crackdowns. Practical implications The study emphasizes the urgent need to address the shortcomings of violent anti-drug measures and advocates for a more holistic approach that considers the complex interplay of social, economic and health factors in combating drug abuse in Bangladesh. Originality/value This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between demographic factors and perceptions of drug availability and the effectiveness of violent crackdowns vs regular law enforcement, revealing new insights into this complex sociocultural issue.

Knowledge, Attitude, And Oral Hygiene Practices Among Law Students In Chengalpatu District: A Cross‑Sectional Study

Introduction: poor oral health can have a profound effect on the quality of life. The experience of pain, endurance of dental abscesses, problems with eating and chewing, embarrassment about the shape of teeth or about missing, discoloured or damaged teeth can adversely affect people's daily lives and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the oral hygiene and dental health knowledge of government law college, chengalpatu district, law students. Materials and methods: thirty questions about fundamental knowledge, mindset, and practice were given to one hundred and fifty law students at the government law college in chengalpatu district, tamilandu india. Microsoft excel was used to tabulate the data, and the statistical package for the social sciences programme was used for statistical analysis. Results: of the participants in this study, only 39.4% were aware that regular dental check-ups were necessary. 8.5% of participants made two annual visits to the dental clinic andof the individuals, 57% had never been to a dental facility. Dental health education is important, according to 65.5% of participants, and it may be important, according to 21.8%. The results indicated a statistically significant association between the participant's year of law degree and the responses, as determined by inferential statistics using the pearson chi-square test. Conclusion: the study's findings indicate that law students' understanding of oral health care and proper oral hygiene is adequate. But the learned knowledge needs to be applied in day-to-day activities. This can be accomplished by altering their perspective on maintaining good dental hygiene

Effectiveness of Editing and Proofreading Skills in Improving Academic Writing of Law Students

Writing skills are the most difficult language skills for students, especially those students with English as a Second Language (ESL) and as an English Foreign Language (EFL) in various academic institutions. This situation has made most college students fail to write effective academic works. This study assessed the effectiveness of the Editing and Proofreading Skills Course in improving the academic writing of law students in Tanzania. Specifically, the study assessed the common errors made by law students in academic writing. The study involved the action research design consisting of pre- and post-interventions. Data were collected through observations and questionnaire methods. Data were analysed statistically through the Wilcoxon Signed-rank test and the McNemar exact test at 95% confidence intervals to analyse the before and after intervention data. The study found that law students had a limited basic understanding of the editing and proofreading techniques before the intervention. After the intervention, there was a significant improvement in students’ writing skills as the results showed an exact p-value of 0.000. It recommends the inclusion of specific instructions on Editing and Proofreading Skills Courses as part of the Legal Education Curriculum in Tanzania.

Supporting Law Student Wellbeing: Integrating Trauma-Informed Practices in Legal Education

Sensitive course content pervades all courses in a law degree and is one of many diverse and complex factors impacting law student wellbeing. This article defines sensitive course content and examines its effects through the lens of trauma, particularly vicarious and collective trauma. It explores two examples from Australian universities where trauma-informed practices were integrated into the legal curriculum. Incorporating trauma-informed practices offers numerous benefits: it supports the mental wellbeing of law students, enhances their employability and destigmatises conversations around this critical issue. However, implementing these practices in legal education faces challenges, such as the diversity of legal practices, institutional constraints and law school culture. Legal education providers must lead the way in mitigating the impacts of sensitive course content by integrating trauma-informed practices and conducting further research to support law student wellbeing.

ChatGPT in higher education: Measurement instruments to assess student knowledge, usage, and attitude

Since ChatGPT-3.5 has been available to the public, the potentials and challenges regarding chatbot usage in education have been widely discussed. However, little evidence exists whether and for which purposes students even apply generative AI tools. The first main purpose of the present study was to develop and test scales that assess students’ (1) knowledge about ChatGPT, (2) actual ChatGPT usage and perceived value of use, and (3) attitude towards ChatGPT. Our second aim was to examine the intercorrelations between these scales, and to investigate differences (a) across five academic fields (i.e., human sciences, social sciences, teaching profession, health sciences, and law and economics) and (b) between stages of education (i.e., number of semesters). <i>N</i> = 693 students from various German universities participated in our online survey. Quality checks (Cronbach’s alpha, MacDonald’s omega, and confirmatory factor analyses) show satisfactory results for all scales. The scales all positively relate to each other, except for the knowledge and attitude scales. This means that more knowledge about ChatGPT is connected to a less favorable attitude regarding the generative AI tool. Lastly, MANOVA and subsequent Bonferroni corrected ANOVA tests show that ChatGPT is mostly used by law and economics students, and most frequently by students in the third year of higher education.

Accessing Justice after Conviction: A Review of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW) Part 7 Division 3

After exhausting legal avenues, individuals who believe they have suffered a miscarriage of justice can petition the executive arm of government for a conviction or sentence review. This pathway has been criticised for lacking accountability and transparency. Part 7 division 3 of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 Act (NSW) offers a less-studied remedy to people convicted of a crime in New South Wales. Part 7 allows direct application to the Supreme Court for a conviction or sentence review. A judge, acting in a non-judicial capacity, determines the application and publishes reasons for the decision. The decision is then open to judicial review. This article examines part 7 decisions from 2014 to 2023. It finds that applications prepared without legal assistance often lack clarity. This can affect decision-making and potentially leave the applicant feeling unheard. Involving law students in drafting part 7 applications could improve the overall efficiency of this unique administrative remedy.

Reaching the unreachable through action research? Thomas Mathiesen and the Nordic socio-legal tradition

Thomas Mathiesen has been a source of inspiration for research in critical sociology, criminology, and the sociology of law for many decades. Mathiesen’s impact extends far beyond the academic realm, as his action research lives on. This intervention discusses the ongoing influence of Mathiesen’s action research approach, which integrates research, education, and societal impact. This is illustrated through an action research project we conducted in Denmark’s largest marginalised living area, where over 1,000 public housing units are being demolished, affecting approximately 2,500 residents. In the project, we experimented with different outreach legal aid approaches, considering our own positionalities, to gain knowledge about how to establish a legal aid infrastructure that could reach the unreachable. An ethical dilemma we faced was how we could engage with the people without inadvertently naming issues, particularly legal problems, of which they might not be aware. If the residents were unaware of these issues or did not consider them important, could we then inadvertently create and juridify new problems for them? Moreover, this intervention discusses how, in alignment with Mathiesen, we combined legal aid with legal clinical education, that is, training law students to become legal aid workers. We conclude that Mathiesen’s approach remains relevant, and by integrating his action research with decolonial thoughts, new insights may emerge to reach the seemingly unreachable.

Facilitating and supporting employability in law: Reflections on the need for agile communication

There is an increasing focus on enhancing employability for students in higher education. Yet academics who facilitate and encourage opportunities to support student employability are often doing so with a quiet agility. This paper reflects on my first year coordinating a work-integrated learning program and the development of skills necessary for such roles in a tertiary law context. Grounded in the well-recognised literature on positive professional identity and contemplating the concept of ‘pracademic identity’, these reflections offer insights on the experience of traversing across multiple professional spheres to enhance employability for students. In particular, this reflection piece seeks to uncover and highlight the skills essential to roles facilitating employability for law students.

Generative artificial intelligence vs. law students: an empirical study on criminal law exam performance

ABSTRACT Claims that GPT-4 can outperform more than 90% of human test-takers in the US Uniform Bar Examination have sparked heated debates about the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on legal education, academic integrity, and the future of legal practice. Yet GenAI’s capabilities in broader legal examination contexts – including in jurisdictions outside the US – are unclear. This study addresses this gap by evaluating GenAI’s performance against students who took the ‘Criminal Law’ final exam at an Australian law school in Spring 2023. Various AI models and prompt engineering techniques were used to generate 10 distinct answers to the exam question. Five criminal law tutors, unaware of AI involvement, graded a mix of AI-generated and student responses. Then, the tutors were briefed on the AI-generated papers they marked and engaged in reflective semi-structured interviews. The study found that GenAI performed below the student average in questions that required detailed legal and critical analysis. However, all GenAI papers performed better than students in open-ended questions and essay writing tasks. These results provide a benchmark for the capabilities and limitations of GenAI in higher education and provide insights into the potential implications of its application to legal assessments and education, curriculum development, and the future workforce.

Entrepreneurship Culture in Administration and Law Students: A Transdisciplinary Exploration

The entrepreneurship culture in young individuals is characterized by a set of traits and qualities that foster and promote the entrepreneurial spirit and the pursuit of opportunities for creation and innovation. In the case of vocational students, these traits may be manifested as attitudes, knowledge, and skills exhibited within specific contexts. The conducted study aimed to analyze the entrepreneurship culture in young Administration and Law students, as well as to compare this culture based on their educational profiles, considering two variables. An instrument was administered to a population comprising 582 students. The findings lead to the conclusion that both Administration and Law students exhibit a promising level of entrepreneurial spirit, which can be further enhanced through their vocational education.

Pedagogy of the oppressive: building the movement to abolish U.S. legal education

ABSTRACT This essay serves as an urgent cause for action and open call to envision the abolition of U.S. law schools. Traditional legal education’s current manifestation, I argue, serves as a unique system of socialization that advances harm in service of the USA as a settler nation-state. Through a historically grounded analysis of the law school as a project of exclusionary power, this essay identifies traditional U.S. legal education’s (1) pedagogical harm, in the imperial curriculum and instruction of law students; (2) structural harm, in the gatekeeping of legal knowledge; and (3) ideological harm, in the training of future lawyers as agents of settler-state power. Drawing from movements of scholarship-activism in critical legal pedagogy, rhetorical studies, and abolition, this essay proposes radical reforms to the law school as footholds toward freedom. In situating the law school as a critical zone of abolitionist struggle, this essay makes the case that rhetoricians, legal scholars, and advocates aligned with the work of liberation might join across disciplines, jurisdictions, and time to advance “non-reformist reforms” to traditional U.S. legal education. Only through conscious processes of reimagination, I insist, can we more forcefully contribute to the abolition of oppressive formations of power everywhere.