Law Professors: A Profile of the Teaching Branch of the Legal Profession

1980 ◽  
Vol 5 (03) ◽  
pp. 501-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Fossum
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Law School ◽  
Overwhelming Majority ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Law Professors

In the United States, law schools provide the principal route of entry into the legal profession. Indeed, education in a law school is the only experience that virtually all members of the modern legal profession have in common. The gatekeeping function of law schools places the nation's law teachers in a most influential position. Although law professors play a vital role in selecting and molding the members of the profession, little research has been done on them. This article presents the results of the American Bar Foundation's first major study of law teachers. The author finds them to be a most highly credentialed group of lawyers, the overwhelming majority of whom are graduates of a small group of elite law schools. She also finds that possession of a degree from one of these schools appears to be not only highly determinative of who become law teachers but also of the nature of teachers' academic careers.

The Academic Law Library and the Prospects for Diversity in the Legal Profession

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olugbenga Ademodi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Accreditation Standard ◽  
Law Library

AbstractThis study examines the interpretation of the American Bar Association's accreditation standard for law schools in the United States and the effect it could have on minority students studying in such law schools. It shows how such students will be greatly disadvantaged. It also shows the principle underlying the solution and how academic law libraries can aid in solving the problem and make a diverse bar a reality.

The Proliferation of Case Method Teaching in American Law Schools: Mr. Langdell's Emblematic “Abomination,” 1890-1915

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Kimball
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Case Method ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
American Law ◽  
Law Professors

Case method teaching was first introduced into American higher education in 1870 by Christopher C. Langdell (1826-1906) of Harvard Law School (HLS), where it became closely associated with—and emblematic of—a set of academic meritocratic reforms. Though regnant today, “the ultimate triumph of [Langdell's] system was not apparent” for many years. The vast majority of students, alumni, and law professors initially derided it as an “abomination,” and for two decades case method and the associated reforms were largely confined to Harvard. During the subsequent twenty-five years between 1890 and 1915, a national controversy ensued as to whether case method teaching—and the concomitant meritocratic reforms—would predominate in legal education and, ultimately, professional education in the United States.

scholarly journals The gathering momentum for animal rights

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David FAVRE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Institutions ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
The Past ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Professors ◽  
Made In

The focus of this article is to track the progress that has been made on behalf of<br />animals within the legal institutions of the United States. While there is an obvious focus on<br />the adoption of new laws, there are many steps or changes that are necessary within broader<br />legal intuitions if substantial progress is to be made in the changing and enforcing of the<br />laws. For example, at the same time that legislatures must be convinced of the need for<br />change, so must the judges believe in the new laws, otherwise enforcement of the law will be<br />not forthcoming.<br />Besides the court and the legislature, legal institutions include law schools, legal publications,<br />and the various associations of lawyers and law professors. What is the visibility and<br />credibility of animal issues within these institutions? Without progress within all aspects of<br />the legal community, success on behalf of animals is not possible. We in the United States<br />have made progress, particularly in the past ten years, but we have much yet that needs to be<br />done. By charting the progress and lack of progress in the United States, the readers in<br />Brazil and other countries will have some landmarks by which to judge the progress of the<br />issue of animal rights/welfare within their own country.

scholarly journals How Should We Assess Interviewing and Counseling Skills?

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Grosberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
First Century ◽  
Counseling Skills ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
American Law ◽  
Student’S Performance ◽  
Method Of Assessment ◽  
Law Professors

<p>The need to teach interviewing and counseling skills has long been established among clinical legal educators. Even among our non-clinical colleagues, these skills are recognized as integral to competent lawyering. While there remains considerable difference of opinion within the United States as to whether teaching such skills should be in a required course or simply be available as an elective, there is no doubt that a twenty-first century American law school must include the teaching of these skills in its curricular array.</p><p>This paper first briefly describes the structure of legal education in the United States (insofar as clinical and skills teaching is concerned) and the almost total absence of any bar admission training or apprenticeship requirements. If the law schools are not required to fully train all future lawyers and the bar admission authorities likewise disavow responsibility for doing so, should clinical law professors assume the burden? I then go on to discuss the primary clinical evaluation technique of directly observing the student's performance, sometimes referred to as the gold standard method of assessment. Against the backdrop of the assertion that it is beneficial to use multiple methods of assessment, I then describe the several methods I have used to address the question of how best to assess interviewing and counseling skills. As an aside, it becomes clear that much more empirical analysis is in order.</p>

The Rise of Theological Schools in America

1937 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-273
Author(s):  
William Warren Sweet
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
College Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Theological Seminary ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Professional Schools ◽  
Theological Schools ◽  
The Law

Professional Schools in the United States, whether of medicine, law, engineering, or theology, are of relatively recent orgin. It is a matter of interest that the ministry was the first profession in America for which a technical and standardized training was provided. While the first law school in America was founded in the same year as the oldest theological seminary (1784), the courses were loosely organized and there was no definitely prescribed amount of work required of graduation and no academic requirement for the practice of law. In all the institutions where there were law departments or law schools, even as late as the middle of the last century, the law students were considered as distinctly inferior to the regular college students.

The Langdell Problem: Historicizing the Century of Historiography, 1906–2000s

2004 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Kimball
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bachelor's Degree ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Christopher Columbus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Admission Requirement

Christopher Columbus Langdell (1826–1906) is arguably the most influential figure in the history of legal education in the United States, having shaped the modern law school by introducing a number of significant reforms during his tenure as dean of Harvard Law School (HLS) from 1870 to 1895. Langdell's innovations—including the admission requirement of a bachelor's degree, the graded and sequential curriculum, the hurdle of annual examinations for continuation and graduation, the independent career track for professional faculty, the transformation of the professional library from a textbook repository into a scholarly resource, and the inductive pedagogy of teaching from cases—became the characteristics gradually adopted by university law schools after 1890 and, eventually, schools of other professions. Langdell thus transformed legal education from an undemanding, gentlemanly acculturation into an academic meritocracy.

AALS Panel – Global Legal Education – Can American Law Schools Respond to the Opportunities?

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Bakken
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Foreign Law ◽  
American Law ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
Simultaneous Movement

During the past decade many American law schools have identified and responded to the opportunity and necessity of training law students and lawyers for the challenges created by globalization. Opportunities are certainly available to schools with strong business, international trade and human rights programs. Opportunities are, however, also available to schools with interests and strengths in the newer disciplines such as conflict resolution, intellectual property and environment protection. Law schools which have ventured into global oriented training have recognized that the market is not simply a one-way-street for domestic students but also includes training of foreign law students and lawyers. Private foundations in the United States and abroad, foreign governments and our national government have helped finance foreign lawyer visits and training events throughout America. When international lawyers visit the United States, domestic law schools are involved as hosts, training sites, and sources of professional expertise. There has also been a simultaneous movement of domestic lawyers and law students through foreign law school programs and other study abroad opportunities. When all these international experiences are taken together one realizes the need for law schools to become more involved in the development and implementation of training and development of globally oriented legal education.

Designing a Legal Skills Curriculum For an Asian Law School: Lessons in Adaptation

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Wong
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Small Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
Small Group Teaching ◽  
Teaching Research ◽  
National University

AbstractIn 2001, the Faculty of Law at the National University of Singapore embarked on a bold initiative to teach legal skills in a more determined and focused way than ever before in its L.L.B. Programme. This paper documents how the experience of teaching skills in the United States was adapted and re-created for Singapore. It describes the challenges and the responses fashioned to deal with intensive and interactive small group teaching, research and mooting. The paper calls for student and learning centeredness and a keen appreciation of their cultural and social assumptions.

scholarly journals Affirmative Inaction: A Quantitative Analysis of Progress Toward “Critical Mass” in U.S. Legal Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 987
Author(s):  
Loren Lee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
The Supreme Court

Since 1978, the Supreme Court has recognized diversity as a compelling government interest to uphold the use of affirmative action in higher education. Yet the constitutionality of the practice has been challenged many times. In Grutter v. Bollinger, for example, the Court denied its use in perpetuity and suggested a twenty-five-year time limit for its application in law school admissions. Almost two decades have passed, so where do we stand? This Note’s quantitative analysis of the matriculation of and degrees awarded to Black and Latinx students at twenty-nine accredited law schools across the United States illuminates a stark lack of progress toward critical mass since Grutter and reveals the continued need for affirmative action in law school admissions.

Rediscovering Blackstone: wpływ Williama Blackstone’a na rozwój amerykańskiej nauki prawa w recepcji Alberta W. Alschulera

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-185
Author(s):  
Edyta Sokalska
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
American Law ◽  
The Common

The reception of common law in the United States was stimulated by a very popular and influential treatise Commentaries on the Laws of England by Sir William Blackstone, published in the late 18th century. The work of Blackstone strengthened the continued reception of the common law from the American colonies into the constituent states. Because of the large measure of sovereignty of the states, common law had not exactly developed in the same way in every state. Despite the fact that a single common law was originally exported from England to America, a great variety of factors had led to the development of different common law rules in different states. Albert W. Alschuler from University of Chicago Law School is one of the contemporary American professors of law. The part of his works can be assumed as academic historical-legal narrations, especially those concerning Blackstone: Rediscovering Blackstone and Sir William Blackstone and the Shaping of American Law. Alschuler argues that Blackstone’s Commentaries inspired the evolution of American and British law. He introduces not only the profile of William Blackstone, but also examines to which extent the concepts of Blackstone have become the basis for the development of the American legal thought.

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