The Emergence of English as a Language of Legal Education English-Medium Legal Education in Continental Europe: Maastricht University’s European Law School: Experiences and Challenges

AbstractThe Nunavut Land Claim Agreement commits federal and territorial governments to the recruitment and training of Inuit for positions throughout government. In the justice sector, there is currently a major shortage of Inuit lawyers or future judges. However, there also appears to be a fundamental mismatch between what existing law schools offer and what Inuit students are prepared to accept. A northern-based law school might remedy some of these problems. However, support for a law school requires un-thinking certain key tenets of legal education as we know it in Canada. In particular, it may require a step outside the university-based law school system. Universities appear to be accepted as the exclusive guardian of the concept of academic standards. Admission standards, in particular, serve as both a positivist technology of exclusion, and a political rationale for the persistence of majoritarian institutions as the major means of training members of disadvantaged communities. Distinctive institutions – eventually working with university-based law schools – have the potential to help bridge the education gap between Inuit and other Canadians. In so doing, they have the potential to train a critical mass of Inuit to meaningfully adapt the justice system to become a pillar of the public government in the Inuit homeland of Nunavut.

Download Full-text

An American Looks at Legal Education in New Zealand

Victoria University of Wellington Law Review ◽

10.26686/vuwlr.v30i2.6002 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 419

Author(s):

Allison Dunham

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New Zealand ◽

Legal Education ◽

The United States ◽

Law School ◽

Admission Process ◽

Office Practice

This article undertakes an informal comparison between legal education in the United States and in New Zealand. Dunham compares the admission process, the content taught at law school, the methods of instruction, law office practice for students, and the student makeup. The author concludes that no system of legal education is best, and that it is important to continue to ask how legal education can be improved.

Download Full-text

Proposal for an Italian Family Mediation Clinic

International Journal of Clinical Legal Education ◽

10.19164/ijcle.v25i1.695 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 79

Author(s):

Andrea Gallinucci-Martinez

Keyword(s):

Family Environment ◽

Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽

Legal Education ◽

The United States ◽

Law School ◽

Community Mediation ◽

Family Mediation ◽

Italian Family ◽

Transformative Mediation ◽

American Heritage

Section A of this paper discusses the historical evolution of clinical legal programs in the United States, the homeland of clinical legal education. Next, the current framework of Italian legal clinics is discussed, focusing on its American heritage and associated nuances.Section B considers why mediation would be particularly suitable for the creation of an Italian legal clinic, given the recent incentives created by the European legislature to strengthen alternative dispute resolution. The evolution of the Columbia Law School Mediation Clinic is described, from its beginning to the recent creation of an advanced clinic model, and insights from this process are discussed in terms of the Italian legal and family environment.Section C lays out baseline considerations and recommendations for creating a family mediation clinic at LUMSA. Three different approaches to family and community mediation previously adopted in the context of clinical legal education are analysed: facilitative mediation, transformative mediation, and peacemaking circle. A model for the clinic is proposed, with suggestions for sources and materials from which the curriculum might be drawn.

Download Full-text

A Medical/Legal Teaching and Assessment Collaboration on Domestic Violence: Assessment Using Standardized Patients/Standardized Clients

International Journal of Clinical Legal Education ◽

10.19164/ijcle.v14i0.61 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 61 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Antoinette Sedillo Lopez ◽

Cameron Crandall ◽

Gabriel Campos ◽

Diane Rimple ◽

Mary Neidhart ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Legal Education ◽

Standardized Patients ◽

Law School ◽

Learning Objectives ◽

Carnegie Foundation ◽

Law Schools ◽

Knowledge And Skills ◽

Education Association ◽

Standardized Clients

Assessment of skills is an important, emerging topic in law school education. Two recent and influential books, Educating Lawyers published by the Carnegie Foundation and Best Practices in Legal Education, published by the Clinical Legal Education Association have both suggested dramatic reform of legal education. Among other reforms, these studies urge law schools to use “outcome-based” assessments, i.e., using learning objectives and assessing knowledge and skills in standardized situations based on specific criteria, rather than simply comparing students’ performances to each other.

Download Full-text

Law School as Social Innovation

Victoria University of Wellington Law Review ◽

10.26686/vuwlr.v48i2.4743 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 225

Author(s):

Lorne Sossin

Keyword(s):

Student Learning ◽

Public Interest ◽

Social Innovation ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Legal Education ◽

Rapid Change ◽

Law School ◽

Legal Knowledge ◽

Law Schools ◽

The Face

Legal education is in the midst of a range of challenges and disruptions. This address outlines these dynamics, and explores the potential of social innovation as a model for law schools which both responds to current challenges and enhances resilience in the face of disruption. By reframing legal education as facing outward, and advancing its public interest mandate through partnerships, collaboration and academic initiatives designed to solve social problems, law schools can enhance the student learning experience, generate new forms of legal knowledge and thrive at a time of rapid change. Address delivered at the Australian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) 2016 Conference in Wellington on 8 July 2016.

Download Full-text