Biblical Law and the First Year Curriculum of American Legal Education

1986 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Edward McGlynn Gaffney
Keyword(s):  
Legal Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Biblical Law

Can You Talk Like a Lawyer and Still Think Like a Human Being? Mertz's The Language of Law School

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (04) ◽  
pp. 983-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Conley
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law School ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Year ◽  
Language And Thought ◽  
School Classroom ◽  
New Students ◽  
School Learning ◽  
The Relationship

The last thirty years in anthropology, as well as in linguistics and in many of the other social sciences, have been characterized by a shift in theoretical focus from structure to practice. In The Language of Law School: Learning to “Think Like a Lawyer” (2007), linguistic anthropologist and law professor Elizabeth Mertz has brought this practice perspective to bear on the extraordinary linguistic and cultural venue that is the first‐year law school classroom. In revealing the linguistic realities of teaching new students to “think like a lawyer,” she raises fascinating questions about the relationship between language and thought, the subtle effects of legal education, and the nature of law itself.

scholarly journals Eportfolios as Reflective Assessment of Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28
Author(s):  
James Gallen
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
University Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Prior Learning ◽  
Reflective Assessment ◽  
Student Reflection ◽  
Critical Approaches

This article explores the potential for eportfolios to contribute to the development of student critical awareness of social justice, including the role of the university as a social justice actor, through module assessment. It will critically address how eportfolios were introduced in 2019-20 to assess student reflection on social justice in a first year law module ‘Critical Approaches to Law’ at DCU. To date, there has been a slow adoption of eportfolios in Irish higher education (Farrell 2018). Although there is some evidence of reflective assessment in comparative legal education, especially in schools with an emphasis on socio-legal approaches to law, and in clinical legal education, there is limited analysis of eportfolio assessment in classroom-based or blended legal education, (Waye and Faulkner 2012) and none in the Irish context.   The article will discuss the motivation to use eportfolios; the benefits, challenges and lessons learned in the design of the assessment, and the first time experience for the educator of marking and student experience of eportfolios. It assesses eportfolios as a mechanism for prompting student reflection and the development of critical thinking, (Farrell 2019) with a particular reflective focus on social justice and university education as a social justice experience. (Connell 2019). It queries the extent to which eportfolios enable students to incorporate prior learning experiences to their reflection, (Chen and Black 2010) and for students self-determine the parameters of their personal interaction with social justice questions raised by the experience in the module and their lived experience. (Brooman and Stirk 2020)

scholarly journals “10 lessons for new clinicians”

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Angela Macfarlane ◽  
Paul McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Education ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Clinical Educator ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Risk Areas ◽  
Practical Performance ◽  
Academic Year

<p>As a new clinician, if you have trained as a lawyer via a traditional legal education route you inevitably have very little experience of clinical education to bring to the role, although you of course have your professional and practical experience to draw on. Although many readers are experienced clinicians, this is a timely opportunity to go back to the beginning and re-assess the potential problems or risk areas that clinicians face at the beginning of a new academic year, with a new intake of students. Society changes continually so each year will bring new issues as well as those well known to all clinicians.</p><p>In clinic at Northumbria University final year students are placed in to groups of up to six students known as firms and each firm is allocated an area of law such as employment or housing. Each firm is supervised by a qualified solicitor who allocates cases to the students. Students can work individually or in pairs, depending on the complexity of the case. At the end of the academic year, students are assessed on their practical performance using grade descriptors. They also submit reflective pieces about their experiences in clinic.</p><p>These “lessons” have emerged from our own first year of transition from practising lawyer to clinical educator. We hope some of them ring true with other new clinicians.</p>

scholarly journals Teaching and Assessing Problem Solving: An Example of an Incremental Approach to Using IRAC in Legal Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 106-124
Author(s):  
Kelley Burton ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Journal Article ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Reasoning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Incremental Approach

Legal reasoning is a type of problem solving, and is situated within thinking skills, one of the six threshold learning outcomes established under the auspices of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s Bachelor of Laws Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement. The threshold learning outcomes define what law graduates are ‘expected to know, understand and be able to do as a result of learning’ (Kift et al., 2010, p. 9). The assessment of legal reasoning, and thus problem solving, should receive greater attention in legal education discourse (James, 2011, p. 15, James, 2012, p. 88). The dominant approach for problem-based questions in the discipline of law over the last 40 years is IRAC (issue, rule, application and conclusion). The acronym IRAC is not offensive and potentially instils a positive professional legal identity and is a student-centred approach to problem solving. This journal article documents an incremental approach to IRAC in law where first year students answer a problembased law question using a grid format before preparing a barrister’s advice.

scholarly journals Stepping Up to the Podium with Confidence: A Primer for Law Students on Preparing and Delivering an Appellate Oral Argument

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Dimitri
Keyword(s):  
Legal Education ◽  
Law Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Appellate Courts ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Oral Argument ◽  
Students First

38 Stetson Law Review 75 (2008)Virtually all law students are required to learn oral advocacy skills at some point during their legal education. Typically, these skills are cultivated through at least one oral argument assignment, which often consists of an appellate oral argument that is given as part of the students' first-year legal research and writing course or as part of a moot court competition. While appellate courts do not grant oral argument as often as they used to, oral advocacy remains a critical skill for law students to learn and cultivate, no matter which facet of law practice they enter upon graduation. Unfortunately, the prospect of learning this critical skill can be disquieting to students. Students may, however, ease their anxiety and ultimately deliver an excellent oral argument if they fully understand the purposes of the argument and if they thoroughly prepare for the argument. This article is targeted at oral argument novices. It discusses how a beginner to appellate oral argument may effectively prepare and deliver an argument, particularly if the argument is given as part of a law school's legal research and writing course or as part of a moot court competition.

scholarly journals CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES, THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE AND LEGAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: SHAPING OUR LEGAL ORDER

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmarie Fourie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Therapeutic Jurisprudence ◽  
Law Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Future

Law schools have a responsibility to remind law students that by studying law they have the power to transform thoughts, policies and lives, and that practising law is not just about financial rewards, but that its greatest reward is contributing to the betterment of society and ultimately to social change. The values and philosophies that law lecturers instil in law students can contribute to the legal order of the future; a legal order that supports a transformative South Africa. A need exists to bring legal education closer to the values enshrined in our Constitution. In addition to an extensive knowledge of legal principles, critical thinking and research skills, law students should critically engage with our constitutional values. The question remains: How do we transform legal education in South Africa? How do we change the way we teach law students? The introduction of concepts such as therapeutic jurisprudence enhanced by our constitutional values will ensure that we deliver graduates that display a commitment to our constitutional vales and an ability to engage critically with these values. It is important to establish a professional legal identity amongst students from their first year as this will assist in the development of a well-rounded graduate that can contribute to the legal order of the future. Letter writing and drafting skills, the value of plain language, moot court activities, alternative dispute resolution and clinical legal education provide opportunities to integrate valuable therapeutic jurisprudence principles into the curriculum and can allow students to critically engage with our constitutional values. By embodying these values they can improve the legal system, shape our legal order and promote progress toward an equal and free democratic society as envisaged by the Constitution.

scholarly journals Teaching professionalism in legal clinic – what new practitioners say is important

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Foley ◽  
Margie Rowe ◽  
Vivien Holmes ◽  
Stephen Tang
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Professional Values ◽  
First Year ◽  
Anecdotal Evidence ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Small Cohort

<p>Anecdotal evidence suggests new lawyers may struggle as they begin legal practice. Little is known empirically about their actual experiences. This paper provides some insights into what occurs in this transition. It reports on a qualitative study currently underway tracking new lawyers through their first year of practice. Preliminary analysis of data from interviews and from workplace observations suggests clinical legal education can play a significant role in smoothing the transition and helping new lawyers develop their sense of professionalism. into their vocational training year. We track new lawyers in the context of their post-admission practice with a small cohort of recently admitted lawyers interviewed and observed in their day to day practice.</p><p><br />We describe what these new lawyers say is important to an effective transition – developing autonomy, learning to deal with uncertainty and finding an accommodation between their developing professional values and those modelled by their firm and colleagues. Clinical programs offer opportunities for an early reflective exposure to these experiences.</p>

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