scholarly journals Changing our Thinking: Empirical Research on Law Student Wellbeing, Thinking Styles and the Law Curriculum

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Townes O'Brien ◽  
Stephen Tang ◽  
Kath Hall
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Thinking Styles ◽  
Student Wellbeing ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Student

scholarly journals Running drop-in advice services in a university setting

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 383
Author(s):  
John Russell
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Transferable Skills ◽  
Legal Advice ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Student

<p>In October 2011, London South Bank University (‘LSBU’) opened a new Drop-In Legal Advice Clinic where law student volunteers – working under the supervision of practising solicitors – provide free, on-the-spot, face-to-face legal advice to the general public. Our aim was to establish a drop-in advice service which would deliver a tangible benefit to the local community, develop students’ practical knowledge of the law in context, and provide a basis for developing a teaching and learning resource for other higher education institutions. In February 2012, we were highlighted in the Million+ think tank’s report on innovative teaching in modern universities, ‘Teaching that Matters’, as involving students in a valuable community service while gaining real-world legal experience, developing transferable skills and enhancing their employability prospects. In April 2012, we won a £5,000 LSBU Vice-Chancellor’s Enterprising Staff Award for our demonstration of enterprise in enhancing the student experience and employability, providing a significant benefit for the local community, and demonstrating a wider significance to other higher education institutions nationwide. The Legal Advice Clinic is now key to the marketing strategy for the Law Department. This paper describes our new service in its first year of operation.</p>

Surprisingly, there are no official authoritative series of law reports in England to equate with the Queen’s Printers copy of an Act of Parliament. The Stationery Office is responsible for publishing revenue, immigration and social security law cases. However, traditionally, law reports remain in the hands of private publishers. Today, there are numerous, often competitive, private publishers. Although there are no official series of law reports, the courts do respect some reports more than others. A long established, conventional rule is that a law report, if it is to be accepted by the relevant court as an authority, must be prepared by and published under the name of a fully qualified barrister. The greater accuracy of modern reporting, and the vetting by judges, necessitates longer delays before the cases are published. Also, the Law Reports only cover 7% of the cases in the higher courts in any given year. Interesting issues are: (a) who selects which cases to report? (b) how are they selected? Editors select the cases for inclusion in the series of law reports. These are highly trained lawyers, well acquainted with precedent and the likely importance of cases. During the past 150 years publishers of law reports have been generalists or specialists. Some law reports are annotated, particularly for the use of practitioners, others left without annotations, introductions, etc. In addition to reported cases, the Supreme Court Library contains thousands of files of unreported cases. In 1940, the Lord Chancellor’s Department prepared a report: The Report of the Law Reporting Committee. The Committee considered that, after editors had made their choices, ‘What remains is less likely to be a treasure house than a rubbish heap in which a jewel will rarely, if ever, be discovered’ (p 20). (Note the poetic language that forcefully carries the point.) Of course, today, there is a vast range of electronic retrieval systems for accessing details of thousands of unreported cases. This has caused its own problems and there was a legitimate concern that courts would be inundated with cases that did not really contain any new law, but which had been retrieved from electronic sources. In the case of Roberts Petroleum Ltd v Bernard Kenny Ltd [1983] 2 AC 192, the House of Lords took the step of forbidding the citation of unreported cases of the civil division of the Court of Appeal without special leave. The rule remains, however, that to be an accepted version that can be quoted in court the report must have been prepared and published by a barrister. When law students read law reports they must ask: (a) is this report the most authoritative version available? (b) are there fuller versions? (c) if unreported, does this case add to the law? Figure 4.2, below, sets out the types of reports available for the law student to consult.

2012 ◽  
pp. 78-79
Keyword(s):  
Law Students ◽  
Retrieval Systems ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Legitimate Concern ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Student ◽  
Law Reports ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Vast Range

The Relevance of the Network Approach to European Case Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-124
Author(s):  
Urška Šadl ◽  
Fabien Tarissan
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Citation Network ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Legal Structures ◽  
The Law

The chapter argues that the network approach is a viable methodology in legal empirical research, which can be used to study the case law of the Court of Justice. To demonstrate this potential, the chapter: first, shows how to obtain detailed information about the law from the citation network; second, it illustrates how to assess the legal relevance of cases by looking at case citations; and, third, it explores how to infer the doctrinal influence of selected landmark cases. All examples adapt different citation network tools to the study of legal structures and legal discourse which can focus, frame, support, and guide doctrinal analysis.

10. Thinking Like a Lawyer: Critical Thinking and Legal Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imogen Moore ◽  
Craig Newbery-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Student Needs ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Student ◽  
Law Degree ◽  
Different Parts

The successful law student needs to be able to place the law in context, analyse its effects on different parts of society, apply these rules to different problems, and reflect upon the suitability of both individual laws and the law as an institution. This ability to think critically and undertake broad and deep legal analysis is important to becoming a lawyer, but is also valuable for any other career. This chapter explores the importance of critical thinking to the law degree and beyond, and looks at how the student can bring analysis and criticism into their work. It considers techniques for problem solving and essay writing, and the importance of constructing arguments balancing ‘content’ and ‘thought’.

“Critical Empricism” and American Critical Legal Studies: Paradox, Program, or Pandora's Box?

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Trubek ◽  
John Esser
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Law And Society ◽  
Sociology Of Law ◽  
Critical Legal Studies ◽  
Critical Sociology ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
The Law

What should we make of Susan Silbey's call for socio-legal scholarship that is both critical and empirical? Do we think the law and society movement can and should develop a critique of the legal order? Can empirical research contribute to such a critique? Does the idea of a “critical sociology of law” make any sense at all?

Lessons from the Law and Empirical Research Addressing School Segregation and Diversity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger J.R. Levesque
Keyword(s):  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
School Segregation ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Legal Responses ◽  
The Law ◽  
Color Blind

This chapter presents the overall conclusion that emerges from the book, which is that empirical findings may play a role in shaping legal responses to segregation and diversity in schools, but the bulk of current research increasingly becomes irrelevant. The legal system and researchers appear to be moving in opposite directions in what they identify as problematic and what to do about it. This chapter sorts through the lessons learned about the legal system’s evaluation of empirical research. It highlights the problematic nature of legal approaches, which now focus on remaining neutral/color-blind with regard to racial disparities. It then details how the legal system can better benefit from research that addresses racial and ethnic disparities.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document