Report From St. Louis Symposium

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Roy Stuckey
A symposium, “Law Schools in the New Legal Environment,” was held at Washington University, St. Louis, on Friday, October 26th.  For the most part, it was a depressing experience.
For the foreseeable future, law schools will produce 40,000 students every year, but there will only be 22,000 law-related jobs waiting for them.  The costs of a legal education are going up much faster than the costs of living, but the return on that investment is not very good.  Students are taking on so much debt that many of them will be unable to repay their loans, even those graduates who are able to get law-related jobs.
The presenters offered virtually no solutions.  No one believed that law schools will significantly reduce their costs.
The speakers did agree that law schools have a moral and, perhaps, a legal obligation to educate prospective students about the financial risks of going to law school.  They did not think, however, that this would make much of a difference because of the irrational optimism of prospective students who all believe they will be in the top 10%.  Oddly, no one suggested counselling students after first semester grades come out and the realities of students’ prospects are clearer.
What to expect?  Law school applications will continue to decline, and the quality of students will diminish at most law schools.  The elite law schools will continue to prosper.  In order for typical law schools to prosper, they must make changes that convince prospective students and potential employers that their programs of instruction add value in ways that their competitors do not.  Not many specific ideas were proposed for adding value, other than to do a better job of preparing students for practice.
Some number of law schools will be unable to attract enough students to stay in business.  That number will be higher if the federal government, as anticipated, stops giving unlimited loans to law students and begins assessing the risks of those loans like a bank would.
Roy Stuckey

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How Many Pages Do You Require Students to Read for Each Class Hour?

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Roy Stuckey

It is well-documented that many students suffer psychological injury caused by some traditional practices of legal educators in the United States. When I was working on the Best Practices book, I learned that Gerry Hess and others believed that the heavy workload on students was one of the stress factors that contributed to harm. This struck a chord with me, because I temporarily lost my ability to read during the second semester of law school due to eye stress. In my second year, I actually had one professor who typically assigned 50 pages of casebook material per class hour. I hated his course because of that.
Until I recognized that excessive reading assignments might be harming my students, I assigned up to 30 pages of reading per class hour. After considering the negative impacts of too much reading, I changed my policy and assigned no more than 20 pages of reading per class hour and sometimes much less than that. Accomplishing this goal forced me to make some painful decisions about what to leave out, but I did it.
The result? My students appreciated what I did, and they were better prepared for class. I do not think the quality of our class discussions diminished at all, which surprised me.

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Best Practices and Student Evaluations

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Roy Stuckey

Have you noticed an improvement in student evaluations of your teaching after implementing recommendations from the Best Practices book? I did.
I generally received high marks from students, but they became even higher once I began embracing more principles of best practices. I think what helped more than anything was that I began to truly embrace the concept of student-centered teaching. For example, I began making time to learn things about my students’ lives outside of the law building. This had two impacts. First, students viewed me as being more concerned about them as people, not just as students. Second, I became more tolerant of some student behaviors, including the student who sometimes fell asleep during my 9 AM Monday class. I knew she was a divorced mother of a high school student who was working her way through law school as a nurse. She worked the Sunday night shift. When she fell asleep, the other students and I let her rest.

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Efforts to Reform Legal Education Can be Discouraging

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Roy Stuckey

We know that many law schools are engaged in making exciting, forward-looking changes to their curriculums and methods of instruction.  Unfortunately, there is clear evidence that some schools are just not interested in improving their programs of instruction and the ABA is not currently interested in forcing them to do so.

When ABA Accreditation Standard 302(a)(4) was adopted, many people thought it would lead to fairly rapid and eventually significant changes.  It says that “[a] law school shall require that each student receive substantial instruction in other professional skills regarded as necessary for productive and responsible participation in the legal profession.”

However, the “Consultant’s Memo on Standards Guidance” which was published on page 4 in the Winter, 2010, edition of the Syllabus (the newsletter of the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar), makes it clear that the current version of Standard 302(a)(4) will not bring about any significant changes.

The Consultant’s memo explains the minimum that law schools must do to comply with the Standard, as interpreted by the Accreditation Committee.  It is obvious that the Accreditation Committee is desperately trying to persuade recalcitrant law schools to provide some professional skills training, but it has lowered the bar so much that students who are enrolled at schools that only meet that low bar will not be well served.

The  memo does make it clear that the Standard means that all students must receive some professional skills instruction.  “[T]he fact that 98 percent of the student body takes skills course is not sufficient; every student, as a requirement of graduation, must receive substantial skills instruction.”   However, the memo then explains that the “substantial skills instruction” requirement can be satisfied, inter alia, by adding a substantial counseling and negotiating module to a first year legal writing course, or by requiring students to take a one credit course in any professional skill, including for example, a one credit component of “a substantive course that includes substantial skills instruction, e.g., a corporations class where each student is required to draft substantial legal documents that are assessed by the instructor.” 

If they were not true, these previously secret and unpublished “interpretations” by the Standards Review Committee would be laughable.  I think it is a fine idea to have students draft documents in a Corporations course, but I do not think that by doing  that, and nothing else, students would be receiving substantial instruction in the “professional skills generally regarded as necessary for effective and responsible participation in the legal profession.”  I doubt that the members of the Accreditation Committee really think so, either.

Again, I view the “guidance” memo as evidence that some schools are not interested in improving their programs of instruction and that the ABA’s Accreditation Committee is not willing to hold their feet to the fire.  Hopefully, the ongoing efforts of the Standards Review Committee to draft outcomes-focused Standards will raise the bar again and, wishfully, the Accreditation Committee will not dilute their impact via secret interpretations that are contrary to the clear meaning of the Standards.

Meanwhile, I extend my best wishes to those schools that are trying to improve your programs of instruction for the welfare of your students.

Roy Stuckey

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How Far Will California-Irvine Go?

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Roy Stuckey

An article in the August, 2009, ABA Journal profiled the new law school at the University of California at Irvine which  was entering its first year.  The article reported some interesting things, including a claim that “it is designed to be among the most innovative law schools in the nation.”  Dean Erwin Chemerinsky was quoted as saying, “We have  the wonderful benefit of a blank slate and the chance to create the ideal law school for the 21st century.”  The article, however, was thin on details about plans for the curriculum.

The article reported that there will be a two semester “professionalism” course in the first year in which practictioners from many areas of practice will help students “gain a sense of the different kinds of work the profession does.”  First year students will also be required to conduct intake interviews for legal aid clients.  Two years from now, the school will require students to spend a semester in one of the eight planned in-house clinics.

So far, so good, but it is not clear how committed the school really is to innovative teaching or experiential learning.  There was no mention in the article or on the school’s website as to whether the school has clearly articulated its educational objectives or whether the program of instruction will progressively develop knowledge, skill, and values or integrate the teaching of theory, doctrine, and practice.

The Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Service Learning Programs, Carrie Hempel (formerly at Southern California) was quoted as saying that she gets the “chance to recruit a group of the finest clinicians in the country to come here and build their own dream clinical courses.”  Allowing people to come in and build their own courses does not sound like there will be a program of progressive learning into which these courses will fit.  Most unfortunately, the article makes it sound like there will be a group of people identified as “clinicians” rather than members of the faculty who happen to teach clinical courses.  I hope I am wrong.

It is not apparent that classroom instruction will be any more innovative or skilled than at traditional law schools.  The first members of the faculty were largely recruited from elite law schools, including Berkeley and Duke.  As a group, the faculty ranks 10th in the nation in ”scholarly impact,” and UC-Irvine intends to be considered an elite law school from the beginning.  All members of the faculty may be excellent teachers who are devoted to preparing students for practice, but there is no mention of this in the article or on the school’s website.

Will UC-Irvine’s law school really be an innovative place that can legitimately claim to be the ideal school for the 21st century?  I hope so, but it is too early to tell.  Meanwhile, if anyone has more details about the curriculum, please share it with us.

Roy

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Clearer Goals For Legal Education: Coming Soon to A School Near You

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Roy Stuckey

The theme of the regional conference at Albany Law School last week was “Developing and Defining Measurable Goals for Teaching Law Students.”

On the Tuesday night before the conference, I received a copy of  proposed changes to ABA Accreditation Standards 301-305.  I will tell you a little about the new proposals, but you should read the entire document with some care.  If the proposal is adopted in anything resembling its current form, it will change legal education.  You can access the document on the website of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar at www.abanet.org/legaled/committees/comstandards.html.  Look in the section on “drafts for consideration at Standards Review Committee meetings.”  The document you are looking for is the “Learning Outcomes” draft that the committee will discuss in New Orleans on January 8-9, 2010 during the AALS meeting.

Here are two excerpts to get your attention: 

1.  “Standard 302, Learning Outcomes.  (a) A law school shall identify, define, and disseminate the learning outcomes it seeks for its graduating students and for its program of legal education to enable its students to participate effectively, responsibly and ethically in the legal profession.”

2.  “S302(b)(2) … The learning outcomes shall include . . . (2) proficiency as an entry level practitioner in:  (i) legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, problem solving, written and legal communication in a legal context;  (ii)  the ability to recognize and resolve ethical and other professional delimmas;” . . . . and more; . . . “(4) any other outcomes the school identifies as necessary or important to meet the needs of its students and to accomplish th school’s mission and goals.”

And don’t miss Standard 304, Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Institutional Effectiveness.

These proposals are not finalized, of course, but the ABA is quite serious about converting the accreditation Standards to an outcomes-focused approach rather than its current inputs-focused approach.  I support this new direction, even though I think the current proposal needs some work.

After you take a look at the proposal, share your reactions on this blog site. 

Enjoy, Roy

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If You Build It, They Will Come

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Roy Stuckey

I have long believed that alumni will financially support law school programs that are designed to prepare students for practice. I also believe that such programs will give schools an advantage over peer institutions in recruiting students.
The experience at Washington & Lee supports my theses. After making a commitment to transform its third year into an experiential education format beginning this coming Fall, W&L received a $2 million gift from an alum to help support this initiative. The school also reports that “75 second-year students opted in to become the first class to go through the program. This is well more than half of the rising 3L class and exceeds our expected enrollment by roughly thirty students.”
To top off the good news, the school announced that it has hired experiential education guru (my words) Jim Moliterno, formerly of William and Mary, as W&L’s Vincent Bradford Professor of Law.
We should all wish for the success of the program at W&L and similarly bold moves at other schools. If they can demonstrate the educational superiority of their curriculums others will follow. And it won’t hurt to show strong support from alumni and potential students.

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How to Reward Good Teaching?

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Roy Stuckey

Texas A&M announced that it will pay bonuses of $10,000 for good student evaluations.  Fred Moss of SMU called this a bad idea in an email to the AALS Teaching Methods Section.  He fears a “‘race to the bottom,’ with professors vying with each other to be the easiest, least demanding, spoon-feeders amongst their peers.”

I don’t know whether or not I should share Fred’s concerns.  I assume that Texas A&M considered this possibility before implementing the incentive plan.  It seems to me that a lot will depend on the content of the student evaluation forms. 

Fred’s comments, however, do raise the important question of  how law schools should encourage good teaching.  For too long, law professors have been rewarded primarily on the basis of their scholarship with little more than lip service given to the quality of their teaching.  Consequentially, many law teachers have not strived to be excellent teachers.

I think we all agree that law schools should encourage their faculties to strive to be excellent teachers.  If so, what can law schools do to provide encouragement?  If not through bonuses based on student evaluations, then how?

I look forward to reading your responses.

Roy

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Use the Best Practices Book to Educate Dean Search Committees

Posted on November 21, 2008 by Roy Stuckey

Last week, I received a request for 12 copies of the Best Practices book.  When I asked why the person needed the books, he replied that he wanted to give a copy to each member of his school’s dean search committee.

I think this is a very good idea.  Armed with the book, search committee members can determine whether dean applicants are informed about current issues in legal education.  They can also evaluate whether candidates have a vision for improving the educational quality of a school or would, instead, prefer to maintain the status quo. 

If you would like copies for your dean search committee, send me an email at stuckeyroy@gmail.com.  There is no charge for the books, but we will ask you to pay postage/shipping costs.

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Did You Know That “Bar Courses” Don’t Matter?

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Roy Stuckey

Do “bar courses” make a difference?  Perhaps not, according to data from a recent study.  If the data are correct, what are the implications for law schools?

A June, 2007, Journal of Legal Education article reported that an empirical study at one law school determined that bar passage rates were not affected by taking “bar courses” for students in the first, second, or fourth quartile of their class.  Douglas K. Rush and Hisako Matsuo, Does Law School Curriculum Affect Bar Examination Passage?  An Empirical Analysis of Factors Related to Bar Examination Passage During the Years 2001 Through 2006 at a Midwestern Law School, 57 J. Legal Educ. 224 (June 2007).

The study was limited to one school, and the results may be different at other schools.  Irregardless, the findings of this study should motivate every law school to ask, “How can we improve our efforts to prepare our students for the bar examination?” Continue reading →

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New Article: No Excuses Left for Failing to Reform Legal Education

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Roy Stuckey

The June/July 2008 issue of the Ohio Bar Association’s magazine, the Ohio Lawyer, focuses on “Mending Legal Education.”  http://www.scbar.org/public/pdf/mendinglegaled.pdf Two articles in the magaqzine discuss the implications of the Best Practices book and the Carnegie report.  One article was written by Nancy Rogers, President of the Association of American Law Schools. 

The other article points out that law teachers no longer have Continue reading →

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Who Has Been Using Best Practices?

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Roy Stuckey

When Best Practices for Legal Education was published in March, 2007, a box of 32 copies was shipped directly from the printing company to most law schools.

Subsequently, the following law schools requested enough copies for their entire faculties to have a copy: Continue reading →

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How can we persuade law teachers to embrace change?

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Roy Stuckey

On December 7th, Bill Henderson made the following comments on the Empirical Legal Studies blog site, http://elsblog.org, “[The Carnegie report] contains some great ideas, but as a group, law professors are not listening.  More troubling, the book has no strategy for getting their attention.” Continue reading →

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ABA Seeks Input on Outcomes

Posted on December 17, 2007 by Roy Stuckey

The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has created a Special Committee on Outcome Measures.  The charge to the Committee is:

“This Committee will determine whether and how we can use output measures, rather than bar passage and job placement, in the accreditation process.” Continue reading →

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