National Law Journal Reports on Carnegie and BP reforms at Duke, UCLA, Dayton and …..

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

                                           
Duke Law School dean David Levi           UCLA School of Law’s Michael Schill
Image: Jason Doiy 

Reality’s knocking

The recession is forcing schools to bow to reality.

Karen Sloan

September 7, 2009

Washington and Lee University School of Law has thrown out its traditional third-year curriculum and replaced it with a series of legal simulations meant to prepare students to practice law in the real world.

First-year students at Duke Law School and the new University of California, Irvine School of Law will take a yearlong course examining different legal careers and the ethical and professional issues associated with those career tracks.

A new LL.M. program at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law is designed to give recent law school graduates the skills their predecessors would have developed as starting law firm associates.

The movement to incorporate practical skills into legal education isn’t new, but legal educators and researchers report that the floundering economy is increasing incentives for law schools to revamp their curricula to prepare students for the realities of the legal profession. Continue reading →

Filed under: Best Practices & Curriculum, First Year Law School Innovations, Who is Using the Best Practices Book? | 6 Comments »

First Day

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Howard Katz

Ah, the first day of law school. The 1Ls are ready to go. Orientation may have fed some of their apprehensions, but it’s also gotten them excited about beginning their law school journey. The returning 2Ls and 3Ls have done a variety of things over the summer. Their experiences in many cases have given them new-found motivation (though that doesn’t necessarily mean they are all thrilled to be back at school).
But what to do on the first day of class? At Elon, we have a two-day “boot camp” as part of orientation. So every 1L has had a classroom introduction to each first year subject, and they’ve even written several mini-exam answers so they begin to see what the enterprise of legal analysis is about. And in my case, having taught the boot camp session on torts, I’ve already met with all the 1Ls (including the students I will have in my section. So a little bit of the ice has already been broken; they’ve already met with me (and several of their other professors) before the first “official” day of their law school careers.
Even with this run-up, there are still so many things a professor wants to impart on the first day. There are obvious logistical and housekeeping announcements. Even if they are covered in the syllabus, it’s usually a good thing to go over the most important ones in class. Over time I have become more and more convinced that making expectations clear and beginning to demonstrate how to approach legal problems is a good thing to do. Of course I don’t expect students to “get it” the first time it’s put out there – element analysis, applying facts to rules, etc. If they did, we wouldn’t need to spend an entire year doing the first year of law school. But the sooner they can begin to see what the expectations are at the end of the semester, even if at first their approach is mechanical, the more efficient all of their studying and preparation will be. At SEALS a couple of months ago, at one of the sessions I attended a professor said that on the first day he shows students what an exam question and a good answer look like. I have never gone quite that far – for one thing, I think it might be too intimidating. But the mini-exam hypos our students do in boot camp allow me to begin talking to first –year students from the very start about how to “reverse engineer” back from the ultimate result to what their notes and outline will have to include to get them there.
Having said that, and recognizing that there is so much we want to tell them, I strongly believe in “doing some law school” the first day. So regardless of where we are in the introductory material, at some point on the first day I want to make sure we begin to discuss a case. Too much talk of abstract concepts, process points or general themes can overwhelm 1Ls, especially when they haven’t yet read any cases.
One more point – also suggested by someone at SEALS. One nice, simple way to start a conversation about teaching among colleagues is to pose the question, “What do you do on the first day of class?”. Great idea. So give it some thought – what do you do? And why?

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Upon My Honor

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Justin Myers

On August 20th, Albany Law School 1L’s filtered into our largest moot courtroom, the nervous excitement of the first week still lingering.  Standing before them was Northern District of New York Magistrate Judge, the Honorable Randolph Treece. With Dean Thomas Guernsey at his side, Judge Treece spoke about values like “honesty” and “integrity.”  The student’s listened as the weight of each word brought “professionalism” into balance with the privilege of studying law. 

 Two hundred fifty-five students then stood in unison and made the following pledge: Continue reading →

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TERMINOLOGY AND MEANING: Experiential & Learning & Context-based & Lawyering Role & Structured Supervsion &…..

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

I think we are at a point in the legal education reform movement, where terminology to identify the  complementary but distinguishable kinds of “Experiences” and kinds of “Learning” seems important.(Deborah Maranville, Russell Engler, Sue Kay and I are working on a piece which analyzes some of this….)

For purposes of the lists some of us are in the process of creating to identify schools which are mandating experiential learning, I think it would be helpful to discuss our terminology.   In my mind, I divide or group the categories by four (4)  factors (with sub-factors within): Continue reading →

Filed under: Best Practices & Curriculum, Teaching Methodology, Who is Using the Best Practices Book? | 6 Comments »

Utilizing Best Practices for Formative Assessment in a Trust & Estates Course

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

The summer months often supply the time, energy, distance (from the inexorable demands of the academic year), and desire to re-envision our courses.   A colleague and BP blog author, Carolyn Grose, is engaged in redesigning a Trusts & Estates Course with a focus on using BEST PRACTICES  for Assessment.   The purpose of this Blog post is to gather information from all of you who have designed or redesigned courses from an Assessment perspective.  Feedback from those of you who work in the Trust and Estate area would be of particular interest, but we are also interested in anecdotes  about effective formative assessment/feedback mechanisms you employed.   Equally valuable are cautionary tales:  did an assessment experiment prove overwhelming, too burdensome, frustrating to students, not as helpful as anticipated?  Do you have some teaching tips on this issue of Assessment?

 Carolyn  and a few other BP Blog authors – Peter Joy, Barbara Glesner-Fines and me – will be using this Trust & Estates course revision as the context for exploring Assessment at a workshop session at the Crossroads 3.0 Conference in Denver.  We would invite you to post comments with your ideas and experiences with assessment so that we can share your insight with others at the conference.  We are particularly interested in:

1)  Identifying & Prioritizing Learning Objectives for the Course

2)  How do we Determine Proficiency on an Objective? Are there different levels from  introduction to mastery?

3) How does “formative assessment”/feedback fit with “summative assessment”/ final grade?

4) What kind of activities did you plan in and/or out of class in order to assess?

Looking forward to hearing your comments and gathering your wisdom.

Filed under: Best Practices & Setting Goals, Best Practices, Outcomes & Assessment Techniques, Who is Using the Best Practices Book? | 6 Comments »

National Law Journal: Temple Dean JoAnne A. Epps Describes the Current “Tipping Point” For Law Schools & Her School’s Re-Evaluation of Upper Level Curriculum

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

As I read Dean JoAnne Epps July 20th National Law Journal’s opinion piece on the call to legal education reform, I am reminded that each one of us understands the themes and threads of this movement differently. These differing threads and themes weave together in rich texture and ultimately strengthen the commitment to reform. Continue reading →

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Educating Teachers: On Becoming a Student Again at the Summer Institute for Clinical Teaching

Posted on June 26, 2009 by blissgsu

I have just returned from Washington, D.C., where I spent the last week fully immersed in clinical teaching methods at the second Summer Institute for Clinical Teaching at Georgetown University Law Center. There were approximately 25 attendees, many with years of teaching experience, who came from all over the country to engage in four days of intensive learning. Continue reading →

Filed under: Best Practices & Curriculum, Best Practices & Setting Goals, Best Practices, Outcomes & Assessment Techniques, Who is Using the Best Practices Book? | 3 Comments »

Ideas from the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning Conference

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

“Implementing Best Practices & Educating Lawyers:  Teaching Skills and Professionalism Across the Curriculum (POST 1)

Two  Favorite Teaching Techniques:  The Letter Exercise & Hess’s 3R’s”.

Here I am at Gonzaga U, in beautiful Spokane, Washington amidst a group of over 100 thoughtful and experienced law teachers and administrators who truly care about teaching, have studied what works and are committed to sharing that knowledge.  For those of you who can’t be here with me, I will blog about some of the major highlights over the next two days.    Continue reading →

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Collaboration Experiment: Letting the Students Teach

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Deborah Kearns

In response to several inquiries of Albany Law School’s Family Violence Litigation Clinic students concerning tax issues related to separation and divorce, we decided to engage in an experiment that turned out to be a huge success.   The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (“LITC”) and Family Violence Litigation Clinic (“FVLC”) students were asked to prepare and present an interactive class to share the knowledge that they had gained throughout the semester in a manner targeted to the unique issues faced by each Clinic. We followed a Best Practices approach of integrating substantive doctrine, skills, theory and social science all in one class and the feedback from the students was very positive. Continue reading →

Filed under: Best Practices & Curriculum, Teaching Methodology | 1 Comment »

Best Practices and Supreme Court Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor: the Importance/Impact of Experience & Intercultural Knowledge

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

As the right and the left examine and attack President Obama’s nominee,  Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor, we should take a look at her from a “Best Practices” perspective.   Although the focus of Best Practices is the legal academy, its values transfer well to consideration of a Supreme Court nominee.

I posit that Sotomayor is a Best Practices kind of nominee.  Why?  Continue reading →

Filed under: Best Practices & Setting Goals, Best Practices, Diversity & Social Justice, Who is Using the Best Practices Book? | 2 Comments »

Roy Stuckey Weighs in on Clinicians’ Job Security

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Carolyn Grose
The debate about job security and status has been with us continually for over 30 years, and it will be with us for many years to come.  There is no most correct answer.  I can agree with almost everything that has been written in this [clinic list serv] stream.  The most important issue, however, is … who makes decisions about the educational goals of the curriculum and which courses will be offered?  If you cannot influence curriculum decisions, you have no power to implement or shape the reforms that are needed. Continue reading →

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The Future of Family Law Education

Posted on May 25, 2009 by Carolyn Grose

A family law education conference with topics and demonstrations to enliven your teaching.

Friday, June 26-7, 2009 / William Mitchell College of Law / St. Paul, Minnesota

Register Today! Continue reading →

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Denver to Host Conference on Assessment Next Fall

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Carolyn Grose

I am pleased to announce that the University of Denver will be hosting a conference in September focused on Assessment in Legal Education.  Here is the opening paragraph for the request for proposals.  Check out the RFP and Conference program at:

 http://law.du.edu/index.php/assessment-conference Continue reading →

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An Experiment in Outcomes-Based Education at one Law School

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Carolyn Grose

What follows are excerpts from a report presented to the William Mitchell faculty and administration, prepared by the “Future of Legal Education Task Force,” of which I am a member.  It’s exciting stuff.  We’ll see where it goes . . .

“William Mitchell’s Future of Legal Education Task Force began meeting during the fall of 2008 to identify issues and proposals for consideration by the faculty.  Members surveyed and discussed literature on educational trends and deliberated about how Mitchell might pioneer the next generation of innovations in legal education.    Continue reading →

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THE ROLE OF CRITICAL THEORY SCHOLARSHIP IN BEST PRACTICES

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Mary A. Lynch

As law schools and law faculty engage in legal education reform, the question arises: What is the role of critical theory or theory-critique?    Some of our friends and colleagues in the critical race, feminist, post-feminist and other theory-critique schools may feel left out of the dialogue/teaching initiatives when,  in fact, such “theory-critique” skills are an important part of effective lawyering.  Continue reading →

Filed under: Best Practices & Setting Goals, Best Practices for Institutional Effectiveness, Best Practices, Diversity & Social Justice, Best Practices, Outcomes & Assessment Techniques, Who is Using the Best Practices Book? | 2 Comments »

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