Menu
legal education
ABA Report Lacking Solutions for Law Schools
March 5, 2014
Task force offers plenty of criticism — especially of faculty scholarship — without practical advice. Legal education certainly can improve, but the recommendations of the American Bar Association's Task Force on the Future of Legal Education are not the way to do it. The task force released its report and recommendations on Jan. 24, and they are a collection of ideas that will do little to make law schools better — and some would make them much worse. The report does make some...
March 5, 2014
Task force offers plenty of criticism — especially of faculty scholarship — without practical advice. Legal education certainly can improve, but the recommendations of the American Bar Association's Task Force on the Future of Legal Education are not the way to do it. The task force released its report and recommendations on Jan. 24, and they are a collection of ideas that will do little to make law schools better — and some would make them much worse. The report does make some...
Crisis in Legal Education or the Other Things Law Students Should Be Learning and Doing
January 19, 2014
This essay reviews the recent criticisms of legal education (costs, loss of job opportunities, content of curricula) and suggests that law students might be better served by studying and learning different things in law school – not only conventional Socratic, doctrinal and even, adversarial clinical education, but organizational development, problem solving, decision making, group dynamics, dispute resolution and dispute system design. The article also contrasts two other professions – one newer...
January 19, 2014
This essay reviews the recent criticisms of legal education (costs, loss of job opportunities, content of curricula) and suggests that law students might be better served by studying and learning different things in law school – not only conventional Socratic, doctrinal and even, adversarial clinical education, but organizational development, problem solving, decision making, group dynamics, dispute resolution and dispute system design. The article also contrasts two other professions – one newer...
New Blog Airs Law Schools’ Laundry
October 20, 2013
A trio of deans this month launched the first group blog written specifically by law school deans, with the intention of driving...
October 20, 2013
A trio of deans this month launched the first group blog written specifically by law school deans, with the intention of driving...
Neuroplasticity and Education
October 10, 2013
I have written several posts concerning how important understanding how the mind works is on improving education and legal education (the neurobiology of learning). There will be a conference on this subject in Vancouver on October 25: Neuroplasticity and Education: Strengthening the Connection Conference Introduction: VANCOUVER, Sept. 24, 2013 /CNW/ - The brain is a beautiful organ. One that enables us to plan, problem solve, reason, interact, remember, forgive, forget, and a myriad...
October 10, 2013
I have written several posts concerning how important understanding how the mind works is on improving education and legal education (the neurobiology of learning). There will be a conference on this subject in Vancouver on October 25: Neuroplasticity and Education: Strengthening the Connection Conference Introduction: VANCOUVER, Sept. 24, 2013 /CNW/ - The brain is a beautiful organ. One that enables us to plan, problem solve, reason, interact, remember, forgive, forget, and a myriad...
Five Initiatives That Legal Education Needs
September 28, 2013
Just like every other corner of the profession, legal education is grappling with a New Normal that was barely appreciated as recently as four or five years ago. Even as law schools welcomed incoming classes this year, the mood has changed. And it’s no secret why. Applications are down nationally for the third year in a row. And larger law firms are significantly cutting backon their entry-level hiring. The American Bar Association is also starting to focus on changes to legal education,...
September 28, 2013
Just like every other corner of the profession, legal education is grappling with a New Normal that was barely appreciated as recently as four or five years ago. Even as law schools welcomed incoming classes this year, the mood has changed. And it’s no secret why. Applications are down nationally for the third year in a row. And larger law firms are significantly cutting backon their entry-level hiring. The American Bar Association is also starting to focus on changes to legal education,...
Reforming Legal Education to Prepare Law Students Optimally for Real-World Practice
March 21, 2013
This article synthesizes major points in the October 2012 symposium of the University of Missouri School of Law Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution, entitled "Overcoming Barriers in Preparing Law Students for Real-World Practice." There is a growing consensus that American law schools need to do a better job of preparing students to practice law. Teaching students to think like a lawyer is still necessary but it is not sufficient for students to act like a lawyer soon after they graduate....
March 21, 2013
This article synthesizes major points in the October 2012 symposium of the University of Missouri School of Law Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution, entitled "Overcoming Barriers in Preparing Law Students for Real-World Practice." There is a growing consensus that American law schools need to do a better job of preparing students to practice law. Teaching students to think like a lawyer is still necessary but it is not sufficient for students to act like a lawyer soon after they graduate....
Michael Moffitt Profiled in the New York Times
February 27, 2013
Ok, maybe profiled is the wrong word, but at least our Indisputably colleague is quoted in the most recent NYT article on the difficulties facing legal education and the Task Force on the Future of Legal Education. You can read the entire piece here.
February 27, 2013
Ok, maybe profiled is the wrong word, but at least our Indisputably colleague is quoted in the most recent NYT article on the difficulties facing legal education and the Task Force on the Future of Legal Education. You can read the entire piece here.
