Whilst educational theory has developed significantly in recent years, much of the law curriculum remains content-driven and delivered traditionally, predominantly through lecture format. Students are, in the main, treated as empty vessels to be filled by the eminent academics of the day. Re-thinking Legal Education under the Common and Civil Law draws on the experience of teachers, practitioners and students across the world who are committed to developing a more effective learning process. Little attention has, historically, been paid to the importance of the application of theory, the role of reflective learning, the understanding and acquisition of lawyering skills and the development of professional responsibility and wider ethical values. With contributions from across the global north and south, this book examines the history of educating our lawyers, the influences and constraints that may shape the curriculum, the means of delivering it and the models that could be used to tackle current shortcomings. The whole is intended to represent what might be desirable and possible if we are to produce lawyers that are fit for purpose in the 21st century, be that in either in civil or common law jurisdictions. This book will be of direct assistance to those who wish to understand the theory and practice of legal pedagogy in an experiential context. It will be essential reading for academics, researchers and teachers in the fields of law and education, particularly those concerned with curriculum design and developing interactive teaching methods. It is likely to be of interest to law students too – particularly those who value a more direct engagement in their learning.

It adopts an approach which explains the historical development of the common law institutions and procedures whilst also setting them in perspective through a comparative outlook. Aspects of the common law are contrasted on occasions with structural o

Thinking About Clinical Legal Education provides a range of philosophical and theoretical frameworks that can serve to enrich the teaching and practice of Clinical Legal Education (CLE). CLE has become an increasingly common feature of the curriculum in law schools across the globe. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the theoretical and philosophical dimensions of this approach. This edited collection seeks to address this gap by bringing together contributions from the clinical community, to analyse their CLE practice using the framework of a clearly articulated philosophical or theoretical approach. Contributions include insights from a range of jurisdictions including: Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Ethiopia, Israel, Spain, UK and the US. This book will be of interest to CLE academics and clinic supervisors, practitioners, and students.

“As richly described in the various chapters of this book, we see that clinics can act as a window to the functioning of law and the legal system. Clinics allow students and faculty to see how laws and the legal system are functioning for groups of people who otherwise likely would not be a part of the common experience of professors and their students: poor people generally, migrants and refugees, women and children exploited by trafficking, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, prisoners, and so on. Legal systems the world over tend to give less care and attention to the problems of the poor and other disempowered groups, and such people usually lack access to well-educated legal advocates to help them fight to make the legal system work for them. Through clinic cases, students and faculty see the day-today lives of people marginalized by the society, see how the law affects and influences their lives, and see how it serves or fails to serve them. For law professors involved in clinical education, such as the authors of this book, heightened awareness of the law’s operation for poor people adds another important perspective to the subjects of their research and work as commentators on the law. Students can also be inspired to select topics for research papers, master or PhD theses by exposure to problems in the law and legal system as it functions for their clients.” (Dall’introduzione)

The Assessment in Legal Education book series offers perspectives on assessment in legal education across a range of Common Law jurisdictions. Each volume in the series provides: Information on assessment practices and cultures within a jurisdiction. A sample of innovative assessment practices and designs in a jurisdiction. Insights into how assessment can be used effectively across different areas of law, different stages of legal education and the implications for regulation of legal education assessment. Appreciation of the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research bases that are emerging in the field of legal education assessment generally. Analyses and suggestions of how assessment innovations may be transferred from one jurisdiction to another. The series will be useful for those seeking a summary of the assessment issues facing academics, students, regulators, lawyers and others in the jurisdictions under analysis. The exemplars of assessment contained in each volume may also be valuable in assisting cross-jurisdictional fertilisation of ideas and practices. This first volume focuses on assessment in law schools in England. It begins with an introduction to some recent trends in the culture and practice of legal education assessment. The first chapter focuses on the general regulatory context of assessment and learning in that jurisdiction, while the remainder of the book offers useful exemplars and expert critical discussion of assessment theories and practices. The series is based in the PEARL Centre (Profession, Education and Regulation in Law), in The Australian National University’s College of Law.

Written by a former dean, this book offers a unique understanding of challenges facing legal education, research, publishing and governance.

The Roma Tre Law Review (R3LR) is an open-source peer-reviewed e-journal which aims to offer a digital forum for scholarly debate on issues of comparative law, international law, law and economics, law and society, criminal law, legal history, and teaching methods in law.

This accessible How To Guide provides practical, expert guidance on how to successfully set up and run a law clinic. Donald Nicolson, JoNel Newman and Richard Grimes explore the process of designing a clinic to address unmet legal needs, enhance student learning, and maximise the additional benefits of a clinic.

Clinical Legal Education (CLE) can be defined in broad terms as the study of law through real, or simulated, casework. It enables students to experience the law in action and to reflect on those experiences. CLE offers an alternative learning experience to the traditional lecture/seminar method and allows participants to take the study of law beyond the lecture theatre and library. CLE has been a part of English law schools for several decades and is becoming an increasingly popular component of a number of programmes. It is also well established in North America, Australia and many other countries around the globe. In some law schools, CLE is credit-bearing; in others, it is an extracurricular activity. Some CLE schemes focus on social-welfare law, whilst others are commercially orientated. A number are run in conjunction with third-sector organisations and many are supported by private practice law firms. This edited collection brings together academics, lawyers, third-sector organisations and students to discuss the present experience and potential of CLE. As such, it will be of interest to a wide and diverse audience, both within and outside the UK.

This stimulating book considers the ways in which historical jurisprudence deserves to be rethought, arguing that there is much more to the history of legal thought than the ideas, and ideology, of the nineteenth and early twentieth century jurists, such as Karl von Savigny and Sir Henry Maine.