Nelson, J --- "In This Issue" [2005] LegEdDig 18; (2005) 13(4) Legal Education Digest 2

In This Issue

Dr John Nelson

[2005] LegEdDig 18; (2005) 13(4) Legal Education Digest 2

This issue of the Digest contains a healthy range of 15 articles on a variety of legal education topics emanating from three jurisdictions, namely the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. On this occasion we were unable to identify any recently published monographs of interest to the Digest readership and therefore worthy of being dealt with in a review article.

To be found spread out under four headings, Context, Criticism & Theory, Legal Education Generally, Purpose and, finally, Teaching, we have six articles from a recent issue of the Sydney Law Review which focused on the teaching of law and the broader impact and interactions of the legal academy. Austin reflects on the interface between legal academics, the teaching of law and the legal profession, from the perspective of his long career as a law teacher, legal practitioner and most recently a judge. Thornton examines the impact that social and political trends are having on the teaching of law, arguing that many of the traditional values associated with universities as places of intellectual freedom are being undermined by the rise of economic rationalism. Webber looks at the acknowledged gulf that exists between the law schools and the profession and suggests that a good faculty balances a complex set of demands, all of which are integral to its responsibilities.

Collier confirms the growing ascendancy in England of law teachers as technicians and conveyors of rule-content and that many aspects of the modern legal academy detract from the encouragement of critical legal thinking. Keyes & Johnstone explore at classroom level the way in which the move to commercialism affects both the delivery of lectures and the way in which legal norms are understood and absorbed by the students. The final article from this source is from James, who comments on the rise of corporatism in legal education and how the more self-reflective and socially consequential outcomes suffer because they tend to be made subservient to corporatist objectives.

Under Skills there are two articles. Smith categorises the various approaches to advanced legal writing courses and proposes an alternative integrative approach. Riskin mounts an argument for a role for ‘mindfulness’ in the foundational training in dispute resolution. Under Individual Subjects/Areas of Law, Bergmans describes a new style of interdisciplinary business law program which can be used by students to remedy the dearth of specific training in business law within German law degrees. The teaching of ADR ethics is explored by Peppert in an article under the heading Legal Ethics. Assessment Methods contains an article by Moffitt examining the various models employed for assessing student performance in negotiation courses and advocating a performance-based approach.

Under Students there are two articles on the consequences of student debt. Moore reports on a UK survey of Legal Practice Course students which enquired into the level of debt and its impact on the students’ studies and career aspirations. Cuthbert examines the effect of current UK higher education policy on student debt and the availability of student loans and points out the difficulties this imposes on diversity of access to legal education. Under Legal Education Generally, Webb & Fancourt outline the principal features of the Law Society’s Training Framework Review in the UK. Finally in this issue, to be found under the heading Teachers, is an article by Jones discussing the advance of the notion of ‘pedagogicalism’ as a method for law school and university administrators to ensure the accountability of teaching staff, the quality and consistency of teaching practices and the marketability of the law degree.