Barker, D --- "From the Editor" [2012] LegEdDig 1; (2012) 20(1) Legal Education Digest 3

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FROM THE EDITOR

With everyone well into the New Year – 2012 – there are changes in the air!

First, the Legal Education Digest (LED) has a new home. After approximately 10 years of being based at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Law, the Digest, together with the Centre for Legal Education (CLE), has moved to the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Law School. However to save any confusion the staff of both the Digest and Centre remains the same, whilst at this stage it is just the address that has changed! This is an appropriate time to thank Professor Jill McKeough, the Dean of the UTS Faculty of Law, for her support during the time that both the CLE and the Digest have been located at UTS. Also our thanks are extended to Professor Michael Adams, Co-Director of the CLE, for agreeing that the UWS Law School would in future host both the CLE and the Digest. We note that already the UWS Law School has expressed their wish to embrace future changes with regard to the CLE and the Digest by cooperating in respect of initiatives for the furtherance of Australia-wide legal educational research issues.

Professor McKeough has also been involved in another change (at a personal level), taking leave of absence as Dean from the UTS Faculty of Law to undertake an appointment as a Commissioner at the Australian Law Reform Commission, carrying out research into the aspects of the Federal Government’s Referral with respect to Copyright Law in the Digital Environment. Her place as Chairperson of the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) has been taken by Professor Gillian Triggs, Dean of the University of Sydney Law Faculty. Gillian is also currently the ongoing President of the Australasian Law Teachers Association. Whilst recognising this current spate of changes across the Australian legal education sphere it is also appropriate to welcome the Hon. Kevin Lindgren, AM to the position of President of the Australian Academy of Law, replacing the Hon. Bob Nicholson, AO who had completed his three year term of office.

There will be more news relating to the LED in future issues, especially with regard to the August Issue when we will celebrate the fact that 2012 marks the 20^th year of the publishing of the Digest.

The book selected to be reviewed is the long-anticipated Privatising the Public University by Margaret Thornton, a highly respected Professor of Law at the Australian National University.

And so to the articles digested in this edition starting with the category of Assessment Methods which is the heading for the explanation by Wu and Dilena relating to a second chance assessment project for a property transactions course conducted in the University of Hong Kong Law School. In the view of the authors moving from ‘assessment of learning’ to ‘assessment for learning’ and from ‘giving feedback’ to ‘giving feed-forward’ represented ‘a milestone development of assessment reform in Hong Kong legal education’. It will be interesting to see whether this study encourages other law academics to re-examine and review their assessment practices.

Elder Law is becoming a more important aspect of many law schools’ curriculum. In this respect under Clinical Legal Education Mewhinney has focused on the increase in the number of clinical courses concentrating on this growth area for legal education. There is no doubt that this account of the Wake Forest University, North Carolina Centre on Aging and Rehabilitation which provides law students with an invaluable opportunity to gain a multifaceted experience created by the Centre’s involvement with a variety of professions including physicians, pharmacy experts, social workers and pastoral-care providers, will be of great interest to all those teaching in Elder Law programs.

Under Individual Subjects/Areas of Law Ali reviews the complex issues of teaching and learning Islamic Law in a globalised world recommending the adoption of a ‘law in context’

approach in order to appreciate the inherent complexities and intricacies of Islamic Law. This an extremely challenging article recognising the problems arising from teaching a subject caught between the conflicting normative frameworks on which the Islamic legal tradition and western legal systems are based.

Legal Education Generally encompasses two articles. In the first, Ball considers how the formation of resilience among law students has become a significant concern for legal educators owing to the mental health risks posed by the study of law. He questions the current approach to government of the problem, cautioning against treatment of the problem merely through focus on the individual, without looking at the overall context in which student mental health decline occurs. In the other article under this heading Rothstein includes an account of how law school pipeline programs operated under the aegis of the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) are increasing diversity within the legal profession in the United States. An important outcome of these programs is the impact which they also have on the providers of the programs who can gain a greater appreciation not only of diversity but also an awareness of social justice and the opportunity to be involved in community engagement. Articles such as this will be of increasing value as Australian law schools implement the Bradley Report recommendations to significantly increase the diversity of students in tertiary education.

Skills embraces three contrasting contributions. The first by James examines the role of critical thinking as a desirable attribute for law school graduates. His explanation stresses the importance for law students to learn how to be informed, skilful and reflective critical thinkers. As the Digest stated in its last edition it is difficult to avoid the influence of the Carnegie Foundation when reporting on legal education. In their article Herring and Lynch choose to challenge the claim in the Carnegie Report that one aspect of legal education in which law schools excel is that of the use of the case-dialogue method to teach legal analysis. This is a complex article questioning the effectiveness of traditional legal education in teaching the skill of functional analysis, concluding that at this time the research indicates that legal education neither diminishes nor enhances law students’ skill of reading and reasoning. The editor is sure that this article will give rise to much debate on this highly controversial topic! In the concluding article under this heading Kochan continues in the esoteric vein embraced by the three earlier articles by questioning whether an ‘attitude of suspended conclusion’ is wasted on lawyers. The content of the article is centred on the book authored by John Dewey and published in 1910 entitled: ‘How We Think’.

Students covers an article by O’Brien, Tang and Hall which again like the earlier article by Ball is concerned with student distress particularly that relating to psychological distress and its perceived connection with the rigorous academic process required to prepare students for a learned profession.

The heading Teaching Methods and Media is concerned with two articles involving the application of innovative teaching techniques. Kirby contrasts the Juris Doctor degree at the University of Melbourne Law School with the LLB Course at Central Queensland explaining how the need for outreach to regional and rural communities created the necessity for the latter to be substantially taught online. It is encouraging to discover a former Justice of the High Court of Australia still retaining a keen interest in legal education, noting also his involvement on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Legal Education Review. In the other article under this heading, Young describes the methods adopted by a course in Florida adopts a variety of teaching techniques to instil ethical values and ensure mediator impartiality.

The two contributions incorporated under Technology involve two very different applications of computerised information systems. Waye and Faulkner discuss the importance of e-portfolios as a useful tool in legal education, linking them into an entire e-learning strategy whilst Strevens, C Welch and R Welch evaluate the current trends in the legal service market and recognise a future where clients will obtain legal services over the internet. In this respect they believe that the logic of these developments is that students should be exposed to different methods of communication and interaction that will involve these new technologies.

As always the Editor never ceases to be surprised at the contrasting nature of the articles which the Digest presents in each edition presenting as it does the ongoing variety of all aspects of legal education.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM

Editor