Barker, D --- "From the Editor" [2013] LegEdDig 32; (2013) 21(3) Legal Education Digest 3

• Emeritus Professor David Barker AM
• Editor

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FROM THE EDITOR

By the time this edition of the Digest has been published the Australian Federal Election will have taken place. This will obviously have implications both for legal education and the federal legal system, particularly in the area of human rights which has recently been the subject of a debate between the current Government Attorney-General the Hon. Mark Dreyfus QC and the Shadow Attorney-General, Senator the Hon. George Brandis SC.

On a more parochial level consultations are taking place for the internationalisation of the law degree in Australia with globalisation of legal services becoming increasingly relevant to Australasian legal practice.

Among the staff of the Digest everyone is looking forward to renewing personal contacts with both our authors, readers and the law publishers at the forthcoming ALTA Conference to be held at the ANU during the period 28 September to 2 October.

In this respect it is of particular interest that the book reviewed in this edition is a guide for law students and is by a former Dean of the University of Sydney Law School, Professor David Weisbrot AM, with a foreword by the Hon. Michael Kirby AC, CMG, who is also a well-esteemed colleague of Australian law academics.

The topic of the book review sets the tone for articles digested in this edition with the first article being under the heading of Assessment Methods in which Ferguson and Lee explore the potential for using online simulated group based learning in the creation of sustainable assessment practices. The authors explain how this was achieved by the use of a process known as SIMPLE which stands for SIMulated Professional Learning Environment.

Under the heading of Clinical Legal Education Galowitz describes both the opportunities and the challenges faced by participants in an interdisciplinary clinic-the Medical-Legal Advocacy Clinic at New York University School of Law (MLAC), a medical and legal collaborative project.

Design does not often form the basis for a heading in the Digest but it is the most appropriate title for Grose’s account of his experiment in developing an outcomes-based course involving estates and trusts. The course was intended to answer the challenge for legal education to better prepare students for their role as lawyers.

Future is both the heading and part of the title of Knake’s project involving the education of future lawyers in entrepreneurial and innovative approaches to future legal practice. The author explores the variety of courses developed on this theme by Stanford Law School, Georgetown Law Centre and also the author’s own law school, Michigan State University School of Law. He also describes the recently launched ReInvent Law, a law laboratory devoted to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in legal services. The newly appointed Hon. Chief Justice James Allsop of the Australian Federal Court has his article regarding continuing judicial education considered under the heading of Judicial Education. This contains a wide-sweeping review of continuing judicial education throughout Australia at Commonwealth, State and Territory level.

Legal Education Generally is the heading for a new paradigm for legal education proposed by Bemellen van Gent. In this article the author argues that the modern 21 ^t century legal education paradigm needs to address what the legal profession now entails, what issues the legal profession deals with and what legal competences are required, to solve legal problems cheaply, efficiently and in a client friendly manner. The article also stresses the need to acknowledge that the law school now prepares for more legal professions that that of the attorney-at-law, solicitor, barrister or equivalent and that gives rise for a new definition of the legal profession. the article incorporates a well-constructed argument to support this view.

Research is the heading for three articles reflecting its increasing importance as a subject embracing most areas of legal education. In the first article Ailwood, Easteal, Sainsbury and Bartels describe a case study carried out at the University of Canberra School of Law linking research and teaching, particularly in its use of research-led education (RLE). Much of the success of the project depended on the use of the University’s Unit Satisfaction Survey (USS). In the second article Davis reports on the outcomes of his exercise conducted with students as co-authors of the publication of two case-books, whilst in the third article Hutchinson and Duncan describe their approach and outcomes with respect to doctrinal legal research. This is an extremely instructive paper as regards the progress which has been made in relation to the development of the growth of Higher Degree by Research (HDR0 completion rates for law over the last two decades. It also distinguishes the difference between doctrinal research focussing on legal principles and other social science research.

Skills forms the heading for the article by Falkoff involving innovative fiction workshop techniques for first-year students undergoing legal writing classes. As the author states, teaching students how to critique their work and that of others is one of the most difficult lessons to impart.

Teachers is the heading for the article by Fruehwald which explores the complex area of the neurobiology of learning and how it might assist in the development of becoming an expert law teacher. This incorporates the development of three basic principles of learning described as the Unified Learning Model (ULM) and five rules of learning, whilst Teaching Skills covers the project- based learning model proposed by Hilbert and Ver Ploeg for teaching ADR students on how to problem solve. This involved the launch in 2003 by the William Mitchell College of Law of a new experimental course in which interested students were given the opportunity to assume full responsibility for undertaking a substantial and complex project for a real client.

The heading of Technology is used for the final article of this edition by Broadbent and Sellman which explores the use of websites by law schools in their involvement with their students. This article takes up the theme put forward by the Browne Review which argued for greater availability of material relating to Law Schools, not just to inform students but other stakeholders as well. This proposal incorporates the requirement within the North American context for Key Information Sets (KIS) that all Institutions had to provide from September 2012.

As always the breadth of articles digested in this edition of the LED is yet another indication of the versatility and enterprise of the modern law academic.

Emeritus Professor David Barker AM
Editor