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David Weisbrot
ACER Press, 2013, 246 pp
David Weisbrot could be regarded as being numbered among a very limited number of persons worthy of being considered for the title of Guru of Australian Legal Education. Certainly his experience of legal education embraces nearly four decades of being a law academic during which time he has served not only as a Dean or Professor of Law, but also as a member of both state and national law reform commissions, culminating in becoming the longest serving President of the Australian Law Reform Commission. His legal writings also embrace a similar period of time. It was inevitable therefore that at some time a publisher would approach him to become the author of an advisory book for potential future Australian lawyers. There are, of course, already books of similar nature available, particularly the well-known Glanville Williams’ Learning the Law, and Phillip Kenny’s Studying Law. However these are both primarily directed towards future United Kingdom lawyers, so that Weisbrot’s text brings an Australian flavour to the genre with such advice being described as: ‘a guide for current and prospective students in Australia.’
The text is enhanced at the very beginning with a foreword by the Hon Michael Kirby, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, also a well-known commentator himself on legal education. His foreword contains some poignant comments with regard to serious problems being faced by current law students which were not in existence during his time when he was studying at law school. These include the high cost of legal education, scarcity of legal positions and the high level of stress and depression in the legal profession. As Kirby points out this is not mentioned to deter young people from studying law but to encourage them to take the advice offered by David Weisbrot in his book.
The text by Weisbrot adopts a similar style by first of all introducing potential law students to the type of attitude that they will receive from colleagues when they announce that they intend to become lawyers. In fact it is unusual for any book, let alone one devoted to introducing a student to the legal profession, to open its first section (this is the title by which the author calls his chapters) with a host of lawyer jokes. This reviewer thought that he had heard or read most of them, but the author transcends the whole field from Dickens to the Bible and then crosses over to evidence from contemporary popular culture such as the films Carlito’s Way The Firm and The Devil’s Advocate However he does manage to prick the urban myth that lawyers come just above politicians, used car salesmen and real estate agents in public esteem by producing evidence that in fact lawyers are rated by the Australian public in the middle of such rankings. What is illuminating for the embryonic lawyers are the good reasons given as to why one should study law as compared to the reasons for not studying law.
As mentioned in the opening of this review, Professor Weisbrot is regarded as leading exponent of legal education and this comes to the fore in the second section of the book on educating lawyers. Anyone wishing to know more regarding the evolution of legal education in Australia would be well advised to peruse this part of the text, which in a few pages transcribes the whole of the history of Australian legal education. It then moves on to introduce the reader to current developments and thinking relating to study options available with respect to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, such as modes of study – and whether these should be online, face-to face or distance. This also includes an examination of the possibilities as to how the student might develop his or her professional skills and the advantages of undertaking a capstone project incorporating all prior learning and experience in the law which they may have acquired up until this point in their legal studies.
It could be questioned as to whether it was really necessary to include the third section which is devoted exclusively to descriptions by the 37 law schools themselves of their law degree programmes and focusing on what they consider makes their own law school distinctive. As the author admits these entries, with the exception of three have been minimally edited, and then only with respect to style and not content. In its favour it could be argued that this avoids a potential law school applicant having to search thirty seven individual websites or the available printed material for this information but the problem is that such printed material quickly becomes very out dated and the student would still need to go directly to the particular law schools’ websites anyway. However any criticism of these entries is more than outweighed by the following section four which contains a most revealing checklist for evaluating law schools-and decision-making. This is as good a reason as any for acquiring the book. In approximately 16 pages or so of this section, Weisbrot explores the psyche of what a law school should be – the most telling paragraph of all is:
Some law schools are happy places; some sadly, are not. Some are student-centred with a high degree of concern about teaching and pastoral care; others are staff and research focused. Some are very collegial; others are all about the individual. Some involve students in decision-making in a meaningful way; others only pay lip-service to the concept. Some campuses are vibrant and exciting; others have little life, or at least the students choose to find their fun elsewhere.
It is hoped that our future law student is able to assimilate this information regarding his or her choice before selecting a law school rather than to discover too late that it incorporates all the downsides canvassed by the author in this extract from his book!
Section five is devoted to the author’s view of what life is like as a law student. Again, as in the previous section, it reveals Weisbrot as a keen observer of human nature and of what makes a law school an enjoyable experience for all involved with it, particularly its law students. In this regard I found his comments under the title: ‘Who are our teachers?’ most illuminating. Although most Australian law academics are aware of the author’s predilection for more clinical opportunities for law students and the benefits which would ensue for the law school experience, he acknowledges how this will never eventuate in Australia, both for historical or funding reasons. Nevertheless he sees the only advantage which might arise in this respect from the increasingly casualisation of the academic workforce in Australia as being the introduction of current or former practitioners and the occasional retired judge, thus bringing a more practical perspective to the teaching at their law school.
In the sixth and final section there is an exploration of careers for law graduates and Weisbrot gives an interesting perspective on the often clarion calls of there being too many law students. With respect to this oft quoted criticism of the growth in the numbers of students entering legal education, he offers an interesting exposition of the demographics of a large and growing legal service sector, again expressing a well-informed account of the historical origins of the development of the legal profession in Australia. This part of the book is also extremely informative for the general reader with regard to the development of law practices into mega-firms and multi-disciplinary partnerships, for some their incorporation and listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, together with the influences of globalisation and information and communications technology. This does not mean that Weisbrot neglects describing the possibilities of the more conventional career choices in the law, such as those offered by small and medium sized law firms, the Bar and law teaching. This description culminates in a review of the requirements for admission to practise law including not only the basic education requirements, but the necessity for undertaking practical legal training for solicitors and additionally undergoing both the Bar Practice Course and the Barristers Reading Programme, as well as sitting for the Bar Examination, if wishing to practise at the Bar.
The author concludes his book with a short review of the changing subject matter of law expressing the view that: Thirty years from now, new and exciting areas of legal practice will emerge that we cannot yet imagine.
In a way this phrase reflects the nature of the content of David Weisbrot’s text. It is a well written account of what law students need to know when embarking on their studies and the challenges which they will face, both in their choice and involvement with their law schools and subsequent selection of their careers, whether in or outside the law. All this is communicated with a sense of the history of the law and more than a trace of humour to retain the readers’ interest throughout the book. This is certainly a recommended read, both for the potential law student and all those involved with the law.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/LegEdDig/2013/46.html