Improving Student Learning In The Doctrinal Law School Classroom

"Legal education has created silos where certain professors teach "skills" courses and others teach "doctrine." This book challenges that division by building on learning theories that establish students cannot truly learn doctrine without explicit instruction in skills. Moreover, it provides suggestions to demonstrate how law professors can seamlessly weave skills-based assessments into a course to spotlight for students what they have learned and for professors what students haven't learned (as required by ABA Standard 314)"--

"Legal education has created silos where certain professors teach "skills" courses and others teach "doctrine." This book challenges that division by building on learning theories that establish students cannot truly learn doctrine without explicit instruction in skills. Moreover, it provides suggestions to demonstrate how law professors can seamlessly weave skills-based assessments into a course to spotlight for students what they have learned and for professors what students haven't learned (as required by ABA Standard 314)"--

"After decades of taking a back seat to doctrine, lawyering skills have lately become the star of the legal education reform movement. Few law schools continue to question whether essential lawyering skills such as legal writing, research, and advocacy deserve a prominent place in the curriculum. Yet law schools continue to struggle with an artificial split between "doctrinal" courses and "skills" courses-a split that ignores best practices and undermines student learning. In this book, which includes an Introduction by Sophie Sparrow, more than twenty law professors who have figured out how to bridge the gap show why integrating skills into traditional doctrinal courses is crucial to student learning and offer proven strategies for how to do it"--

In today’s volatile law school environment, curriculum reform has emerged as a significant focus. It is commonly understood that law schools effectively teach certain analytical skills, but are less successful in other areas, and often scramble to adapt to evolving aims. This book demonstrates how law schools are successfully reforming their curriculum - and lays the framework to show how all schools of law can engage in a continuous reform model that proactively shapes our profession. It is expected that faculty and professional staff engaged in legal education will utilize this book as a primary resource to guide their respective reform efforts. Each contributed chapter presents a case study of a data-driven curriculum reform effort. The initial chapters set the conceptual context for the book, while the final chapter offers summative recommendations for considering legal education reform as derived from the earlier case study chapters. This book adds significantly to the literature in legal education, as we gain first hand insight into evidence based reform for the legal education community.

Professors Michael Hunter Schwartz, Sophie Sparrow, and Gerry Hess, leaders in legal education, have collaborated to offer a second edition of their book. Applying the research on teaching and learning, this book guides new and experienced law teachers through the process of designing and teaching a course. The book addresses how to plan a course, design a syllabus, plan individual class sessions, engage and motivate students, use a variety of teaching techniques, assess student learning, and how to be a life-long learner as a teacher. New chapters focus on creating lasting learning, experiential learning, and troubleshooting common teaching challenges.

This book is on the nature and practice of legal education in Nigeria, with comparative material sometimes deployed to shed light on current local situation. The primary goal of legal education is to prepare students for the profession. To do this, a faculty will need to pay attention to a theory of learning to guide it in implementing a programme that will serve the mission. It is hoped that the basic information here provided on the basic structure and content oflegal education and ensuing challenges should point in more fruitful directions to all in the legal profession in Nigeria.

This comprehensive guide covers every stage of organising and teaching a course in contract drafting. With extensive sample course materials, it offers useful tips for building nuance, creative thinking, and experiential learning into contract drafting curricula.