Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XXIII: Paying for Law School

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Though it is one of the first things prospective law students consider, I have left the question of financing law school to near the end. Te...
Monday, July 29, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XXII: Remediation Semester

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The flip side of the challenge examination is what I call the remediation semester. It’s not something I’ve ever proposed, because it probab...
Friday, July 26, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XXI: Challenge Examinations

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One of the complaints about present day legal education is that law school takes too long to complete, and that shortening the length of the...
Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XX: The Art or Science of Grading

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For as long as there have been American law schools, grades have been the subject of numerous and sometimes intense faculty discussion and a...
Monday, July 22, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XIX: Learning From Student Examination Errors

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As I noted in an earlier post of this series, I had been warned, “You will be surprised to discover what your students did not learn.” Thoug...
Friday, July 19, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XVIII: Examinations and Assessments From the Student Perspective

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As a general proposition, students do not like examinations and assessments. Most students understand they are necessary, but do not look fo...
Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XVII: Examinations and Assessments From the Law Professor Perspective

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When I was a law student and discussions took place about bringing me back to teach law, one member of the law faculty, trying to provide a ...
Monday, July 15, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XVI: Formative Assessment

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For decades, the pattern of determining grades in most law school classes was the administration of a final examination. In seminars, the gr...
Friday, July 12, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XV: Attendance

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The American Bar Association requires, as part of its accreditation standards, that law schools adopt, publish, and adhere to sound academic...
Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XIV: Laptops in Classroom

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Another transformative development that changed the law teaching atmosphere was the invention of the laptop computer. When a laptop first sh...
Monday, July 08, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XIII: Flipping the Classroom

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In recent years, one of the law teaching techniques that has been getting a good bit of attention and even some implementation is the so-cal...
Friday, July 05, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XII: Office Hours, Email, Virtual Classroom Discussion Boards

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When I began teaching law, one of the questions posed by those interviewing me focused on my intentions with respect to office hours. My rep...
Wednesday, July 03, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part XI: Tenure, Teaching, Scholarship, Service, and Compensation

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Even before I started teaching law, I knew that one of the milestones in a law teaching career, and in other teaching careers, was the attai...
Monday, July 01, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part X: Teaching Loads

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When the questions of smaller classes, online legal education, and learning outcomes comes up in discussion, one of the concerns that gets a...
Friday, June 28, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part IX: Online Education

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Overshadowing all of these thoughts about teaching law is the explosion in online education, a phenomenon that has not left legal education ...
Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part VIII: Learning Outcomes Measurement

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A few years ago, the American Bar Association mandated the establishment and publication of learning outcomes as a condition of accreditatio...
Monday, June 24, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part VII: Smaller Classes

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Aside from questions of transactional courses, team teaching, and the balance between theory and practical reality, one of the factors havin...
Friday, June 21, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part VI: Balancing Theory with Practical Reality

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As much as I consider practical reality to be more determinative of most things in life and law, there still is a place for, and a need for,...
Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part V: Team Teaching

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When the idea of a transactional course is suggested, a common reaction is the concern that very few law faculty can, or want to, teach a co...
Monday, June 17, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part IV: Teaching Ethics

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Many years ago, the ABA mandated that law schools require students to take a course in legal ethics, a requirement that evolved into a requi...
Friday, June 14, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part III: The Problem Method

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Law school pedagogy has evolved since the days of Paper Chase. The practice of zeroing in on one student and grilling that student about an ...
Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Some Thoughts on Teaching Law: Part II: Transactional Curriculum for Doctrinal Courses

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For several decades, I have been an advocate for shifting the core law curriculum from a bundle of doctrinal courses to a larger group of sm...