bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deep Learning, Critical Thinking and Teaching for Law Reform
Authors: Macduff Anne
Published: June 2021

Pedagogy in any environment is complex and requires a clearly defined normative framework designed to ensure that the pedagogical objective is achievable. In dealing with China, the reality is that even though the country presents some very excellent opportunities, it is also the case that competition among Western education providers is very intense. To get the appropriate competitive edge, institutions need to be innovative in the design of their curriculum and their style of pedagogy. But whatever technique is adopted to secure the competitive edge, it is critical for the long term benefit of the program to ensure that the pedagogical imperative of imparting valuable knowledge and intellectual excellence is not compromised in the pursuit of financial gains. In the summer of 2000, the Law Faculty of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) introduced a new postgraduate program, which specifically targeted the Chinese market. The course comprised internationally focused subjects based on the university’s 48 credit points system required for the award of coursework master’s degrees. The development of a master’s degree course program for the Chinese market in itself was not unique. What was unique about the UTS program however was the fact that the coursework program in its entirety was designed to be delivered and assessed by Australian lecturers in Mandarin. This paper is a brief assessment of that program. The paper examines general issues in pedagogy in the delivery of programs in a ‘Language Other than English’ (LOTE) and the use of ‘proxies’ in the delivery of LOTE programs. The paper seeks to conclude that while the UTS program demonstrates that it is feasible to use proxy lecturers or interpreters in the delivery of programs in LOTE, the exercise entails significant problems that can undermine the integrity of such programs.
The Design and Implementation of Criterion- Referenced Assessment in a First Year Undergraduate Core Law Unit
Authors: Burton Kelley , Cuffe Natalie
Published: June 2021

This issue of the Legal Education Review has involved the efforts of many people, mainly academics, who have volunteered their time and expertise with little thought of reward or recognition. Special thanks needs to go to the Faculty of Law at UTS and Professor Michael Adams for the support provided through the ALTA office.
Foreword
Authors: Hutchinson Terry
Published: June 2021

This article reports on how a case- study approach was used to explore assessment policies and practices as they impacted upon law students from equity target groups. Indigenous students, International students, students with disabilities and students from low socio-economic backgrounds were interviewed by a researcher to elicit their experiences. Their comments are reproduced in this article in the form of case -studies that highlight their concerns and suggestions for improvement of teaching and assessment practices. Based on the case -studies, the article proposes a number of ways to improve student engagement with the law school experience.
Australian Law Postgraduate Network
Authors: Colbran Stephen , Tynan Belinda
Published: June 2021

Radical legal education discourses are constructed as oppositional to orthodox legal education discourses such as doctrinalism and vocationalism, and emphasize the inadequacies of orthodox portrayals of law. Why are these radical discourses so often marginalized within the law school? In this paper I describe how this marginalization is a consequence of a range of external contingencies and the internal features of radical discourses, and suggest that marginalization is, perhaps, inevitable.
Optimising the First Year Experience in Law: The Law Peer Tutor Program at the University of New South Wales
Authors: Fitzsimmons Dominic , Kozlina Simon , Vines Prune
Published: June 2021

Because alternative dispute resolution processes are entrenched in the Australian legal system, alternative dispute resolution courses are included in most law school curricula Australia-wide. The article examines the origins and status quo of alternative dispute resolution legal education. The article also considers whether the adversarial, lawyer-centred elements of the current legal culture are capable of being transformed into a more collaborative, client centred approach to practising law.
The Opportunities and Possibilities for Internationalising the Curriculum of Law Schools in Australia
Authors: A-Khavari Afshin
Published: June 2021

‘One powerful notion that permeates the Law School at the University of New South Wales is that first year law has a significant ‘gatekeeper’ role. The School recognises the importance of identifying students who are struggling in order to offer appropriate social and academic support. Clearly, the vast majority of students are eminently capable of the conceptual work underlying a law degree. Students struggle for reasons other than intellectual capacity, so since 1997 the Law School has supported the Law Peer Tutors program as a way to address these other issues that can hinder students and lead some of them to drop out in first year. Evidence suggests that this dropping out results from a feeling of not belonging or a general alienation from the culture of university. It appears that students who identify as part of a community remain and progress. First year is therefore a significant time to ensure that students are encouraged to identify as ‘law students’ and see themselves as connected to the academic community in general, and particularly to the staff and students in the Law School. The program is jointly funded by the Law School and The Learning Centre and uses a model of peer-to-peer tutoring to ensure students have a successful transition to university. It focuses on offering academic support, but via its small group structure has a social dimension which helps to tackle some of the reasons identified in surveys of students’ decisions not to complete first year. Approximately 150 First Year students and 15 Law Peer Tutors are involved in the program each year.’
Preparing for Practice: Developing Students’ Understanding of Risk Management
Authors: McCall Ian
Published: June 2021

Taxation Law is a difficult unit of study. At the University of Western Sydney, the unit is titled “Revenue Law” and is a compulsory unit of study in the LLB degree. Students are therefore required to study content material that is both challenging and demanding. In an attempt to engage the students and to stimulate interest a program has been introduced whereby students may be placed in community based Tax Help Centres to assist low income earners with their tax return obligations and obtain academic credit for such involvement. This service learning program is an example of experiential education. The teaching note describes the structure of the program, examines the possible benefits for students, university and community centres and the impact that the program may have for law academics in general.
The Law School, the Market and the New Knowledge Economy
Authors: Thornton Margaret
Published: June 2021

This paper explores the notion of thriving in the academic workplace in general, and the legal academy in particular. It was prompted by the Career Progression session at the 2007 ALTA conference, entitled ‘Ideas and Strategies to Survive and Thrive in the New Environment’. Although ideas for surviving the new environment are relatively easy to formulate, the potential for (even the possibility of) thriving is more difficult to articulate. Ways of achieving a better quality of life can be hard to imagine in the current university environment. There is a substantial body of research that finds that academic life in general is highly stressful, with significant implications for health and well-being.[…] This paper seeks to raise awareness of the challenges to, and the potential for, well-being amongst teachers of law. The paper makes three key claims. The first is that there is a significant difference between thriving and surviving and we have tended to focus, in law schools, on the latter. This focus has been the result, in particular, of the structural changes to both the profession and to universities that have occurred over the past fifteen years. The second claim is that, in an environment in which serious reconsideration is being given to the health and well-being of our students and members of the legal profession, it would be beneficial to consider also how we might further the health and well-being of our academies; and lastly, a focus on the concept of thriving might allow us to do that. The paper concludes with some practical suggestions for furthering the well-being of law faculties and the academics who work within them.
Reflections on Legal Education and Philosophy: The Critical Role of Theory in Practice
Authors: Zerilli John
Published: June 2021

The influence of legal education on the attitudes, values and career aspirations of law students is well-documented. Since lawyers are amongst the most powerful players in our society, it is incumbent upon legal academics to ensure that we are graduating students committed to using their degrees to enhance social justice and equality, and who are dedicated to upholding the rule of law. As Max Radin opined, ‘the lawyer’s task is ultimately concerned with justice and … any legal teaching that ignores justice has missed most of its point’. Clearly, ‘[e]verything we do as law teachers suggests something about justice’. It is of concern, therefore, that accounts of legal education are increasingly reporting it to be adversarial, competitive, ‘mystified’, and seemingly objective and value-neutral. Commentators note that students are taught to view the law as ‘something separate and apart from the rest of the goings-on in society’. They are trained in the art of ‘studied detachment’, forced to ‘leave their sense of compassion at the door’ and have their ‘curiosity and genuine intellectual interest’ inhibited. They eventually emerge from this ‘intellectual myopia’ or ‘moral abyss’ with a ‘deadened’ sense of social consciousness, and in its place is one which is ‘properly professional’ and ‘largely apolitical’.Legal education, it is said, has become ‘universally the same shade of grey’. Empirical research supports these observations. Numerous studies have found that law students’ commitment to social justice principles and public interest practice diminishes over the course of their studies. This paper examines the possible causes of and solutions to this. It reports on the results of an empirical study undertaken at the University of Queensland, which investigated the extent to which law students demonstrated a commitment to social justice principles and public interest practice. It concludes that the discussion of socio-political issues and the development of ‘alternative’ legal skills is generally supported by law students, and makes some suggestions on how this might be achieved in legal education in practice.
Deep Learning and ‘Topical Issues’ in TeachingAdministrative Law
Authors: Head Michael
Published: June 2021

This issue of the Legal Education Review has involved the efforts of many people, mainly academics, who have volunteered their time and expertise with little thought of reward or recognition. Special thanks need to go to the Faculty of Law at UTS and Professors David Barker, Michael Adams and Rosalind Mason for support provided through the ALTA office.

Thanks are due to the members of the 2008 Editorial Committee for their work in putting this issue together — Dr Terry Hutchinson, Dr Allan Chay, Professor Lee Godden, Dr Nick James, Jacqueline MacKinnon, and Dr Michelle Sanson. Special thanks to Terry Hutchinson, the previous Editor-in-Chief, for providing me with support and guidance throughout this first issue in my role as the new Editor-in-Chief. Many thanks also to Michelle Sanson who spent an enormous amount of time working above and beyond the call of duty in her role as production editor.

Many thanks are also due to Sonya Willis, our very efficient and unfailingly cheerful administrator, and to WritWrite for their thorough proofing of the contributions.

Our referees spend many hours of their own time reading and providing insightful feedback on the papers. Their efforts are always respected and genuinely appreciated. All the general and practice articles in this issue of the Review have passed through a double-blind refereeing process.

All associated with the Legal Education Review were saddened by the tragic death in 2008 of Lyndal Taylor (formerly of the University of Technology, Sydney). We will always remember and be grateful for the outstanding contribution she made in her dedication to the Legal Education Review for many years as Editor-in-Chief and, subsequently, the Editorial Advisory Board.
Lawyer Dissatisfaction, Emotional Intelligence and Clinical Legal Education
Authors: James Colin
Published: June 2021

This paper reflects on a trial of blended learning conducted in the elective Unit Intellectual Property at the University of Western Sydney over Summer 2008. The trial was conducted in order to establish whether a ‘replacement’ model of blended learning was suitable for law students and to assess the benefits and challenges this model presents. The overall results of the trial demonstrate that, with sufficient time invested in the design and production of quality learning materials, blended learning can potentially deliver significant benefits in this discipline, both to students and also to academics. In particular, the blended mode of delivery offers opportunities to make learning in law units more active, without entirely sacrificing the detailed explanations of content, typical of traditional lectures, that law students often place great value upon. By combining the best aspects of face-to-face and online teaching, this model can offer students the best of both worlds.
Blended Learning in Intellectual Property: The Best of Both Worlds
Authors: Ireland Jennifer
Published: June 2021

This practice article describes a learner-centred approach to legal education that has proven effective in engaging law students with a critical and contextual analysis of the legal system. The model is based on an action-learning cycle in which implementation is continuously improved following feedback and reflection. The aims of the approach are to provide students with an understanding of the interplay between the law and the broader society in which it is practised, and the confidence and skills to engage in independent, critical and creative thought. Three elements have emerged as essential to achieving these aims: a supportive social environment, a format that integrates small group discussions with formal presentations around specific topics, and an assessment scheme based on ‘learning chronicles’.
Law Students’ Attitudes to Education: Pointers to Depression In the Legal Academy and the Profession?
Authors: Tani Massimilliano , Vines Prue
Published: June 2021

This article focuses on what is likely the most common form of simulation used in law schools, the moot. It discusses concerns about the use of moots in some law schools in three jurisdictions (Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom). The concerns are divided into three categories: those intrinsic to “the traditional moot”, those that arise because of the way in which moots are incorporated into the law curriculum, and those that are a product of the nature of moots and the way in which we integrate them. The article suggests a sustainable affordable way in which to address these concerns. The solution proposed consists of two initiatives. First, it is suggested that the traditional moot be replaced with a variety of simulations that make more effective use of experiential learning than does the traditional moot. Second, it is suggested that simulations such as the ones described in the article be integrated into the curriculum by way of a “skills, ethics and values matrix”. The article draws on literature from a number of jurisdictions and on the results of a longitudinal study of the efforts of one law school in Australia, Bond University School of Law, to improve teaching and learning in advocacy, ethics and values in the law curriculum.
The Travails of Postgraduate Research in Law
Authors: Loughnan Arlie , Shackel Rita
Published: June 2021

This article identifies key task variables that can be manipulated in ways appropriate to the assessment of student learning at different stages in their progression from ‘novice’ to ‘expert’legal practitioner. The ideas presented elaborate on the outcomes of a symposium discussion of the systematic assessment of law students’ abilities to undertake a variety of professional roles. The symposium was organised by the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) as part of a project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC). After a general introduction to the structure and design of individual assessment tasks, the key dimensions of such tasks are identified and possible modifications illustrated with reference to specific examples.
The Modification of Assessment Task Dimensions in Support of Student Progression in Legal Skills Development
Authors: Hughes Clair
Published: June 2021

This article investigates the efficacy and appropriateness of online programs which are currently used as a principal means of completing pre-admission training requirements for admission to practice as a lawyer in many Australian States and Territories. The author queries whether institutions and accrediting bodies gone too far in accepting online practical legal training courses as an alternative for the more traditional face-toface course structure? After considering the relationship between training and the standards of the profession the author focuses on the literature pertaining to online delivery generally and in the area of legal education. The paper queries whether connections can be drawn between technological advances and changes in the learning and training of lawyers and whether such changes are for the benefit of the profession generally. By reference to the observations of students and teaching staff in both the oncampus and online courses of the Postgraduate Diploma of Legal Practice, Skills and Ethics (PDLP) at Monash University, the author considers whether the important communication skills (critical for legal work) can be obtained through flexible delivery modes and the perceived limitations of such programs. Finally, recognising that online courses are now part of the legal education landscape the author proposes best practices and design methodology for producing future online programs in this area.
Have we ‘Pushed the Boat Out Too Far’ in Providing Online Practical Legal Training? A Guide to Best Practices for Future Programs
Authors: Lansdell Gaye T
Published: June 2021

Reflective practice is an important skill for law students to develop because it will assist them to become independent, lifelong learners and also to cope with the stressors of professional practice. Despite this, law academics may be deterred from embedding and summatively assessing reflective practice because of its perceived subjectivity. This article tackles the challenges of assessing reflective practice by gaining a greater insight into the construct of reflection and its benefits in a legal context. It will propose a criterion-referenced assessment rubric for reflective practice that is grounded in the literature and which assesses reflective practice in a manner similar to critical thinking.
Indigenous Legal Issues, Indigenous Perspectives and Indigenous Law in the New Zealand LLB Curriculum
Authors: Jones Carwyn
Published: June 2021

The article proposes a method of teaching Administrative Law that engages with the historical and political impact of administrative decisions on Indigenous peoples and their cultures while still addressing the traditional doctrinal concerns of an Administrative Law course. The article begins by explaining what it understands by the concept of an ‘Indigenous perspective’, and identifying how such perspectives can be incorporated into a law degree. It then outlines the potential role of Administrative Law as a vehicle for incorporating an Indigenous perspective, explaining the pedagogical benefits of expanding Administrative Law courses in this way
Indigenous Property Matters: Embedding Indigenous Content and Perspectives in Real Property
Authors: Graham Nicole
Published: June 2021

The first three articles focus on student attitudes and learning behaviours.Each of the following four articles focuses on a particular area of law. The final three articles concern topics of general interest to legal educators.
Early Optimism? First-Year Law Students’ Work Expectations and Aspirations
Authors: Castan Melissa , Paterson Jeannie , Richardson Paul , Watt Helen
Published: June 2021

Why are there empty seats in my lecture theatre? Are we driving our students away? Do work or family commitments prevent them from attending? Or, on a more positive note, have we designed our courses in such a way that we have provided all the tools necessary for them to learn independently? The latter is a very comforting thought, although we suspect that only a small percentage of students are self-learners — those who are able to achieve good results by engaging fully with the material, if this is carefully and adequately provided. This paper reports on a study that examined student attendance across a law degree — what motivated student attendance; why students did not take the opportunities provided to them to facilitate their learning; and what methods they used to learn. Our study involved courses (subjects) which required students to physically attend classes — it did not consider courses which were off-campus or primarily electronically delivered. We do not suggest that attendance alone results in student learning. However, we argue that there is evidence to show that it is an important ingredient of student engagement, particularly when the learning opportunities are predicated on physical student presence in classes.
The Teaching of Construction Law and the Practice of Construction Law: Never the Twain Shall Meet?
Authors: Gerber Paula
Published: June 2021

One of the most persistent ideals in the context of legal education is that of teaching students to “think like lawyers”. One such skill is undoubtedly the ability to extract legal principles from cases and statutes and apply these to the facts of a legal problem. It has become apparent, through teaching the concept of causation in criminal law, that while extracting and applying the law from cases is easy enough when the principles are clear, students often struggle when relying on cases in which Judges employ unexpressed policy-based reasoning. Law students must learn to extrapolate outcomes from legal principles and given facts. When policy grounds for decision-making are not clearly articulated, students struggle to find the “law” to apply. These difficulties can be exacerbated by a reading of the case law, which illustrates that cases with almost identical factual matrices can result in different outcomes. With particular reference to homicide cases in which medical treatment contributes to the death, this paper proposes that in complex cases, the question of causation cannot be answered simply by application of the legal principles, without reference to a range of policy considerations. To students, these are “invisible factors” in judicial decision-making which account for the variation of outcomes that occur in application of the causation principles. Because they are not explicitly referred to in case law it is almost impossible for students to employ them in problem-solving. The challenge for legal education is in effectively teaching legal reasoning so that students are better able to identify and apply unarticulated policy reasons.
If You Teach It, Will They Come? Law Students, Class Attendance and Student Engagement
Authors: Corbin Lillian , Burns Kylie , Chrzanowski April
Published: June 2021

This article considers whether the techniques and philosophy of a ‘Nurturing’ teacher can be justified in the law school context. In doing this, the article explores two interrelated issues. The first is the effect of students’ emotions on their ability to learn effectively. The second is the role of the teacher in being aware of and harnessing these emotions in order to create the optimal classroom environment for effective learning. The article argues that the techniques and philosophies of a Nurturing teacher appropriately take account of the emotional aspect of student learning, and are therefore appropriate to law school teaching.
Foreword
Authors: Sanson Michelle
Published: June 2021

Research on the ‘first-year experience’ of law students has generally focussed on the social and academic support needs of school leavers making the transition to tertiary study. However, as increasing numbers of law schools now offer a Juris Doctor (JD), or a ‘graduate-entry’ law degree, there is a corresponding need to understand and support the ‘first-year experience’ of students who commence study in law as postgraduates. To contribute to the knowledge base on the JD first year experience, this paper provides an overview of first-year measures developed and implemented in the Melbourne Law School’s JD program over a four-year period, 2008–2011. The focus is on identifying practical examples of effective first-year strategies that may be adapted and refined, as appropriate, in other JD programs. The authors argue that, while the transition issues and first-year experiences of graduate law students are not identical to those of undergraduate LLB students, there is a similar need to design a first-year graduate program in law that intentionally: engages students in learning and skill development; provides timely academic and wellbeing support; and creates a sense of belonging and connectedness.
The JD First Year Experience: Design Issues and Strategies
Authors: Larcombe Wendy , Malkin Ian
Published: June 2021

Over the last decade there has been an expansion in the number of Juris Doctor (JD) courses in the Australian legal education marketplace. Across the board it is graduate-entry, but it is currently offered in undergraduate, postgraduate and ‘hybrid’ forms. In this article we will discuss recent research conducted as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council grant. This project included an exploration of whether JD courses in Australia were applying different and higher level academic standards to those operating in Bachelor of Laws degrees. Our research findings reveal justification for concerns about the academic standards of some JD courses, particularly those where masters level students were being taught alongside their undergraduate counterparts. They also provide some insights into perceptions in the marketplace of JD graduates. Finally, we will discuss the future viability of such courses in light of recent revisions to the Australian Qualifications Framework.
Changing our Thinking: Empirical Research on Law Student Wellbeing, Thinking Styles and the Law Curriculum
Authors: O'Brien Molly Townes , Tang Stephen , Hall Kath
Published: June 2021

In 2010 six Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for law were developed by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s Discipline Scholars: Law. One of the TLOs concerns selfmanagement. This paper considers the importance of this TLO for legal education in the context of recent research which has established elevated levels of psychological distress in law students. The paper offers a conceptual framework centred on student engagement for intentional curriculum design in relation to the implementation of the self-management TLO. It also suggests some practical strategies for implementing this TLO through the adoption of approaches focused on supporting student autonomy and reflective practice.
Law Studies and Indigenous Students’ Wellbeing: Closing the (Many) Gap(s)
Authors: Wood Asmi
Published: June 2021

Legal educators in Australia have increasingly become concerned with the mental health of law students. The apparent risk posed by legal education to a student’s mental health has led to the deployment of a variety of measures to address these problems. By exploring these measures as productive power relations attempting to shape law students, this paper outlines how this government of depression is achieved, and the potential costs of these power relations. It examines one central Australian text offering advice about how students and law student societies can address depression, and argues that doing so not only involves students adopting particular practices of self-government to shape their legal personae, but also relies on an extension of the power relations of legal education. In addition, this paper will link this advice – which privatises the issue of depression, responsibilises individuals and communities, privileges psychological expertise, and seeks to govern ‘at a distance’ – to broader forms of social administration that presently characterise many Western societies. Doing so allows legal educators to reflect on the effects of their attempts to govern depression, and to consider new ways of altering the power relations of legal education.
Before Competition and Beyond Complacency - the Internationalisation of Legal Education in Australia
Authors: Lo Vai Io
Published: June 2021

The Law School of the University of the South Pacific has been working to identify appropriate program outcomes for its Bachelor of Laws degree, but no research had been undertaken to determine the knowledge, skills and capabilities needed by lawyers in the South Pacific. A project has now been commenced which seeks to identify contextually appropriate outcomes for lawyers in the region. This article reports on a pilot study conducted in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands as a first step in this project. It reports both the data and the process issues arising from the pilot study, and sets out proposals for the next stage of the research.
Leading Change in Legal Education: Interesting Ideas for Interesting Times
Authors: Watson Penelope
Published: June 2021

Law is a text-based discipline. The comprehension and interpretation of the written word lies at the core of legal reasoning and underpins legal writing. This article argues that developing the skills of critical legal reading is fundamental to all aspects of legal education and ultimately, to the practice of law. Law teachers have mastered and internalised the processes of legal reading, and sometimes therefore overlook the need to teach them explicitly to law students, who are novices. This paper examines the necessary mechanics, techniques and dispositions of critical legal reading in an overall taxonomy, contending that teaching these aspects in explicit and concrete ways is essential for students who are acquiring legal reading skills. Drawing on education, psychology and linguistic research fields, we offer a contemporary account of critical legal reading as a teachable skill and a core component of the undergraduate curriculum in law.
Foreword
Authors: Griggs Lynden
Published: June 2021

This article discusses our experience in creating an elective international law course for degree credit at Sydney Law School, the ‘Himalayan Field School: Development, Law and Human Rights’, which is run annually in Nepal with Kathmandu School of Law. The course combines unique, participatory experiential methods with doctrinal and theoretical learning, peer-to-peer learning, and personal critical reflection. The course is inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural, set in a developing country which takes relatively privileged western law students outside of their own habitat. The article first describes the background to the course, including the internationalisation of legal education and Nepal as the case study. It then discusses the course aims; the design of the curriculum content and the teaching and learning methods; assessment types and rationale; and student evaluation and course improvement. It considers aspects of the teaching-research nexus, including a research-led course design, a research-driven curriculum, the use of socio-legal research methods as a learning tool, the promotion of student interest in research, and a research dividend for teaching staff. The final part reflects on the challenges and risks (including the difficult operating environment of a post-conflict developing country), and concludes by addressing critiques of this course.
An Experimental International Law Field School in the Sky: Learning Human Rights and Development in the Himilayas
Authors: Saul Ben , Baghoomians Irene
Published: June 2021

[Extract] This volume of the Legal Education Review, Volume 23, is my first as Editor-in-Chief, and I am very proud of the collection of legal education articles that we have gathered together for your edification, reflection and enjoyment. The volume consists of two issues, a General Issue and a Special Issue. The Special Issue includes six engaging — and at times confronting — articles about the past, present and future of ‘critical legal education’ in Australia. The articles examine various consequences of the rising influence of corporatism, neoliberalism and the market narrative upon the teaching of law. The Special Issue commences with a separate Foreword written by our guest editors, Mary Heath and Peter Burdon, and I refer you to that Foreword for more information about the articles included in the Special Issue. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mary and Peter for their hard work and insightful advice in selecting and editing the six articles in the Special Issue.
Teaching Legal Ethics and Professionalism in a South Pacific Context
Authors: Penfold Carolyn
Published: June 2021

Universities Australia has accepted that all Australian university graduates should have a level of understanding, awareness and competency in Indigenous Cultures – referred to as Indigenous Cultural Competency (ICC). Universities Australia set out a definition for ICC. This paper examines the elements of this definition, identifies some pedagogical considerations and outlines the approach to development of ICC at the Australian National University. The paper also identifies what mutual lessons there might be for other law schools and institutions, some of which have already begun their own attempts at incorporating ICC. One of the key issues is the dearth of information on Indigenous Knowledges, this paper briefly examines mechanisms that have been put into place to generate such knowledge, including the Australian Research Council (ARC) Funded National Indigenous Researchers and Knowledges Network (NIRAKN).
Transition from Legal Education to Practice: Extra-Curricular Competitions offer the Missing Link
Authors: Fraser Madeleine , MacKenzie Joanna , Wiesbrat David , Tan Wesley
Published: June 2021

Students, or at least most students, do not come to classes having read the set passages of textbooks and other reading material allocated as preparatory reading for that class. Part II of this article considers whether and why reading is important for the ‘digital native’ generation of law students; Part III canvasses the question whether it is the job of the law academic to motivate law students to do their reading; Part IV explores the reasons for student noncompliance with set reading; and Part V suggests ways in which law teachers can reconcile intergenerational differences on the value of prescribed law school reading, using specific motivational strategies to initiate and sustain a ‘virtuous circle’ of reading behaviour.
Foreword
Authors: Heath Mary , Burdon Peter
Published: June 2021

This paper addresses certain aspects of the relationship between neoliberalism and university law schools. It arose out of a one-day workshop (hereafter ’the Workshop) xxx to mark the publication of Professor Margaret Thornton’s book, Privatising the Public University: The Case of Law. This book examines the ways in which privatization has impacted on law schools and legal education, particularly analyzing the ways in which changes to funding and the growth of neoliberal discourse have changed, on the one hand, students and their approaches to learning; and on the other, academics and their approaches to teaching and research.
A Dangerous Cult: Response to ‘The Effect of the Market on Legal Education’
Authors: Baron Paula
Published: June 2021

The purpose of the article is to shine the light of disinfectant on the state of decay evident in Australian law schools. The article argues that law schools in Australia are controlled by structures of power that foster the rule of those at the commanding heights of a market society. At the pedagogical level the power relations that shape the agenda of Australian law schools are expressed in a form of jurisprudence that turns law into a trade school discipline. The article highlights the killing of a number of attempts in Australia to revamp law schools by developing a decentralized form of governance, and a teaching methodology that supported a critical legal education aimed at producing lawyers equipped to enhance a citizen-based democracy. The axing of the innovative law program at Macquarie University by the upper echelons of management and their academic acolytes is delineated in detail, for its tragic downfall encapsulates the triumph of the corporatist approach to higher education. Peace in the form of a conformist model based on creating lawyers attuned to commercial imperatives was forcibly achieved at Macquarie. But it was a pyrrhic victory. The cost was the installation of an instrumentalist form of legal education and the death of a governance and pedagogical model that offered the best of a humanist experience to neophyte lawyers. Instead of a legal education based on combining technical skill with a social science education capable of equipping lawyers with the ability to pursue a more just and egalitarian society an intellectual desert based on a false peace was erected. For the foreseeable future a dark age of orthodoxy prevails at Macquarie and elsewhere, but somewhere down the path contrarian academics and students will once more emerge to promote the eternal virtues of participatory democracy, truth and beauty. Thus a legal education based on critical thought that challenges managerial and corporatist values will once more spring to life.
They Make a Desert and Call it Peace
Authors: Carrigan Frank
Published: June 2021

Our paper seeks to begin a conversation about how legal academics might work collaboratively to resist neoliberal reforms in legal education. We begin by considering the existing literature about how academics have responded to recent efforts to corporatize university education. This literature reveals a great level of despondency and despair. Most acts of resistance are either individual or passive. Following this, we put forward as alternative conceptualisation of the academic – the academic activist. We consider whether this conceptualisation might offer a place from which resistance can emerge. Finally, we consider strategies that might be adopted by legal academics who wish to contest neoliberalism within the law school and the university. Given the evidence of academic despair and disempowerment, we propose a range of strategies which are both active and passive and range from the individual to the collaborative.
Critical Thinking in Legal Education: Our Journey
Authors: Appleby Gabrielle , Burdon Peter , Reilly Alexander
Published: June 2021

We are proud to be Australasia’s leading source of legal education scholarship and one of the principal sites for academic discussion and debate about legal education issues. This volume of the Legal Education Review, Volume 24, is made up of ten articles that explore a variety of legal education topics.
Barriers to Entry into Law School: An Examination of Socio-Economic and Indigenous Disadvantage
Authors: Melville Angela
Published: June 2021

As law firms and law graduates work in an increasingly globalised environment and often work across multiple jurisdictions, this article outlines the results of a qualitative research project to assess employer perspectives on required graduate knowledge, skills and attributes. There is broad consensus among legal academics and practitioners that law schools need to deliver law programs that take cognisance of global developments and the increasing emphasis on internationalisation. This article addresses the question of how internationalisation is affecting what employers want from Australian law graduates and consequently what those law graduates need from their legal education both to secure jobs and to be as effective as possible as new employees, from the employers’ perspective. The findings presented in the article are based on a qualitative analysis of data gathered through representative employer roundtable discussions. Seven categories emerged, identifying the most important knowledge, skills and attributes required particularly for multi-jurisdictional practice. The findings provide a useful basis for law schools in their review, development and renewal of their law curriculum.
Foreword
Authors: James Nick
Published: June 2021

This article seeks to shift the focus of the literature about law journals from their perceived benefits for academics and law schools to the real advantages they present for students. The discourse on law journals in the American jurisdictions demonstrates that the prolific debate there has overwhelmingly been dictated by academic concerns over unsupervised student editorship, lack of credible peer review and unreliable standards. The Australian and British discourse about law journals has, by contrast, been inconsequential. However, it too has focused on the roles played by law journals in the research done by academics and the development of the law. The benefits for law students have been ignored. The article then demonstrates that working on law journal production and publication achieves critical learning and teaching outcomes for the attainment of generic graduate attributes and specific legal skills. When included within a formal unit of study with academic supervision, student editorship of law journals bears the hallmarks of experiential learning and includes the potential for a successful capstone experience for final year law students.
Law Journals: From Discourse to Pedagogy
Authors: Vickovich Ilija
Published: June 2021

Law students face a number of challenges when entering the employment market. Apart from stiff competition from their peers, there is often disconnect between the theory they are taught in law courses and the realities of legal practice they are faced with when stepping into the “real world”. At some universities, this discrepancy is partly addressed by legal skills programmes, but there is still a significant leap from ‘student’ to ‘early career lawyer’. In this regard, clinical experience can be an invaluable asset to graduates - a law teaching clinic has the potential to advance student involvement and practical engagement to a new level. This article focuses on the benefits of experiential learning in a pro bono teaching clinic and considers the advantages of consciously incorporating service learning into such a clinic, with reference to a case study of a successful commercial law teaching clinic established within a university law faculty. It also examines the challenges and considerations inherent in establishing a teaching pro bono clinic within a law school, and suggests solutions for implementing an effective model, thereby enhancing student employability
Legal Education, Legal Practice and Ethics
Authors: Nicolae Maria
Published: June 2021

Modern law owes its provenance and enforcement to one branch of government or another. But not all law is ‘public law’ simply because it emanates from public bodies, affects the public or serves public purposes. This paper begins by defining public law, compares its Australian, UK and US conceptions, and contrasts it with private law. It charts the conventional paradigm of public law as an umbrella sheltering constitutional and administrative law, built on the concept of government. This neat, if narrowing, idea of public law is reflected in the dominant themes in contemporary public law teaching and scholarship (such as accountability or representative democracy). Yet given the diversity of ideological and functional accounts of what government is ‘for’, public law lacks any unifying account. A descriptive definition based on the notion of government captures the core content of public law, but a normative smorgasbord lies at its heart. This creates challenges – both positive and negative – for teachers of public law. As a result, and alongside the decline in black letter teaching in favour of case-study approaches, thematic first level courses in ‘principles’ of Australian public law have flourished. To engage commencing students who are often civics-ignorant, the pedagogical response has been to draw on contemporary policy and politics to lend context to such courses in public law. However such a ‘magazine-y’ approach poses challenges for coherence.
Developing an Animal Law Case Book: Knowledge Transfer and Service Learning from Student-Generated Materials
Authors: Riley Sophie
Published: June 2021

This article responds to Justice Leeming’s call for the pedagogy of constitutional law to undergo a rethink. Particularly, how to keep the teaching of constitutional law ‘living, useful and relevant’ and whether constitutional law instruction needs to prioritise new developments in the field over tried and true topics in which the issues are established and less contentious. In discussing the breadth, depth and form of the teaching of the discipline of constitutional law, the article emphasises the need to focus on the method as well as the content of courses and the importance of teaching just enough so that students develop a hunger to learn more themselves. It concludes that many uncertainties about what and how to teach constitutional law come back to Justice Leeming’s invitation to address what we even mean by ‘constitutional law’ in the first place. Answering this question then allows for the shaping of a curriculum that can inspire students while also equipping them with the tools to tackle the constitutional law challenges which lie ahead.
Law Schools and the Market for International Postgraduate Students
Authors: Devonshire Peter
Published: June 2021

Public law need no longer be bound by the traditional fields of constitutional and administrative law. In a contemporary context, it has the scope to encompass statutory construction, human rights, state sovereignty, electoral law, legal philosophy, and the rule of law amongst others. In short, an expanded conceptualization of public law speaks to government power. While public law’s horizon is expanding, so too is academic practice. No longer the domain of discrete enterprises of teaching, research and engagement, academic practice can now be conceptualized as a coherent scholarly enterprise mediated by digital technologies. This article first articulates the meaning of an expanded public law and integrated scholarly practice. It then explores how the digitally literate public law academic can put this into practice. Through the use of two case studies, it describes how democratizing digital media offer a context for and means of community engagement and education in public law issues while they are in the public eye. As academic practice, the teaching moment of contemporary public law in action offers an opportunity for broadening both academic and student horizons.