Comments for Best Practices for Legal Education

Comment on Alternative Law School Ranking: Calculator of Law School Employment Stats by Mary Lynch

Mary Lynch — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:24:25 +0000

Dear Paula, I enjoyed reading your blog post but didn’t see a discussion of the Educating Tomorrows Lawyers calculator. Did I miss it?

Comment on Alternative Law School Ranking: Calculator of Law School Employment Stats by Philip

Philip — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:28:59 +0000

Hi, after reading this remarkable post i am also delighted to share my experience here
with mates.

Comment on Teaching the Skill of Listening in Law Schools by Michele Pistone

Michele Pistone — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:13:19 +0000

Great, Paula, thanks for the referrals. Will take a look. Also, consider whether you’d want to make a short video (10 min or less) on the topic of listening and lawyering for our new website, legaledweb.com.

Comment on Teaching the Skill of Listening in Law Schools by Michele Pistone

Michele Pistone — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:10:23 +0000

Thanks Matt. You may be aware that I am working with a group of law professors on an ambitious project to collect teaching materials in a central online repository. I would LOVE to add the assessment materials you mentioned above to the site. Take a look, let me know if you’d be willing to share them with the community.

legaledweb.com — the link to the website

Here is the link to the assessment tools page. http://legaledweb.com/assessment-tools/

Comment on Teaching the Skill of Listening in Law Schools by Paula Marie Young

Paula Marie Young — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:59:40 +0000

Listening is also an essential skills for leaders according to the new book, The Athena Doctrine. Marjorie Corman’s new book, Client Science, which I reviewed for the upcoming issue of the ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine, also covers the importance of listening — words, body language, deeper meaning, etc.

Comment on Teaching the Skill of Listening in Law Schools by Matt Fraidin, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law

Matt Fraidin, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:31:05 +0000

Thanks for this post, Michele. It is an interesting TED talk, and thanks for the reminder about the Shultz/Zedeck work. The Shultz/Zedeck “26 Factors” are especially interesting. At UDC-DACSL, we use an elaborate, competency-based system developed years ago by a task force convened by Antioch Law School. (The Russell Cort/Jack Sammons law review article describing the system is cited in Best Practices.) Like the Shultz/Zedeck paper, the Antioch task force identified lawyering competencies deemed to be at the core of good lawyering. Shultz/Zedeck list eight broad categories, whereas our system includes six (Oral Communication, Written Communication, Legal Analysis, Problem-Solving, Professional Responsibility, and Practice Management). These “Major” competencies are given greater specificity in increasingly-detailed “Specific” competencies and “Criteria.” It is essentially a list of teaching goals, and therefore a great framework for course design, assessment, and grading.

Comment on National Law Journal Covers Student Learning Outcomes Discussion by Preserving institutional knowledge and processes | RIPS Law Librarian Blog

Preserving institutional knowledge and processes | RIPS Law Librarian Blog — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:01:49 +0000

[…] do some of your own research – here are the articles on a boot camp, the stance from the ABA, some thoughts on the ABA, and a couple on outcome based legal education generally) and instead want to talk about one of the […]

Comment on Commencing, Saying Goodbye, And “Ditching” C Grades? by Mary Lynch

Mary Lynch — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:48:31 +0000

I agree! It’s not about the nature of what one assesses — actual practice or content knowledge or skill acquisition. I also find it challenging but not impossible to compartmentalize growth in skill development, theory acquisition, and professional identity formation since demonstration of competencies generally occurs in a more integrated manner.

Comment on Commencing, Saying Goodbye, And “Ditching” C Grades? by glesnerb

glesnerb — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:59:07 +0000

The argument over grades — whatever the letter of the alphabet we are currently focused on — is mostly about external reporting to the market. Assessment, on the other hand, is an internal process designed to improve student learning. The core tension one finds in assessment is this: if we focus on student learning, we want to find, report, and address areas that can be improved. If we focus on reporting, we want to find and report on those qualities that will give our students an edge in the marketplace. Authentic assessment for student learning is very difficult if we fear the results will be to place our students (and therefore our institutions and our careers) at a competitive disadvantage. It doesn’t matter whether our assessment method is grades (with sufficient information to permit us and students to know what those grades actually mean in terms of student learning) or review of actual representation of clients. If we use the assessment as a way to market our students or ourselves, we will always be tempted to conclude that everyone is above average.

Comment on A 3L’s Perspective on Technology and the Future of the Legal Profession by baby shower article

baby shower article — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:19:11 +0000

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