An important issue in the discussion on the quality of legal education is the interdisciplinary character of legal studies. The main problem is how much the interdisciplinarity is demanded and needed by the consumers of the legal education market. It is believed that bringing interdisciplinary elements into law studies curricula, contributes to…

University law schools have been beset with a sense of schizophrenia ever since first established in the 19th century. They were unsure as to whether they were free to teach and research in the same way as the humanities or whether they were constrained by the presuppositions of legal practice. More recently, this tension has been overshadowed by…

The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) is a pioneer university in the use of technology for online learning. The virtual teaching system enables to acquire professionalizing competences and facilitates the practitioners the update of knowledge in an optimum way. That is possible, on one hand, thanks to the resources for theoretical and practical…

Among recent e-Learning Pedagogical Strategies, gaming and crisis-simulation games are increasingly used in recent years in university-learning and Blended-courses as an out-of-context effective tool for role-playing and education, especially in Law Schools and Business Schools. Gaming covers several sub-fields (war-games; Law School Mock-Trials;…

Each year a distinguished scholar or prominent leader is selected to present the Tomás Rivera Lecture. Named in honor of the late Dr. Tomás Rivera, professor, scholar, poet, and former president of the University of California, Riverside, the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) is continuing this lecture at its annual…

In March 1973, in the case of DeFunis vs. Odegaard, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington held constitutional procedures established by the University of Washington Law School to grant preferred admission to disadvantaged racial and ethnic minority applicants. The United States Supreme Court agreed to review the decision. This paper…

This document presents a history of moot court, defined as a mock court where hypothetical cases are tried for the training of law students. The first recorded reference to a moot court was in the year 997, and moots were common at the Inns of Court and Chancery in 14th century England. In 18th century England there were 4 greater Inns of Court…

American law schools have a unique character: they are monopolistic, focus more on private than public law issues, are the major center of legal research and scholarship, and embody a national ambivalence about the law. (MSE)

Contains 25 papers which were presented at a conference bringing together legal educators from all over the world to discuss international cooperation in legal education. The conference highlighted the world's diverse systems of law and legal education and explored the desirability and feasibility of greater global cooperation among legal…

Perspectives on the relationship of the legal profession to the changing nature of American society are discussed by Attorney General Smith. He proposes the idea that the courts, without constitutional warrant, have struck down actions by legislative bodies and brought about new rights (i.e., government by judicial decree). He suggests that…

A project to demonstrate the feasibility of testing some law student's analytical skills used examinations calling for functional analyses, distinctions between holdings and dicta, statutory construction, and attentive reading. Results consistently showed seniors more proficient than freshmen in these areas, but seniors did not answer the…

The Chief Justice of Australia, on the occasion of inauguration of the Faculty of Law at the University of Wollongong (Australia), examines the purposes and content of academic legal education, notes the increasing numbers of students wanting to study law, and recommends more interdisciplinary studies for students of law. (DB)

Survey instruments requesting information about the teaching of education law were sent to 102 major land grant and state universities with graduate programs in educational administration. All 78 colleges responding in this study offer education law as an elective or a required course. Thirty-three of the respondents returned the questionnaires…

A rationale for developing courses and programs at the undergraduate level, in law school, and in continuing legal education that will serve to raise the communication level of the legal profession is proposed. The rationale is presented around five themes: (1) the relationship between communication and law from antiquity to the establishment of…

The law school admission process plays a major role in determining the social class origins and ethnic composition of the bar, and perhaps also the nonlegal skills lawyers will have. Research is incomplete; consideration of admission criteria, the composition and processes of admissions committees, and applicant self-selection is advisable. (MSE)