Since 1975, the bench and bar of the vast majority of jurisdictions in the United States have implemented programs of mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) for their attorneys. Typically, the justification for these programs has been rooted in a desire to keep lawyers abreast of all the latest developments in the law and to provide them with…

While women have made considerable strides in terms of representation in the workplace, discrepancies by gender still exist with regard to women's professional satisfaction and wages. The field of legal private practice is one such example where female lawyers have increased in number but still do not earn commensurately with men and often do not…

The purpose of this qualitative, modified exploratory case study was to explore how and the extent to which (i) Big Law partners describe their experience of their careers with respect to the PsyCap capacities of Hope, self-Efficacy, Resilience, Optimism (HERO) and the informal learning opportunities for developing PsyCap in Big Law; and (ii) Big…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the preparation of special education teachers to manage conflict in IEP meetings. For the purposes of this study, conflict is defined where an advocate and/or lawyer were present at an IEP meeting. Twenty special educators were interviewed who have been in conflict-laden IEP…

This study examined the lived experiences of student conduct administrators in light of the impacts of the "judicialization" of their profession, illustrated in this sphere as the use of civil litigation to resolve matters typically addressed through campus disciplinary systems, the encroachment of students' attorneys into the…

The impact of alternative programs for juveniles within the juvenile justice court system was not well understood. Studies such as research from the Annie E. Casey Foundation identified juvenile diversion approaches as an effective method of reducing recidivism in juvenile courts. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to seek…

This dissertation provides a comprehensive description of courtroom language as a register by exploring the situational and linguistic features of authentic and TV courtroom language, as well as four public sub-registers that occur within authentic and TV courtroom (opening statement, direct examinations, cross-examinations, closing argument). It…

The desegregation of American public school systems in the wake of "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) was a vast, protracted, and, in many cases, frustrated historical project that impacted individual communities in a multitude of ways. Drawing upon official school board records, court documents, oral histories, newspaper accounts,…

This study used an explanatory mixed methods design to examine special education due process outcomes in Idaho for the time period of January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2012. The study was done in two phases. Phase one of the study explored what types of special education related issues are being brought before the state hearing officer(s) as due process…

For decades the American public education system has struggled to meet the needs of our nation's children and families. In an effort to bring fresh solutions to this major issue, a trend of enticing accomplished private sector individuals into the education sector has developed within the past decade. The Broad Residency was established in 2002 to…

Currently in the United States, there are far more mentally ill individuals in jails and prisons than in mental hospitals or other treatment facilities. Stigma toward this population presents as a major barrier to eradicating this indictment, yet research has shown that education can help to reduce stigma and, in turn, possibly decreasing the…

In spite of the fact that women account for nearly half of the lawyers entering BigLaw, there are significantly fewer women occupying the most prestigious, powerful, and best-paid positions within today's law firms. This paper focuses on the non-cognitive traits known as grit--defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals--and a growth…

The legal system is the product of lawyers. Lawyers are the product of a specific educational system. Therefore, to understand the legal system, we must first explore how lawyers are trained and conditioned to think. What does it mean to "Think Like a Lawyer?'' This dissertation makes use of autoethnography to explore the experience…

In this study, the researcher analyzed survey responses from 67 Pennsylvania attorneys with experience in special education litigation and reviewed one year of Pennsylvania special education due process hearing decisions to determine the issues that prompt parents to seek legal counsel in special education disputes, the issues that counsel…

This mixed methods study explored whether a relationship existed between moral development and dishonest academic behaviors in law students. The quantitative portion of the study utilized a survey adapted from James Rest's Defining Issues Test and Donald McCabe's Academic Integrity Survey. Law students were solicited by email from two public…