It is the worst time in living history to be a law graduate: or is it? Does Australia have too many law graduates?

According to the Australian legal profession and media, law schools are producing too many graduates relative to the number of vacancies within the profession. This claim, however, is hardly new. This paper identifies a number of junctions at which there has been concern about the overproduction of law graduates, showing that this discourse appears during periods of major economic stress. It also shows that until the most recent episode of concern, the perception that there are too many law graduates relative to employment opportunities has not been supported by empirical evidence. In the past, the increasing supply of law graduates has been met with increasing demand. However, the legal profession is now facing unprecedented market competition and restructure, and opportunities in the profession for new graduates have declined. This still does not mean that the law schools are producing too many graduates. The current cohort of graduates is likely to continue into a professional occupation, although not necessarily in private legal practice, and there is a lack of lawyers working in disadvantaged communities.     

Lawyers’ wellbeing and professional legal education

Abstract

THIS PAPER examines the wellbeing and satisfaction levels of lawyers in the workplace. It argues that research suggesting a crisis in the legal profession in the United States is comparable with research on wellbeing and levels of satisfaction for lawyers in Australasia. Some reports in both jurisdictions are critical of conventional legal education and practical legal training programs, which do not encourage students to develop personal and interpersonal skills that can improve self‐awareness, communication skills and the capacity to manage stress and anxiety. Consequently, law students are allowed to assume that these “soft skills” are less important for lawyers compared with cognitive skills such as “knowing the law” and “thinking like a lawyer”.

The paper describes the preliminary results of research conducted with graduates of the School of Law at the University of Newcastle Australia. The results confirm existing research to show that clinical legal education programs that expose law students under supervision to clients with real cases may promote the development of interpersonal skills, which in turn may help them cope with stressors in legal practice, especially in the first few years post‐admission.     

卓越卫生法律人才实践性教学研究

我国现行卫生法律人才教育模式偏重向学生传授基本法学原理和法律知识,忽视了学生实践能力和操作能力的培养,应进一步加强具有医学与法学交叉特色的实践性教学,建立卫生法学综合实验中心,培养卓越卫生法律人才。     

Preparation for the Practice of law—the Views of the Practicing Bar

The competence of the practicing bar has been subjected to substantial criticism in recent years. Since law schools have a virtual monopoly over access to the bar and licensure is granted without further training, legal education has been a particular focus of attack and reform efforts. Yet there has been little systematic study of what skills and knowledge are important in the actual practice of law or the relevant contributions of legal education. This study of practicing lawyers in Chicago examines the nature of the competencies important to the practice of law and the sources lawyers credit for contributing to their development.
Practitioners cite a broad range of skills, many of them not unique to the practice of law, with their importance varying by the predominant legal specialty practiced. The data further indicate that law schools play but a part in the development of skills and knowledge important to the practice of law and that experience, both prior and subsequent to graduation, plays a significant role. The evaluation of law schools' contributions is related to opportunities for further training, particularly in the context of law firm practice. There is, however, a strong general view that law schools rather uniformly concentrate on some skills to the exclusion of others and that the former are not necessarily those that lawyers think are most important to the practice of law.     

关于提升法学（医药卫生）专业社会效益的思考

随着社会的需求，法学（医药卫生）这一专业应运而生。然而，缺乏实践性的法学教育使得培养出的大量法科毕业生无法满足现实法律实务工作的要求，那么本期待能弥补法学教育实践性缺乏这一困境的法学（医药卫生）教育能否带来很好的社会效益呢？本文将针对如何提升法学（医药卫生）专业的社会效益这一新的现实问题，从几个方面提出自己的一些思考。     

Legal Education,Social Mobility,and Employability: Possible Selves,Curriculum Intervention,and the Role of Legal Work Experience

This article interrogates a number of assumptions underpinning the recent focus on employability and social mobility within legal education and the legal profession – in particular the capacity of legal work experience to support these policy objectives. It draws on research evidence to argue that a narrow focus upon the individual acquisition of skills and attributes fails to capture the fuller complexity of legal employability as a negotiated, situated process. It shows how the structuring properties of the field reduce the capacity of employability initiatives to disrupt the patterns of social and cultural reproduction that frame access to the legal profession. In this context, the potential of curriculum intervention to enhance employability is inhibited by the structural constraints upon the possible selves that law students are able to imagine. It suggests that students’ opportunities are not only shaped by their past, but are also constrained by their possible futures.     

Disequilibrium in the supply of legal scholars and the demand by the judicial profession and the correction of this unbalance through reforms in the legal education system in China

The basic function of legal education is to cultivate and create talented legal professionals who will be employed, either directly or indirectly, in judicial practice sectors. Thus, there is, between the legal education system and the judicial profession, a supply-demand relationship—the basic economic principle between the relationship of market supply and demand, driving the relationship between the legal education system and qualified legal professionals. However, this supply-demand relationship in China, between the legal education system and the judicial profession is currently in disequilibrium and in contradiction itself. Therefore, it is necessary to observe and apply the principles of a supply-demand relationship to the reorganization of the legal education system in China in an attempt to find the most efficient balance between legal education and the judicial profession.     

Preferential Treatment, Social Justice, and the Part-time Law Student – The Case for the Value-added Part-time Law Degree

There has been growing pressure to increase diversity in legal education and the legal profession in England and Wales. While this has focused upon the absence of certain groups such as women, ethnic minorities, and the disabled, there has been no specific discussion of part-time law students. Drawing on questionnaires and focus groups with part-time law students across England and Wales, this article examines how their background and experiences may hamper their ability to participate and succeed in higher education and legal practice. In response to the consistent omission of part-time students' needs from attempts to enhance social diversity in universities and the legal profession, it also argues that affirmative action is now necessary and justified in respect of these students. Pragmatic suggestions are made for a contextual approach to affirmative action for part-time law students which adds value to their degree. Finally, the potential effects of affirmative action on part-time law students themselves and upon the gatekeepers to the legal profession are explored.     

Legal education in the training of health professionals in Ghana: the need for legislative and curricular reforms

The present paper critically analyses the essence of legal education in the training of medical professionals in Ghana. It argues that health professionals lack the requisite knowledge in law, especially the legal implications of medical malpractice, and calls for legislative and curricular reforms in institutions engaged in the training of health professionals to reflect a legal education component. The authors opine that the basic medical law curriculum should be focused on the kinds of legal problems that physicians encounter most frequently in practice rather than on sensational cases. The authors are of the view that the curriculum should address the clarification of central concepts in law, the ability to apply the concepts, decision‐making procedures, acquisition of legal knowledge in tortuous and criminal matters relevant to the medical profession. This view sets objectives for teaching medical law to medical students and young doctors.     

Preparing law graduates for a globalised world

In this article it is argued that law graduates need to be prepared for working in a global legal context. Whether working in global law firms or small, local non-global law firms, law graduates need to have the knowledge, skills and attributes that will better equip them to work within and across multiple, international legal jurisdictions. The purpose of the article is twofold: first, to report on and disseminate research on a collaborative project on internationalising the Australian law curriculum aimed at preparing law graduates for global legal practice, of which the authors were the lead researchers; and second, to discuss and demonstrate the practical application of the proposed curriculum framework to the teaching of Constitutional Law.     

After Dark and Out in the Cold: Part-time Law Students and the Myth of 'Equivalency'

This paper presents the findings of the first major research study of part-time law students. It argues that many face multiple disadvantages, largely unrecognized by universities, whose emphasis on the formal equivalency of part-time and full-time law degrees ignores the distinctive backgrounds and needs of part-time students. As a result, many are marginalized, impacting on their retention, overall performance, and work prospects. It is also argued that the context within which part-time law students experience legal education contributes to a collective habitus which may structure what is 'thinkable' for their futures. Such concerns are of particular importance given the strong vocational drive amongst part-time law students. An effective response requires action by both universities and the legal profession. Without this, part-time legal education will remain a fundamentally paradoxical experience, offering broader access to legal practice for non-traditional entrants, while continuing to inhibit their chances of success by entrenching their difference in the eyes of the profession.     

A qualitative study of the impact of law clinics on students’ perceptions of emotional labour expectations

The benefits to students of being given some form of clinical legal education are well documented. Research has been conducted in the area of legal education and emotion, emotional intelligence and clinical legal education. There have also been studies which explore emotional labour in the legal profession. However, there is currently no research into the role of clinical legal education in advancing law students’ understanding of emotional labour expectations in the legal profession. This Legal Education Research Network (LERN) funded project aims to fill that gap by examining the contribution law clinics make to the development of law students’ emotion management skills in preparation for entry into the legal profession. The project seeks to achieve this by considering the changes to law students’ perceptions of emotional labour expectations as a result of undertaking this type of clinical legal education. The paper offers insights into the types of emotional labour as well as the perceived drivers of emotional labour, which are regarded as necessary to fulfil the role of the solicitor. The paper will also analyse the potential consequences of performing emotional labour identified by participants.     

Professionalism in higher education: important not only for lawyers

This article considers how, in light of the changing legal profession and higher education, academia could address professionalism training. The authors put forward an argument that, if professionalism is to be understood as a set of skills, values and attitudes required for any lawyer, it is now a good time to consider how these could be taught and assessed in law and non-law degrees. The formation of professional values and attitudes is a long process that continues throughout a person’s life. The earlier students are exposed to professional values, attitudes and skills, the better the quality of service these future lawyers will provide to the public. Taking into account the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) recommendations, the article suggests some practical ways as to how professionalism could be developed in higher education.     

英国法律职业人才培养模式对我国的启示

英国法律职业人才培养模式分为理论、职业、实习和继续职业教育四个阶段,其特点是虽无统一的法律教育体制和司法考试制度,各地区和各法律院校在法律人才培养过程中具有较大的自主性,但同时有相应的机制保证法律职业人才的同质性;法学教育注重法律的实践性和应用技能的培养,法学教育机构和法律职业管理机构在人才培养过程中相互协作,共同发挥作用。英国的法律职业人才培养模式有可供我们学习借鉴的优点和经验。     

How to Push an Elephant Through a Straw: Using Wireless Technology in a Web-enhanced Skills Program

The title of this article derives from the expression used by programmers and developers to explain problems of limited network bandwidth connection speeds. The ever-increasing demand by growing numbers of web users for bandwidth-intensive media is outstripping the Internet's capacity to deliver information. In this case, the 'Elephant' is the massive online information system, including text, graphics, audio, and video, and the 'Straw' is the low bandwidth through which only a fixed volume can move. Generally, compression of data is the way to push that elephant through the straw. Included among those users competing for bandwidth are law schools. In the last decade, technology has begun to occupy a more pivotal role in American legal education. As law firms increase their use of technology in response to client demand, they must hire associates who graduate from law school prepared for high-technology law practice. The resulting pressure on law schools to incorporate technology into class materials and instruction has arisen contemporaneously with pressure to increase the teaching of lawyering skills. A tension arises, however, between the obligation of legal educators to expose students to emerging technologies and the additional burdens thereby imposed upon law schools to add lawyering skills to the the existing curriculum without displacing needed doctrinal and analytical instruction. The authors are faculty members and administrators at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Shepard Broad Law Center, which was named "Most Wired Law School" by National Jurist in 1998 and 2001. The centrepiece of legal education at NSU is a high technology Lawyering Skills and Values Program that employs wireless classrooms and web-enhanced education. Delivering a lawyering skills course through technology is not unlike pushing an elephant through a straw. The challenge is to accomplish pedagogical goals without compressing either the curriculum or the social processes of teaching and learning. This article describes and evaluates the authors' practical experiences planning, implementing, and teaching a Lawyering Skills course to first-year students in a wireless classroom environment.     

法律技术与法科学生实践能力的培养

现代社会对法律人才需求的功利化趋势日益明显,对法律专业学生在法理造诣和法律技术上有着等质的要求。精通法律技术并能够运用法律技术服务于社会,是社会衡量和取舍法律人才的基本标准。这决定了法律技术培养在法律专业教育过程中具有决定性的意义,并制约着整个法律专业教育过程。法学教育应当围绕着培养法科学生的实践能力这一中心来进行。而为了适应培养法科学生实践能力的需要,我们有必要对我国法学教育的机制和模式进行改革。     

Empathy: an essential element of legal practice or ‘never the twain shall meet’?

In a climate where the work of the legal profession is changing and evolving rapidly, this article considers the potential for empathy to be incorporated as an essential element of legal practice. This challenges the conceptions of legal practice held by many legal professionals and law students but draws on increasing scientific evidence demonstrating the interaction between cognition and affect and reflects the emotional realities of life in practice. This article will consider the different definitions of empathy and argue that it is necessary for it to be conceptualised in a way which draws upon both cognitive and affective elements. When empathy is interpreted in this way it can provide both a more effective form of practice and a deeper appreciation of ethics and values. This article will argue that to incorporate empathy in this way requires a richer, more nuanced consideration of the benefits and challenges involved in its use. However, embedding it throughout legal education, training and legal practice would more than reward such a careful evaluation of its role.     

Social justice jurisprudence of clinical education programme: A paradigm shift from legal education to justice education

The legal profession has remained relevant in bringing about positive transformation in society — with leaders, policymakers, and change makers around the world mostly possessing a background in the law. That said, the trust, and positive image, enjoyed by legal professionals continues on a declining path. Considered more glamorous, the legal profession has gone astray from the path of social justice. In this article, I argue that the negative perception of legal professionals is, in large part, because of the way legal professionals are taught and trained in law schools. I argue that legal teaching pedagogy in South Asia, and generally in developing countries, is a product of colonial structure. Even after the so-called decolonisation movement, law schools and universities, for example in South Asia, institutionalised a legal pedagogy unsuited to the epistemic actualities of their societies. A law student in South Asia was and continues to be taught the Western conception of what the law is and its relationship to justice. In a legal culture carrying the transplanted laws of the colonisers, the students of developing countries are meticulously trained in the technical skills of reasoning and interpretation by applying Eurocentric guidelines of positivist construction. In light of this, I propose a shift in legal education: to transform the existing legal education and pedagogy into ‘justice education’. I focus on the ancient principles — located in the Eastern legal philosophy — of empirical reasoning and the importance of the human nature of sociability in arriving at social justice. To combat the tendency of insulating law students from societal problems, I propose a social justice-driven legal pedagogy. I have also reflected on some practices that ‘are’ and highlighted other practices that ‘ought to be’. My thesis connotes that the legal profession has an innate role in building the capability of individuals who are deprived and excluded. In line with it, I present examples of scalable clinical legal education being practised specially by the Kathmandu School of Law that can create multidimensional legal professionalism.

     

中国法律技能教育的制度分析

从法律技能的需求的视角,本文在制度层面分析技能教育为何在中国法学教育中发展不足和缓慢;认为这是法学院学生和教育者面时现有学科体制和由诸多社会因素构成的社会需求时的理性选择的结果;法律技能教育发展的关键不在于重视或加大投入,而在于中国社会的进一步发展和转型。本文追求对法学教育的经验研究和理论研究的有机整合。     

History is Past Politics: A Critique of the Legal Skills Movement in England and Wales

In the past thirty years legal practice changed so significantly that afundamental response was demanded of legal education. Making legalskills a compulsory component in the vocational stage was an incompleteresponse. It addressed the technical competence of lawyers but leftsignificant gaps in professional preparation in terms of content andmethodology. By focusing on the educational and pedagogic implicationsof the skills curriculum the clinical movement contributed to these gaps.The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education andConduct has facilitated the consideration of a curriculum organizedaround a more imaginative integration of legal skills in order to beginto tackle these failings and prepare lawyers for the new economic andsocial challenges facing them. Solutions, however, must permeate everystage of legal education, requiring unprecedented levels of co-operationand interaction between the profession and the academy.