Re-thinking Legal Education Under the Civil and Common Law ─ A Road Map for Constructive Change

Legal pedagogy has been slow to respond to the demands and pressures of our rapidly changing world. Educational theory has developed significantly in recent years, yet much of the law curriculum is still delivered predominantly through lecture format and is substantively content-driven. Students are, in the main, treated as empty vessels to be filled by the eminent academics of the day. Reimagining Legal Education under the Common and Civil Law draws on the experience of practitioners, teachers and students in reimagining a more effective legal education process.

Little attention, until relatively recently, has been paid to the importance of the application of theory, the role of reflective learning, the understanding and acquisition of lawyering skills and the development of professional responsibility and wider ethical values. With contributions from across the global north and south, this book examines the history of educating our lawyers, the influences and constraints that may shape the curriculum and the means of delivering it, and the models that could be used to tackle the shortcomings found in the existing system. The whole is intended to represent what might be desirable and possible if we are to produce lawyers that are fit for purpose in the 21^st century.

The book should be of direct assistance to those who wish to understand the theory and practice of legal pedagogy in an experiential context. This makes the book essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of law and education, particularly those involved in curriculum design and interactive teaching methods. It should also be of interest to teachers of law.

Richard Grimes?is a senior consultant with Les Deux Ltd, a training and development service specialising in access to justice and legal education.