The Journey of a Law Teacher

• Main Author: Peter Spiller
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bond University
• Series: Legal Education Review
• Online Access: http://ler.scholasticahq.com/article/6174-the-journey-of-a-law-teacher.pdf

This Note features a pedagogical method in a specific law practice course to suggest that this method can assist in meeting the challenge law teachers have faced for as long as there have been students, namely, how can the students be better prepared for the practice of law. The pedagogical method predominately uses the active learning technique of student presentations. Stated another way, the course is mainly taught by students. The course, entitled “Practising Law: Successful Strategies”, is bread-and-butter practical dealing with topics such as client care, marketing, hiring and motivating staff, insurance, office location and set-up, law partnership concepts, and retirement planning, to name a few. This Note explores the need for this type of course, then gives a brief historical overview of law teaching, describing the author’s law practice course introduced into the curriculum in 1996, giving some examples of the students’ creativity and contributions. The note closes with a discussion of the results of the pedagogy from evaluations submitted anonymously by the students as part of law school routine at the end of each term.