Transcript CHANGING GEARS TO MEET THE NEW NORMAL IN LEGAL EDUCATION Courtney G. Lee Pacific McGeorge School of Law [email protected].

CHANGING GEARS TO MEET THE
NEW
NORMAL
IN LEGAL EDUCATION
Courtney G. Lee
Pacific McGeorge School of Law
[email protected]
Old Normal
New Normal
Why is this happening??
Changes to Pre-Graduate Education
“Even if I do not work hard in high
school, I can still make my future
plans come true.”
46% of 2000+ HS students agreed
• Rosenbaum, Beyond College for All: Career Paths for the
Forgotten Half (2001)
Changes to Pre-Graduate Education
Gvt. standards: NCLB (2002), CCSS (2009)
 Encourage teaching to the test
 Little focus on art, music, and writing
 Focus on end results, not individual students or school
history/makeup
 Teachers’ (and schools’) value based on scores
 Multiple choice and unstructured, unsupported essay
answers
• Strauss, quoting Bernstein, A Warning to College Profs
from a High School Teacher, The Washington Post: The
Answer Sheet (Feb. 9, 2013)
Changes to Pre-Graduate Education
“I would like to believe that I prepared [my students]
to think more critically and to present cogent
arguments, but I could not simultaneously prepare
them to do well on that portion of the test and teach
them to write in a fashion that would properly serve
them at higher levels of education.”
-recently-retired HS teacher
• Strauss, quoting Bernstein, A Warning to College Profs
from a High School Teacher, The Washington Post: The
Answer Sheet (Feb. 9, 2013)
Changes to Pre-Graduate Education
 ACT & SAT
 Writing scores in decline since introduced in 2005-06
 Lowest SAT reading scores in 40 years
 64% met ACT benchmarks in English; 44% in reading
 SAT overhaul for 2016, but planned by those directly tied
to CCSS creation
• Layton & Brown, SAT Reading Scores Hit a Four-Decade Low, The
Washington Post (Sept. 24, 2012)
• The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2013, ACT National
Report
• Balf, The Story Behind the SAT Overhaul, NY Times (Mar. 6, 2014)
Changes to Pre-Graduate Education
Collegiate Learning Assessment study
 Analytic reasoning, critical thinking, written communication
 45%: no significant improvement
 Others: only modest gains
 32% not in classes with 40+ pages of reading/week
 50% not in classes with 20+ pages of writing
Avg. weekly studying: 12-14 hrs.
 ⅓+ spend ≤5 hrs.
• Arum & Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses
(2011)
• Berrett, What Spurs Students to Stay in College and Learn? Good Teaching
Practices and Diversity, Chronicle of Higher Education (Nov. 6, 2011)
Changes to Law School Admissions
Fewer traditional law jobs + major debt + media
attention = fewer law school applications
 2004-2010: 47,000 fewer employees in law offices
(decline continues)
 Still demand, but from low-income clients
 Law school debt = prohibitive
• Henderson, A Blueprint for Change, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. 461
• ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education, Report
& Recommendations (Jan. 2014)
Changes to Law School Admissions
Media attention
 Misleading job placement stats
 Disillusioned-graduate lawsuits & blogs
 Public blame on gvt. (& lawyers that influence it)
 Are lawyers even necessary?
 Online templates, etc.
• Henderson & Morriss, How the Rankings Arms Race has
Undercut Morality, National Jurist (March 2011)
• Tamanaha, Failing Law Schools (2012)
• Bronner, Law Schools’ Applications Fall as Costs Rise
and Jobs are Cut, NY Times (Jan. 30, 2013)
Changes to Law School Admissions
Fall 2014 LSAT applications down 13.7% from 2013
 Similar trend in past few years
Of those who do take the LSAT:
 High performers less likely to apply to law school
 Lower-performers still likely to apply
• LSAC, Three-Year Applicant Volume Graphs (Jan. 2014)
• Weissmann, The Wrong People Have Stopped Applying
to Law School, The Atlantic (Apr. 10, 2012)
Changes to Law School Admissions
① Reduce admissions, maintain credentials
- or ② Maintain admissions, reduce credentials
③ [or reduce admissions AND credentials]
Changes to Law School Admissions
Are LSAT and UGPA really good predictors?
 LSAT: “not a perfect predictor of law school performance”
LSAT + UGPA
 May predict 1L grades, but not necessarily bar passage or
professional success
 Upperclass LGPA more linked
 Nurture [writing & skills training] > Nature
• LSAC, LSAT Scores as Predictors of Law School
Performance, LSAC.org
• Georgakopoulos, Bar Passage: GPA and LSAT, not
Bar Reviews, Robert H. McKinney Sch. L. Legal Stud.
Res. Paper No. 2013-30
Fostering a Culture of Innovation
Reconsider financial structures
 Alternative revenue streams (MBA? Non-JD degrees?
Undergraduate pipelines?)
Curricular reform
 From simple to drastic
 More experiential learning? Distance courses? 2-year JD?
• Tamanaha, Failing Law Schools (2012)
• Matasar, The Canary in the Coal Mine: What the University
Can Learn from Legal Education, 45 McGeorge L. Rev. 133
Fostering a Culture of Innovation
Reevaluation of teaching & assessment practices
 Regular, low-stakes assessment
 Feedback: effective comments
 Specific, constructive, informational
 Goal: self-regulated learning
 Results: better critical thinking & problem-solving skills
 Bonus: more student autonomy & psychological wellbeing
• Stuckey et al., Best Practices in Legal Education (2007)
• Schwartz et al., Teaching Law by Design: Engaging Students
from the Syllabus to the Final Exam (2009)
• Manning, Understanding the Impact of Inadequate Feedback,
43 Cumberland L. Rev. 325
The Future
The Future
Students more deeply dedicated to law as a career
 Altruistic goals > money/prestige
More attention on building academic skills
 Possibly more revenue/support?
More attention on better overall teaching
 Happier, more well adjusted graduates
Careful, systematic program evaluation
 Likely better coordination between programs  more
cohesive educational experience
• Krantz, The Legal Profession: What is Wrong and How to Fix It (2013)
• Sheldon & Krieger, Understanding the Negative Effects of Legal
Education on Law Students, 33 Personality & Soc. Psychol. Bull. 883
Courtney G. Lee
Pacific McGeorge School of Law
[email protected]