Document Type
Article
Publication Title
AALS Newsletter of the Section of Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
Experiential learning is all the rage in legal education today. And yet, educators throughout history have known that involving students in their learning and exposing them to practical applications of what they are learning increases student engagement and retention. But legal education is coming to this way of thinking somewhat late. This article, based on a presentation that the authors gave at the AALS conference in New York in January of 2014, suggests that technology opens up new possibilities for law schools by allowing students from different schools to participate in complex inter-school simulations that can, if carefully prepared, teach important lessons about lawyering skills, behavior, and provide rich opportunities for the development of professional identity. It can, in short, deepen and enrich the experiential learning opportunities that law schools offer. The article does not propose that law school faculty should teach or grade students from another school, but that the faculty can collaborate on problems that are more elaborate and complex than could realistically be produced within one school, and that students from different schools can work together as co-counsel, or in opposition to each other, in a variety of projects, with students from other schools serving as judges or arbitrators, witnesses, and clients.
Recommended Citation
Ian Gallacher, Amy Stein, Robyn A. Boyle, and David Thomson,
Erasing Boundaries: Inter-School Collaboration and Its Pedagogical Opportunities 1
(2014)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/760
Comments
This article, based on a presentation given at the AALS conference in New York in January of 2014