• Pressing Problems, second plenary

    We now have Steven Vaughan from the Faculty of Laws, UCL, on ‘The lies we tell ourselves: Problematising the (S)hallow foundations of the core of legal education’. First up is the trot through the QLD, then on data from a project Steven has been working on. Steven started by querying the reasons for the five…

  • Pressing problems, parallel paper session 1

    First up, Geoffrey Samuels on ‘What can law schools offer other disciplines?’ He gave an interesting summary of what since the glossators and commentators law offered to other disciplines in the early universities. Such a pleasure to hear the achievements of early jurists praised in this way – I wrote on this in Transforming Legal…

  • Revisiting ‘Pressing Problems in the Law: What is the Law School for?’ 20 years on.

    Am back in Northumbria Law School for this event organised by Northumbria School of Law and Nottingham Law School, funded by the Modern Law Review. Was late because I thought I knew my way round Newcastle – so like Glasgow in so many ways – but stopped to re-orient (sea is on the wrong side,…

  • Constitution, institution, foundation: a ius commune of legal education

    In a chapter I finished a while back for Catrina Denvir’s forthcoming book on Modernising Legal Education I explored what modernising the law school actually means, with case studies – hence the title, referencing Talking Heads, ‘Same as it ever was?  Second modernity, technocracy, and the design of digital legal education’.  As I point out,…

  • New beginnings

    Tonight is the formal opening of Osgoode Professional Development’s (OPD) newly refurbished premises on floor 26 of 1 Dundas St West, downtown Toronto. Now the view inside will match the stunning views outside to Lake Ontario and the Toronto Islands, Algonquin Island, and all the way west and south to Mississauga, glimpsed through a foreground…

  • Osgoode Sim Client Project

    We’ve finished our Simulated Client (SC) project at Osgoode Hall Law School, which was around three months in the planning. Further and much more detailed analysis later, but this is a quick post for now to summarise what we did.

  • NO ENTRY: Open access to law journals and case law

    This post is co-written by Catherine Easton, Abhilash Nair and myself.  Abhilash is a co-editor of the European Journal of Law & Technology, and Catherine is editor of the European Journal of Current Legal Issues.  EJLT and EJCLI are both completely open access (OA0 journals – also known as diamond or platinum journals. We’ve been…

  • LETR, regulatory relationship and the shared space

    The initial LETR specification asked us to report on many areas of legal education, and under various headings regulatory relationship was part of the future reform of legal education and training.  The subject was hardly addressed in earlier reports on legal education in these isles, either because it wasn’t perceived as problematic or, more likely,…

  • LETR conference: reflections

    I said in my first conference post that I was hoping for the conference to help me understand LETR’s continuing significance, if any.   I left with more questions in my mind about LETR’s purpose, but also a sense that what we co-authors made of it was at least in parts enduring beyond the five-year…

  • LETR conference: parallel papers, 2

    First up, Jenny Gibbons on ‘Curriculum as constitution’.  Fascinating analogy, which I’ve explored elsewhere.  She started with Fortnite Island.  To play the game you need to: learn the rules of the game know how to find and use yr materials take time to create safe spaces learn to maximise yr advantage in encounters learn from…

  • LETR conference: Professional Panel

    The panel comprised three representatives of regulatory bodies.  First up, Julie Brannan, Director of Education and Training.  Her slide points out which of LETR recommendations the SRA accepted: She also pointed out the themes that were recognised by the SRA and the evidence drawn upon.   She also outlined the SRA response, its view of…

  • LETR conference: paper session 1

    First up, Steven Vaughan, by video conference, on ‘Same-same but different?  The current and future LLB offerings on law schools in England and Wales’.  He started with conversations with colleagues he had about grades and the relative difficulty of subjects, the Joint Statement (JS) and the normative hold it had on the curriculum.  Law degrees…